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.
Thames Water, the company that supplies London residents and businesses with water, plans to cut a quarter of its workforce in a move that could see 300 posts axed every year up to 2010. The cuts come as the owner of Thames Water, the German utility giant RWE, prepares to sell the company.
The chief executive of Thames Water, Jeremy Pelczer, said in an email to staff: 'Any business has to be more efficient than its competitors in order to secure a long-term future. ... As we seek to drive the efficiencies needed to meet our goals, some of them will come through smarter procurement but some will come from different ways of working which will involve job cuts. This may lead to a head count reduction of up to 25% by early 2010. To put that in context, it would mean an average of around 300 people per year.'
Thames said compulsory redundancies would be kept to a minimum and voluntary cutbacks would be considered. The GMB union said it would be seeking reassurances from the company on several issues. The GMB official Kelly Rogers said: 'We will seek to ensure that no frontline jobs are cut and that investment continues to improve the service to customers. We will also seek an assurance that there will be no compulsory redundancies.'
Eurofound (2006), Thames Water, Internal restructuring in United Kingdom, factsheet number 63997, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/63997.
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...
