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.
Spanish multinational commercial bank Banco Santander announced that it plans to cut its workforce across Europe under a cost-saving programme in 2020-2022. The restructuring programme, called One Europe, is expected to be implemented in Spain Portugal, Poland and the UK. So far, the bank announced job cuts in two countries: Poland (2,000 jobs cut) and Spain. In Spain, the lender intends to lay off 13% (about 4,000 jobs) of its workforce and close about 1,000 branches across the country. The conditions of the collective dismissal schemes are negotiated with employees’ representatives according to local regulations.
The cost-saving and restructuring programme is related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The CEO of the company revealed the bank recorded a loss of $10.59 billion in the first nine months of 2020. The number of office transactions has been decreasing, while digital transactions have been increasing, and the pandemic accelerates the trends. The bank plans to focus on operation digitalisation as well as improve its organisational effectiveness. Under the programme, Banco Santander aims to save €1 billion within the next two years.
Founded in 1857, Banco Santander operates in Europe, both Americas and Asia. As of 2019, the bank employed 196,419 staff worldwide.
Eurofound (2020), Banco Santander, Internal restructuring in European Union, factsheet number 102747, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/102747.
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...
