El pasado día 17 de enero la Comisión Europea ha presentado distintos documentos que tratan de impulsar un debate sobre el futuro marco de actuaciones referidas a la reestructuración de empresas. Como dato de partida, en la nota de prensa que abre la información y desde la que se pueden consultar todos los documentos, la Comisión advierte de que en el periodo entre 2002 y 2010, el Observatorio Europeo de la reestructuración registró más de 11000 casos de Reestructuración, dando lugar en cada uno de esos casos a la pérdida de 2 puestos de trabajo. Ha de subrayarse que el efecto negativo sobre el empleo se agudizó en los últimos años de ese periodo, de tal manera que entre 2008 y 2010, por cada nuevo empleo creado, la reestructuración implicó la pérdida de 2,5 puestos de empleo.
Para quien tenga interés en profundizar en el estudio del asunto, el equipo de trabajo creado dentro de la Comisión Europea ha elaborado un estudio extremadamente detallado e interesante sobre la reestructuración en Europa en el que se ofrecen muy variados datos de naturaleza económica, social y jurídica y también se establece al final una serie de conclusiones. Se señalan 10 lecciones que cabe extraer de la experiencia reciente:
“…
· Measures to anticipate and manage restructuring are influenced by factors such as national culture, national industrial relations and employment systems, national welfare and social security systems and national skills and training strategies. Nevertheless, there are distinct and clear possibilities for the translation of initiatives or elements of initiatives across borders, adapting them to different national contexts.
· Active social partner involvement is crucial in many of the schemes available to anticipate and manage restructuring.
· A wide range of actors participating in measures is a strengthening factor. Partnerships can provide a wide range of expertise and human resources to support organisations that are trying to manage restructuring. This can also limit the effects of restructuring on the wider region, community and employees’ families.
· SMEs have specific challenges when engaging with the anticipation and management of restructuring in a socially responsible way. They often lack the resources, both financial and in terms of personnel, to go much beyond statutory compliance.
· Anticipation of restructuring is a powerful tool that can limit the negative effects of restructuring. However, there needs to be a greater emphasis on anticipation and preparation of restructuring.
· European funds play an important role in some of the ewer EU Member States and in southern Europe .
· While redundancy should always be a last resort, active measures should take place over passive measures.
· Training is a crucial and core issue when considering the anticipation and management of restructuring.
· The impact of restructuring on the health of the individuals concerned should be monitored closely, and negative effects, such as psychosocial impacts but also physical impacts, should be mitigated as much as possible. This concerns those who are made redundant, those overseeing the redundancies (line managers) and the ‘survivors’ of restructuring.
· Although a range of innovative policies and practices have been highlighted by all these studies, at national, regional, sectoral and organisational level, there is a general lack of coordination and coherence in terms of the implementation of socially responsible restructuring. For example, in terms of anticipation, it is vital that the information collected by early warning or forecasting systems is passed on in a timely fashion to the relevant stakeholders in order to ensure that it is put to full use. In the management of restructuring, all stakeholders, such as employees, employers, employee representatives, local authorities and training providers need to work together to ensure that employees facing job loss are provided with career guidance, appropriate training and competence development and outplacement support. More emphasis therefore needs to be placed on coordination of measures”.
Madrid, 1 de febrero de 2012
