Page 73 - Socially-responsible-restructuring-Effective-strategies-for-supporting-redundant-workers

Socially responsible restructuring
Effective strategies for supporting redundant workers

GOOD PRACTICE EXAMPLE
Partnership delivery of Response to redundancy (R2R) programme
(England)

The East of England Development Agency (EEDA) has, with partners, a key role to develop the
economy of the Eastern Region. It established Response to redundancy (R2R) in early 2005, in
conjunction with the European Social Fund (ESF).

R2R offers services to people whose jobs are at risk or who are in the process of being made
redundant. Those eligible live within or outside the region but are employed by public or private
sector organisations at a location in the East of England.

EEDA and ESF have jointly invested GBP 2.6 million in R2R over the past four years. EEDA is now,
with ESF, investing GBP 2.2 million in a new Response to redundancy package as part of a wider
GBP 6.2 million ‘Beyond 2010’ skills training programme.

The Response to redundancy programme complements the Rapid response service – initiated in
2002 to support larger-scale redundancies – which is operated on a regional basis by Jobcentre
Plus (PES) and other provision recently introduced by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC).

R2R focuses on providing a range of support to enable individuals, including both career guidance,
on an individual and group basis, and potentially financial support, to undertake training.

Source: Case study 14.

Working relationships before restructuring are among the success factors for
partnership arrangements. In each of the German transfer companies (Case
studies 2 and 8), as well as in Volvo Cars Sweden (Case study 12) and
Teliasonera Finland (Case study 10) the development of working arrangements,
resourcing allocations and delivery structures to support employees in ‘better’
times for the enterprise were vital to delivery of early guidance support together
with other services in the context of large redundancies. The key issue seems to
be agreement among social partners which predate redundancy situations, and
which were transferable across different restructuring contexts. In Wales, the
combination of the ProAct and ReAct programmes was also put in place by the
Welsh Assembly so that subsequent redundancy situations could be supported
(Case studies 10 and 12).
Clear synergy in the partnership underpins the delivery of comprehensive
services to redundant workers and at-risk employees. Many of the cases studies
have involved multiple guidance interventions, often combining both group and
individual support. These often required different skills sets and effective
partnerships, were able to draw on synergies across different types of
practitioners and organisations, covering career guidance, training and labour

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