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.
The Swedish clothing company, H&M, announced a plan to dismiss about 400 employees from 69 of its 150 shops in Sweden. Cooperation negotiations have been initiated with the Swedish Commercial Employees’ Union. The negotiations take place at the local level and for each shop separately. According to the PR department of H&M, employees that are being laid-off will be offered alternative employment in the company, though they have not specified further details on what this will entail.
The company needs to review and reorganize its operations due to changed customer behaviour and needs in the digital marketplace. Customers have increased their online shopping which is causing stores to close down.
In 2020, H&M cut about 1150 jobs in Sweden because of the digitalisation processes of the company and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. (H&M-2020-SE)
H&M is a Swedish multinational clothing company in the sector of fast-fashion clothing for men, women, teenagers, and children. The company employs around 171,000 people in 69 countries. In Sweden, H&M had 10,541 employees in 2021.
Updated 29/12/22
In addition to the previously announced 400 dismissals, the Handels trade union has warned that reductions in contracted working time for an additional 1,500 employees is to be expected. The trade union is concerned that for some employees this measure and the resulting salary cuts will be so drastic that it will cause significant difficulties for making ends meet. The cooperation negotiations have been taken from local level to central level.
Updated 5/4/2023
H&M’s cooperation negotiations are not yet concluded, but the company has announced that 95% of staff that have been offered reduced working hours have accepted the offer. Reduced working time affects about 650 staff working in H&M shops. The 5% of staff that have not yet accepted reduced working hours will likely be dismissed. The trade union Handels have been surprised that so many have accepted lower working hours. The union representative suspects that the cost of living crisis results in many holding on to their current job despite changed terms of employment, while simultaneously looking for other options. H&M have been criticised during the current restructuring, with critics saying their reduction measures are utilising loopholes in the Swedish Act on Employment Protection (Lag om omställningsskydd).
Eurofound (2022), H&M, Internal restructuring in Sweden, factsheet number 107622, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/107622.
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