Page 20 - Socially-responsible-restructuring-Effective-strategies-for-supporting-redundant-workers

Socially responsible restructuring
Effective strategies for supporting redundant workers

internal expertise and capacities, these interventions will include some external
support for re-engagement of workers with the labour market, as well as with
education and training.
Socially responsible adjustment in restructuring also emphasises equitable
practices and effective access for employers to the support made available.
Support should consider the needs and the nature of the surplus labour, and may
have particular relevance in supporting the reintegration of vulnerable groups of
employees who may have particular difficulties in re-engaging with the labour
market. Identifying effective practices in this area has been difficult for the review,
and held back by a combination of difficulties in isolating practice and of an
apparent lack of differentiation of support in many of the existing arrangements.
However, a combination of preventive and restorative work can be effective,
again combining internal and external guidance and other adjustments. Here,
restorative support will be highly personalised, with robust and continuing needs-
assessment, and specific and often intensive adjustment arrangements to
address those needs before and after displacement.
Support for vulnerable workers does not need to be differentiated in socially
responsible practices where personalised services are embedded in the
adjustment arrangements (through appropriate resources) motivation of those
affected (through personalised action plans) and continuity of support. Socially
responsible practices rarely go any wider than the permanent workforce of
restructuring enterprises; they are not likely to be extended to casual, contract or
short-term assignment staff, sub-contractors or suppliers in their supply-chain,
and only rarely to family members of affected workers.

Enterprise capacity and collaborations

Beyond the case studies underpinning this review, there remains a lack of
evidence-based research on guidance and enterprise restructuring, and
particularly of socially responsible practices. These remain difficult areas for
organisation-level research, and raise sensitive issues for enterprises in sharing
their practices, motivations, resources and outcomes. This review has
encountered widespread reluctance or hesitation to engage with the study, even
amongst organisations known to have employed such measures, and only a little
over a third of the enterprises identified with innovative or better practice have
been willing to contribute as case studies. For those that have taken part, career
guidance and other forms of support for those at risk of job loss from
restructuring seem to follow the following patterns.

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