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.
Otovo, a Norwegian solar energy installation company, announced the reduction of 166 jobs, nearly halving its workforce. The restructuring affects employees across 13 European markets, reducing the total employee count from 366 to approximately 200. Otovos employees are mostly engineers, programmers and technical consultants.The restucturing is part of a broader cost-cutting program aimed at reducing annual costs by NOK 200-225 million (EUR ~20 million).
The job cuts, representing a 46% reduction in staff, are part of a strategy to mitigate financial losses amid challenging market conditions in the solar sector. Most of the affected employees will be notified in September 2024, with the majority of reductions taking place in the following weeks. Severance payments are expected in the third quarter, and the full financial benefits of the restructuring are anticipated to take effect by the end of 2024.
CEO Andreas Thorsheim expressed regret over the downsizing, acknowledging the failure to align growth with organizational capabilities. The cuts are held to be a necessary measure to guide Otovo toward profitability while maintaining core operations.
Otovo offers solar panel installations on roofs and batteries in the home connecting homeowners with local installers through its automated marketplace.
Eurofound (2024), Otovo, Internal restructuring in Norway, factsheet number 201575, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/201575.
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...
