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.
Widex Eesti OÜ, a producer of hearing aid electronics, announced offshoring programme, causing 118 redundancies in Estonia. The company has decided to relocate the manufacturing to the Philippines. The production in the Estonian factory, which opened in 2012, is terminated as of August 2020 and the 118 workers at the plant will be laid off by the end of September 2020. The reason for the relocation is the increase in effectiveness and flexibility of the supply chain and thus decrease in production costs.
To mitigate the difficulties of the workers, the company has turned to the employment agency Finesta to help affected workers in finding new employment opportunities in Estonia. Additionally, the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund will help the employees by providing counselling, support, benefits and training, if needed.
Widex Eesti OÜ is part of the Danish company Widex which specialises in hearing aid products; in 2019, Widex merged with Sivantos into WS Audiology.
Eurofound (2020), Widex Eesti, Offshoring/Delocalisation in Estonia, factsheet number 101409, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/101409.
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