Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
As announced on 29 May 2020, the German automotive parts manufacturer and supplier ZF Friedrichshafen will cut approximately 7,500 jobs in Germany (12,000 to 15,000 jobs worldwide) within the next 5 years due to inevitable restructuring. As the demand has plummeted in the first half of 2020 (expected drop in sales of €8 billion), mainly due to the COVID-19 crisis, ZF Friedrichshafen is facing significant financial burdens. The announcement was a surprise to the employees and the works council. The chief manager explained that he will try to save as many jobs as possible.
Negotiations between management, IG Metall and works council will start shortly. As of today, there is no information on the location of the job reduction.
ZF Friedrichshafen has 148,000 employees worldwide.
Eurofound (2020), ZF Friedrichshafen, Internal restructuring in Germany, factsheet number 101175, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/101175.
This working paper offers a comprehensive methodological overview of the European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) databases. Even though the methodology has not changed over time, new categories have been added, and the way it has been used by researchers and policymakers...
This Eurofound research paper explores key trends in restructuring in recent years, highlighting the companies that announced the largest job losses and job gains in the EU. It builds on an analysis of company announcements recorded in Eurofound’s European Restructuring...
In 2023, thousands of workers in big tech lost their jobs. Meta, Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft and Salesforce had been considered to offer good and secure jobs up to this point. Giants of the information and communication technology (ICT) sector,...
In 2024, the automotive sector in the EU came to the fore in public and policy discussions. The focus was on the slowdown in electric vehicle (EV) sales, rising global competition, belated investments in new technologies, and the potential closure...
The more employee monitoring resembles surveillance – with its systematic, continuous and detailed tracking of employees' activities, behaviours or communications – the greater the potential for infringement of both privacy and data protection rights. Although the EU General Data Protection...
Since 2013, Eurofound's ERM database on restructuring-related legislation has been documenting regulatory developments in the Member States of the European Union and Norway which are explicitly or implicitly linked to anticipating and managing change. The most recent update to the...
