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Socially responsible restructuring
Effective strategies for supporting redundant workers

(b) identify range of networks relevant to work role;
(c) understand the needs of the target population; provide and customise
materials;
(d) develop and maintain relationships with other stakeholders;
(e) engage in research and evaluation;
(f) reflect on practice and plan own development activities (Cedefop, 2009,
p. 84-87).
These competences may be used in different combinations of roles and skill
mixes. In well-resourced career guidance work in restructuring enterprises this
will involve a multi-disciplinary team. For example, in the transfer company
mentioned in the AutoVision case study (Germany), staff includes HR specialists,
psychologists, teachers, trainers and lawyers (Case study 1). This illustrates the
specific context in Germany, which relies on a previously negotiated support
structure on an enterprise-level social plan, including career guidance. In less
well-resourced restructuring adjustments, it is more likely that provision will
mainly be by HRD staff in-company and career guidance practitioners, with
varying levels of training and support.
It is also clear from the case studies that the type and level of guidance
customer being supported will affect the knowledge and competences
practitioners require. For example, advisers spoken to in the AutoVision
(Germany) and R2R (England) Case studies 1 and 14, both stressed the
importance of themselves and their peers being not just experienced and
competent, but also truly able to empathise. This evidence also pointed to
different skill-sets and behaviours being noted for advisers working with
managers as opposed to those needed to work most effectively with blue-collar
staff.

3.4. National, regional and local stakeholder
cooperation

The Council Resolution on Guidance (2008) highlights the importance of
‘networks accessible to everyone seeking guidance’. In the case of restructuring
companies, such networks might already exist or have been planned, as in the
case of PACE in Scotland, or will need to be created to support individuals in
transition, particularly if support is to be provided in a socially-responsible way
(Case studies 10 and 12). Socially responsible workforce reduction has become
a focus in both academic and policy-making circles (Auer, 2001) although lacking
a consensus and evidence-led view on what this constitutes. The International

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