Page 67 - Socially-responsible-restructuring-Effective-strategies-for-supporting-redundant-workers

Socially responsible restructuring
Effective strategies for supporting redundant workers

Labour Office has proposed that socially responsible workforce reduction actually
should mean ‘using one or more approaches to consciously take into
consideration the interests of all stakeholders such as managers, owners,
workers and the community’ (Hansen, 2002). This may now be seen as a rather
limited interpretation of social responsibility in enterprise restructuring contexts.
One issue, evidenced from the review findings on the significance of safety nets
in establishing socially responsible practice, is one of the few areas of agreement
among analysts to date. To this is added a view that enterprises should
voluntarily do more to support employees whose jobs are being made redundant
than is stipulated by law or collective agreements (Segal, Sobzcak and Triomphe,
2003).
The specific role of career guidance in socially responsible practice is not
widely explored in the literature. The case study evidence starts to provide an
empirical basis for establishing a distinctive guidance contribution. Effective
guidance in restructuring situations can enable individuals at risk, or whose jobs
have been made redundant, to:
(a) come to terms with their situation, including emotional and practical issues,
including their aspirations and goals; personal and family circumstances;
experience, abilities, and skills, including the extent to which their
competences are marketable and transferable, and whether additional
training and development is required to make an effective labour market
transition;
(b) consider their support needs, including the extent to which they have access
to necessary information about available learning and work opportunities in
areas, sectors, and even countries, in which they wish to work;
(c) help individuals cope with the consequences of redundancy, including
financial issues that arise, and their entitlement to state and other benefits;
(d) assist individuals in coming to terms with the mental or other health
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consequences of job loss and dislocation ( ) (Kieselbach and Jeske, 2009).
Combining the case study evidence on guidance practice with past research
and stakeholder feedback (Chapter 2), this review suggests that the default
position in all Member States is that individual employees have varied legal
entitlements in respect to the notice for termination of employment and the
related severance terms (in the form of redundancy payments). Once
unemployed, there is variation in access to support subsequently from the PES
and other nationally-funded services, supplemented and enhanced by EU funds.
As explored in more detail in Chapter 4, socially responsible provision at its

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( ) Monitoring Innovative Restructuring in Europe Project. See: http://www.mire-restructuring.eu
[cited 10.5.2010].

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