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.
UK-based medical technology firm Smith & Nephew will cut 550 jobs worldwide over the next three years, out of a global workforce of around 11,000. It has not been reported in which countries the job losses will occur.
Details of the plans were announced on 2 February 2012. Some 220 jobs have already been lost as part of a cost-saving strategy announced in November 2011, while another 550 reductions will take place over the next three years. The cuts will mainly affect back-office staff.
The firm is Europe's largest artificial hip and knee manufacturer and also has endoscopy and advanced wound management units. Patients' decisions to defer elective surgery during the economic downturn have been highlighted as an explanation for falling margins. Chief executive Olivier Bohuon has predicted that economic conditions will continue to affect the business.
Media reports state that artificial hip joints with a metal-on-metal design have been under scrutiny following safety concerns about other manufacturers' products. This is a second reason for declining profitability in the firm's artificial hip division. However, the press has reported on assurances from Smith & Nephew that their products are safe and effective.
Eurofound (2012), Smith & Nephew, Internal restructuring in World, factsheet number 73058, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/73058.
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...
