Page 43 - Socially-responsible-restructuring-Effective-strategies-for-supporting-redundant-workers

Socially responsible restructuring
Effective strategies for supporting redundant workers

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age discriminatory effects (Guillemard, 2003; OECD, 2006) ( ). According to a
comparative examination of choices to manage restructuring, the early retirement
option is often chosen even though it is expensive for the company itself and for
public authorities, specifically because it is a way to ‘buy’ harmonious industrial
relations and commitment from the remaining workers. In this context, early
retirement schemes are considered a concession for the ‘increasing efforts
demanded of employees’ and, in many countries, ‘a right by older workers
threatened by globalisation’. Still, some active labour market measures are
restricting early retirement schemes or making them less generous. In Germany
and France, early retirement schemes are being restricted in favour of job search
exemptions for older workers who are the ‘victims of economic redundancies’ and
are merely covered by unemployment insurance (Courtioux, 2001). On the
available evidence, early retirement, which in the past had a high profile within
socially responsible adjustment, may be diminishing in importance, at least in
Europe. If so, the emphasis will be placed on processes which support the
equitable transition of those displaced into other economically beneficial activity,
such as alternative employment, as well as education or training to support
current or future employment transitions of those affected.

2.4. Understanding the national contexts

The diversity in enterprise responses to restructuring stems partly from different
national contexts, available infrastructure to support enterprise adjustment and
legislation affecting enterprise response. With a selective focus on 11 countries
from which case studies were to be drawn, and centred on national documentary
sources and consultation with experts, the current review has highlighted highly
contrasting contexts, in relation to career guidance capacity, legislative
frameworks within which enterprises operate, and, more specifically, the terms
and conditions of collective redundancies. Here a key issue concerns the
statutory collective redundancy provisions among the Member States covered in
the review (see Annex D).
The definitions of what constitutes a collective redundancy vary. In some
cases, such as Bulgaria and Sweden, there is no strict definition, and national
practice for managing job displacement seems determined by general legislation
on dismissals. Most of the Member States included in this review have specific
parameters for codified support of those made redundant, usually based on a

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( ) See: http://www.oecd.org/els/employment/olderworkers [cited 7.5.2010].

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