Page 38 - Socially-responsible-restructuring-Effective-strategies-for-supporting-redundant-workers

Socially responsible restructuring
Effective strategies for supporting redundant workers

Some of the available comparative evidence on statutory obligations of
employers to support redundant workers is dated and may take little or no
account of important developments in legal frameworks or in company practice
that goes beyond these. Career guidance patterns and processes in restructuring
situations are affected by different countries’ variable starting points in terms of
the capacity and professionalism of career information, advice and guidance to
adults in employment. This legacy constrains the breadth and depth of
restructuring practice, especially where there is little or no tradition of lifelong
learning for employees, as was often the case in newer Member States.
The current review sought to conduct a series of updated documentary
reviews in eleven selected EU and EEA countries, in Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland,
Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Sweden, and the United
Kingdom. In the oldest Member States covered by the review, there were more
comprehensive career guidance services, including some highly evolved
practices to support employability and lifelong learning, such as in Denmark.
However, tensions were apparent between career guidance emphasis on
individual wellbeing and sustaining employability, and other services focusing on
near-labour market transitions and rapid integration in the labour market, rather
than empowering individuals in a lifelong capacity to manage their own careers.
Across the seven EU-15 Member States reviewed orientations varied but the
emphasis was most commonly on training-related information and personal
support, not specifically on re-employment, job and career changes. New
investments in some of these Member States in guidance services for adults,
such as in Denmark and Norway , were specifically geared to individually-centred
access to lifelong learning, helping adults select appropriate training and
vocational qualification routes. With the increasing availability in some Member
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States of specific ICT and telephone-based services ( ), there is a growing trend
towards self-help guidance, especially in PES-based provision (Sultana and
Watts, 2005). Cost-effectiveness makes it necessary to ascertain when face-to-
face and individual assistance bring an added value, and how they can be
differentiated to meet the needs of different groups.

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( ) See: Careers Advice Service, previously managed on behalf of the UK Government by
learndirect: http://careersadvice.direct.gov.uk/ [cited 10.5.2010].

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