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.
Esprit's Dutch subsidiary, operating in the fashion retail sector and part of the Hong Kong-based Esprit Holdings, has been declared bankrupt by a court in Amsterdam, leading to the loss of over 200 jobs across its last 17 stores in the Netherlands.
The job cuts primarily affect retail workers as all physical stores have closed, although the Dutch online store will continue operations from Germany. The company cited increasing energy and procurement costs, along with strategic missteps, as reasons for the restructuring.
There are no current plans to revive the Dutch subsidiary, and the bankruptcy reflects broader challenges faced by Esprit’s European operations which have also seen similar actions in Belgium, Switzerland and Germany. The European restructuring programme of Esprit can be found here Esprit-2024-EU.
Eurofound (2024), Esprit, Bankruptcy in Netherlands, factsheet number 201521, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/201521.
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...
