Page 162 - Socially-responsible-restructuring-Effective-strategies-for-supporting-redundant-workers

Socially responsible restructuring
Effective strategies for supporting redundant workers

(c) the services provided to employees links career guidance to funding for
training and up-skilling to enable individuals to compete in the market-place;
(d) the timing and open-ended nature of the support may mean that individuals
who were previously resistant to training might be more willing to take it up
at this point of transition;
(e) the same funding and support is available to all members of staff and there
is no differentiation in support between different grades and staff categories
(as is frequently the case with private outsourcing provision programmes).
To raise the awareness of R2R, the project has engaged with local media
(including radio and TV) and proactive marketing, through a series of workshops
for companies on Managing through difficult times that help employers to
manage their businesses more effectively, including work with the supply chain.
In terms of future developments, R2R increasingly will work with the Beyond
2010 initiative in the Eastern Region, focusing on strategically important sectors
(such as automotive, creative and financial services, low carbon and sustainable
technologies, tourism and Olympics 2012). This is likely to require the further
development of skills of career guidance practitioners in delivering support to a
wide range of sectors, at all levels of the workforce.

6.15. ReAct, UK (CASE STUDY 15)

6.15.1. Background and context
Although the past 10 years have been regarded as a successful period for many
aspects of the Welsh economy, restructuring processes in many enterprises have
intensified. A concern over the past decade has been lost jobs in manufacturing,
in many cases seen as the replacement for coal and steel jobs, but now facing
intense competition from eastern Europe, the Far East and elsewhere. The
aftermath of the financial crisis has made the labour market situation even more
challenging.
The Welsh Assembly Government, the devolved administration, has
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developed with partners too flag-ship schemes. The first of these, ProAct ( ),
helps businesses to retain skilled staff who might otherwise be made redundant;
it provides support to meet training costs and wage subsidy for employees during
training. The second and complementary programme, ‘ReAct’, is the subject of

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( ) For further information see:
http://fs4b.wales.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?site=230&r.s=sl&r.lc=en&type=RESOURCES&ite
mId=5001458395 [cited 17.5.2010] and
http://wales.gov.uk/topics/educationandskills/foremployers/proact/?lang=en [cited 17.5.2010].

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