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.
Royal Dutch Shell, commonly known as Shell, an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company, has announced it plans to cut 900 jobs in the Netherlands. Job cuts will most likely to appear at the offices in Den Haag, Rijswijk and Amsterdam.
The restructuring programme is a part of a broader reorganisation that seeks to transform Shell into a renewable energy-focused business. Shell plans to reduce the number of refineries and focus on lower-carbon energy sources like biofuel, hydrogen, and wind power. The cost-saving and restructuring programme is also related to the COVID-19 pandemic which caused a drop in demand for oil. The refineries in the Netherlands will not be affected by the restructuring.
Employees could already opt for voluntary redundancy in September 2021, anyway, a renewed voluntary redundancy programme will be started soon. Forced dismissals may be necessary in addition to voluntary redundancies, but details are still unclear.
The job cuts in the Netherlands are part of the global restructuring programme announced in September 2020. Shell is one of the largest companies in the Netherlands, employing 9,000 people in the Netherlands and 83,000 people worldwide.
Eurofound (2021), Royal Dutch Shell, Internal restructuring in Netherlands, factsheet number 102995, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/102995.
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...
