Restructuring for corporate success. A socially sensitive approach

Provides guidance on establishing a strategy of worker retention and worker displacement that will minimize the negative social impact of enterprise restructuring and respect the provisions of international labour standards. Looks at the reasons for workforce reduction and its impact on the individual and the company and sets out alternative options that managers should consider. Includes examples of best practice.

Today, more than ever before, civil society as well as the market are demanding that enterprises exercise a socially sensitive approach to the way they conduct business and treat their workers, particularly during the process of restructuring. Often, however, there is little social dialogue or consideration of affected employee’s interests during the downsizing process. This book offers valuable tools and guidance on how companies can minimize the social costs during these periods of restructuring while maximizing economic output.

Replete with numerous examples and case studies featuring good practice, this book demonstrates how many companies around the world have managed restructuring in a socially sensitive manner with global success. A positive outcome, the volume highlights, is largely determined by the quality of labour-management relations, which has been proven to mitigate the negative effects of restructuring.

Strategies such as counseling, training, internal and external job searching, mobility, severance packages are presented in detail, as well as an analysis of the various stages of the workforce reduction process and the ideas and principles behind socially sensitive enterprise restructuring.