Page 36 - Socially-responsible-restructuring-Effective-strategies-for-supporting-redundant-workers

Socially responsible restructuring
Effective strategies for supporting redundant workers

textiles, clothing, electrical ‘white goods’ and optical equipment, followed in the
late 1970s and mid 1980s by shipbuilding, steel production, the automobile
industry, and mechanical and electronic engineering. Since then, a wider range
of industries and sectors with international exposure have been affected.
Subsequent developments in information and communication technology (ICT)
have permitted more efficient coordination of global supply chains, opening up
the potential for greater specialisation in the supply chain. This applies not just in
the final products but also in functions or tasks within all parts of the production
and traded services sectors.
According to the ERM 2007 report (Eurofound, 2007), ‘off-shoring’ – the shift
of identifiable jobs in Europe to other locations – points towards a new
globalisation phase starting to gather momentum. Manufacturing continues to
dominate the job losses, particularly in labour-intensive mid-technology sectors in
the established Member States (EU-15), with jobs predominantly moving to the
most recent Member States (NMS10). The only service sector with significant off-
shoring is banking and insurance, with jobs being transferred to Asia. Despite
widespread assumptions to the contrary, less than 8% of all jobs lost in Europe
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were due to off-shoring with little evidence of a significant increase ( ).
Restructuring is becoming a continuous process, as increasing flexibility is
required of enterprises and employees. The measures that accompany
restructuring need to be closely linked to political and legislative mechanisms that
frame how the labour market operates and organises adjustments. The policy
challenge has increasingly been centred on proficient management of the
adjustment process (ETUC, 2007a/b). The way employers’ social responsibilities
are interpreted affects the content of the ‘redundancy programme’ itself, against
which any career guidance interventions and other forms of support to redundant
workers are set.

2.2. Career guidance, employment and employability

In describing career guidance, the OECD, as part of a widespread review of
guidance in different national contexts, indicated that ‘career guidance refers to
services and activities intended to assist individuals of any age and at any point
throughout their lives, to make educational, training and occupational choices
and to manage their careers. The activities ( ... ) include career information
provision (in print, ICT-based and other forms), assessment and self-assessment

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( ) The ETUCs report also provides a range of useful and complementary data.

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