Page 7 - Socially-responsible-restructuring-Effective-strategies-for-supporting-redundant-workers

Socially responsible restructuring
Effective strategies for supporting redundant workers

Foreword

Company restructuring is undertaken in response to a range of factors, frequently
interrelated, such as evolving market demands, changing economic and
technological circumstances, the introduction of new working processes or the
arrival of new competitors. The social costs associated with restructuring can be
high, leading to large-scale redundancies and the decline of particular sectors, or
regions, affected by job losses.
This report is timely in looking at how enterprises, in different contexts and
sectors, can respond imaginatively to restructuring needs. It includes examples of
good practice led by large and medium-sized enterprises. This review is
published as most European economies are struggling to emerge from a deep
recession. Socially responsible responses to restructuring attempt to curtail the
scope of job losses and the longer-term impact on workers and their local
communities across Europe. Although SMEs cannot develop socially responsible
practices on their own, they can be supported in this task by publicly funded
strategic arrangements and regional partnerships, as this report shows.
Appropriate strategies, policies, instruments and partnerships can reverse the
negative impacts on affected individuals and local communities. It is, therefore, of
the utmost importance that such restructuring processes are anticipated, planned
and managed early carefully and with the involvement of a broad variety of
stakeholders nationally but, particularly at regional and local level, European
citizens need to be supported to manage working life transitions more effectively
and have access to opportunities to develop their skills. From a socially
responsible perspective, support services to soon-to-be redundant employees,
might include investing in workers’ employability, with greater emphasis on skills
that promote mobility in the labour market, across sectors. The focus of this
review is on how employers, on their own and with public support, can help
worker reintegration into the labour market. The report illustrates that career
guidance and continuing training have a key contribution to make to innovative
and socially responsible restructuring strategies.

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