European Restructuring Monitor
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Help - Method of data collection and processing
Fields in fact sheets
The information gathered about restructuring cases is recorded into fact sheets and is subject to specific and consistent treatment.
19 fields have been defined, in order to:
- enable descriptive statistical analysis based on four variables: country, sector, type of restructuring and the number of planned job reductions;
- enable users to rank and search the restructuring cases on the basis of 8 variables: country, sector, type of restructuring, number of planned job reductions, announcement date, job reduction timeline, company name and group;
- offer users additional information on: the company concerned by the restructuring, the sources used and the management of the restructuring.
The following 4 fields are used by the search engine and in the statistical menu
Geographic location: country, region and affected unit
Country, region and unit affected by the restructuring.
Important remarks:
- If a case of restructuring concerns several European countries, the field will contain the value 'European Union';
- If a case of restructuring concerns the European Union, among other countries, the field will show the value 'World';
- If a case concerns several countries of the European Union and the information given in the press is sufficiently precise, we create one sheet per country and one sheet for the European Union;
- The information contained in a fact sheet always refers to the geographical location mentioned in the fact sheet. The planned job reductions, the number of employees, etc. will concern this country.
The planned job reductions refer to the actual or announced job losses. They include both direct dismissals and alternative measures intended to cut employment in the company: early retirement, lay-off pay, proposal to re-locate individuals, etc.
The number of job reductions mentioned in a fact sheet is in relation to the reference country on that sheet.
Where the information gathered from the newspapers mentions different figures, the minimum and maximum number of planned job reductions are put in. The default used by the search engine and the statistical menu is the minimum number.
Sector
This means the business sector concerned by the restructuring or the 'core business' of the company. This sector is described using the NACE code. The codes have been grouped into 25 categories used by the search engine and the statistical menu.
Type of restructuring
This information is only accessible when the user has selected a specific case before running the search engine.
- Relocation: When the activity stays within the same company, but is relocated to another location within the same country.
- Outsourcing: When the activity is subcontracted to another company within the same country.
- Offshoring/ delocalisation: When the activity is relocated or outsourced outside of the country's borders.
- Bankruptcy/Closure: When an industrial site is closed or a company goes bankrupt for economic reasons not directly connected to relocation or outsourcing.
- Merger/Acquisition: When two companies merge or during an acquisition which then involves an internal restructuring programme aimed at rationalising organisation by cutting personnel.
- Internal restructuring: When the company undertakes a job-cutting plan, which is not linked to another type of restructuring defined above.
- Business Expansion: Where a company extends its business activities, hiring new workforce.
- Other: When a company undergoes a type of restructuring that is none of the above.
The next 4 fields are used only by the search engine to access the fact sheets
Company name
Announcement date
Date when the restructuring was announced for the first time in the press.
Job reduction start
Mentions the starting date of restructuring and the redundancies.
Job reduction Timeline
Date when the job losses are scheduled. If it is spread over a long period of time, it is the date of the end of the restructuring plan that is mentioned.
The following 9 fields provide additional information concerning the cases analysed
(Note: This information is only accessible when the user has selected a specific case.)Mentions the industrial sites affected by the restructuring, and their geographical location if there are several. If only one site is affected, its geographical location will be mentioned in the 'country' field.
Group
Name of the group
Number employed
Number of workers employed by the company in the reference country shown on the fact sheet.
Direct dismissals
Mentions the number of direct dismissals due to restructuring (envisaged or real).
Other job reduction measures
Mentions the number of other job reduction measures within a company, such as non replacement, early retirements, etc..
Job creation
Number of job created as a result of company restructuring.
Additional information
Summarises important information concerning the presented case, such as: social plan and redeployment measures (e.g. redundancy plan); nature of the job losses (e.g. early retirements, number of non replaced workers, number of relocated workers) as well as induced job losses (e.g. sub-contractors, suppliers) and effective job losses to date; progress of the negotiations; other important aspects relevant for a contextual understanding of the restructuring case.
Sources
Mentions the sources used to produce the fact sheet: name of the newspaper and publication date of the article. The web sites consulted are also mentioned.
Links
Provides relevant links related to the restructuring case.