Pasar al contenido principal
restructuring.jpg

Restructuring

Restructuring is a term used to describe a wide range of activities which lead to the reorganisation of an enterprise. Restructuring can have serious consequences for the workforce as far as levels of employment and terms and conditions of employment offered to workers are concerned.

Topic

Recent updates

restructuring-events.png

Since 2002, the European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) has been monitoring the employment impact of large-scale restructuring events in Europe and covers the 27 EU Member States plus Norway.

Web page

Eurofound research

Restructuring at regional level

Eurofound’s European Jobs Monitor (EJM) monitors structural change in European labour markets, analysing where jobs are being lost and where they are being created. It analyses shifts in the employment structure in terms of occupation and sector, both at Member State and regional level. Recent analysis takes the region rather than the Member States as the main unit of analysis. It shows that a growth of within-country inequality often has a strong regional dimension and places a focus on regionally unbalanced growth.

 

Complementing this research, since 2002 the European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) has been monitoring the employment impact of large-scale restructuring events in Europe. Restructuring events include company reorganisation, outsourcing, business closure, downsizing or expansion, mergers & acquisitions, relocation, offshoring and reshoring. The ERM also examines the impact on working conditions. 

 

The ERM restructuring support instruments database provides information on more than 300 measures implemented in the Member States of the EU and Norway. National governments, employers’ organisations and trade unions are among the key bodies providing support measures for companies that are restructuring, as well as for the employees affected. This database can be used to search for EU, domestic, regional and local level support measures. 

Key outputs

ef22014_card_cover.png

The retail banking sector is fertile ground for studying the impacts of digitalisation on work and employment. Financial services are increasingly provided online, without the intermediary of customer-facing institutions. Many...

26 Septiembre 2022
Publication
Research report
ef20024_-_card_cover.png

This report has a dual focus. First, it reviews recent restructuring activity in the EU, from January 2019 up to and including the first impacts of the COVID-19 crisis. The...

10 Noviembre 2020
Publication
Research report
fomeef18002_card_cover.png

The pilot project The Future of Manufacturing in Europe is an explorative and future-oriented study. It explores the future adoption of some key game-changing technologies and how this adoption can...

10 Abril 2019
Publication
Research report

EU context

The EU institutions jointly proclaimed the European Pillar of Social Rights in November 2017, the principles of which are structured around three categories: equal opportunities and access to the labour market; fair working conditions; and social protection and inclusion. In the area of social dialogue and involvement of workers, the Pillar highlights that workers or their representatives have the right to be informed and consulted in good time on matters relevant to them, in particular on the transfer, restructuring and merger of undertakings and on collective redundancies.

 

European Industrial Relations Dictionary 

Eurofound expert(s)

John Hurley

John Hurley is a senior research manager in the Employment unit at Eurofound. He took up the role of research manager in February 2012. He is responsible for the European...

Senior research manager,
Employment research unit
chiara-litardi-2023.png

Chiara Litardi is a research officer in the Employment unit at Eurofound. She works on topics related to restructuring, employment and on upward convergence. She was previously...

Research officer,
Employment research unit
Publications results (131)

This case study looks at the way in which the Plansee Group in Austria has sought to ensure a ‘soft landing’ for employees affected by the global economic downturn. Having seen a collapse in demand in 2008, primarily in the parts of its business supplying metal products to the ailing vehicle

16 January 2012

En 2003, Eurofound lanzó el Observatorio Europeo de la Reestructuración (ERM), que hasta la fecha es la única fuente de información de la UE sobre reestructuraciones empresariales que proporciona resúmenes de datos y permite una investigación exhaustiva de seguimiento de casos individuales.

01 December 2011

Structural change is a general characteristic of economic development, driven by shifts in relative productivity and demand, technological or socioeconomic changes. To adapt to a changing economic environment, companies undergo restructuring to maintain or improve their competitiveness and, hence

21 November 2011

The economic situation continues to be dominated by sovereign debt problems in the eurozone countries. As these continue to remain unresolved, general sentiment has turned negative amid fears of a new second phase of the Great Recession of 2008–9. The third issue for 2011 includes: summary; current

23 October 2011

The EU economy continued to grow over the last quarter with more positive data in particular from core economies.Problems of sovereign debt management however persist in several eurozone Member States and negative economic news from other developed economies has tended to more than mitigate any

07 August 2011

Nearly two years after the technical end of the ‘Great Recession’, there are increasingly divergent patterns of recovery across the EU. Member States in the German – central Europe – Baltic axis are enjoying strong growth and improving labour markets while the debt-laden ‘periphery’ stagnates amidst

27 April 2011

This analysis of recent developments in the automotive sector in the countries covered by this report seems to support the idea that the sector’s expansion will – in the medium term – depend on the growth of emerging markets (Brazil, China and India). In these countries, the potential for growth in

08 February 2011

An estimated 14 million workers across Europe rely on the automotive sector for work. When the current economic downturn began to affect vehicle production, profound changes were already underway in the sector, triggered by the emergence of new markets and the search for lower production and labour

08 February 2011

The pace of recovery following the 2008–9 economic crisis has picked up somewhat throughout 2010 with the EU forecast to register 1.7% growth in 2010. Uncertainty however persists on a number of fronts. Fears of a double dip recession in the US economy have been reinforced by recent weak employment

31 January 2011

Sovereign debt issues dominated the agenda in the final quarter of 2010 as a second EU Member State, Ireland, required EU-IMF intervention in November to stave off default. Given similar concerns in other Member States, a focus on the health of the euro and on individual government deficits and

23 January 2011

Online resources results (237)

Czech Republic: Latest working life developments – Q2 2016

A shortage of workers, proposals to recruit from abroad, union objections to cheap labour, restrictions on shop opening hours and the introduction of paternity leave are the main topics of interest in this article. This country update reports on the latest developments in working life in the Czech

Netherlands: New Act on work and security

The Netherlands’ new Act on Work and Security will change employment and dismissal law. The aim is to create a new balance between ‘insiders’ – permanent employees who have high levels of protection – and ‘outsiders’, flexible workers who have little or no protection. The act was passed in July 2014

Netherlands: Merger Code revision considered

The Netherlands’ Social and Economic Council (SER) established a commission in February 2014 to investigate whether it should revise rules that cover the merger or takeover of companies and unions’ rights to information and consultation during these processes. The commission is expected to give its

Partnership-based approaches to learning in the context of restructuring - case studies from the European steel and metal sectors

The aim of learning partnerships is to increase workers’ skills, based on the cooperation of public, private and voluntary organisations, usually by means of further training.

Furore over major restructuring plan for Electrolux

In October 2013 the Swedish multinational company Electrolux, which employs about 5,700 people in Italy, announced that it would close its plant in Porcìa (Pordenone) with the loss of 1,200 jobs, and move production of its washing machines to Poland. The company has three other plants in northern

Mixed reaction to creation of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles

An alliance between the Fiat Group [1] and the Chrysler Group [2] dates back to 2009. The two groups announced they had signed a preliminary agreement for the creation of a strategic global alliance on 20 January 2009. On 10 June 2009 they signed another agreement, which meant Fiat would acquire 20%

Controversy over downsizing at steel plant

Steelmaking has historically been an important sector for the Hungarian economy. Hungary once described itself as the country of steel and iron. Almost 40,000 workers were employed in the sector in locations and factories, and cities to house workers were built close to the factories. In the 1960s

Tube strike prompts calls for tougher strike laws

On 4–6 February 2014, a 48-hour strike was held by London Underground staff belonging to the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT [1]) and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA [2]), causing extensive travel disruption for people living and working in London. [1]

Three-year redundancy plan at Telecoms company

As part of the reorganisation and modernisation of the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (CyTA [1]) and with the immediate objective of reducing its operating costs, CyTA announced a voluntary early retirement scheme in December 2013. It aims to cut staff by between 550 and 600 and is expected to


Blogs results (6)
image_blog_covid_02042020.png

It is less than four weeks since the first large European Coronavirus-related company bankruptcy (Flybe, a British regional airline, on 5 March), but it is clear already that the pandemic is going to disrupt labour markets as seriously as the global financial crisis, if not more so. A large majority

2 Abril 2020
image_blog_unions_20112019.png

Trade unions in many EU Member States face the issue of declining membership. This is a fundamental challenge for organised labour, but it is premature to speak about the redundancy unions: when it comes to important decisions affecting the workplace, restructuring being one, trade unions remain a

20 Noviembre 2019
image_1_blog_erm_02052019.png

Company restructuring may hit the headlines less in good times, but it remains a central experience in the working life of many. According to the most recent European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) data, just under one in three (30%) employees in the EU reported that restructuring had taken place

2 Mayo 2019
image_1_blog_fome_final_report_09042019.png

Over the past four years a special project delegated to Eurofound has looked in detail at ongoing changes in manufacturing on a global scale, analysed how the industry will change further in the future, and assessed what the impacts will be for Europe. Looking at everything from changes in tasks for

9 Abril 2019
city_of_london.jpg

There are fears that thousands of jobs could be lost in financial services following the UK’s exit from the European Union. This blog piece explores some of the implications of Brexit for London’s financial hub, including the reactions of US banks.

12 Febrero 2018
image_blog_erm_21_december_2017.jpg

In this blog post, Eurofound Research Assistant Eleonora Peruffo takes us through the various updates made to the ERM Restructuring-related legislation database during 2017.

21 Diciembre 2017

Disclaimer

When freely submitting your request, you are consenting Eurofound in handling your personal data to reply to you. Your request will be handled in accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data. More information, please read the Data Protection Notice.