Santé et Restructurations (HIRES). Recommandations, réponses nationales et questions politiques dans l´UE

Dans l’Union Européenne, les restructurations sont devenues un fait quotidien dans le secteur privé comme dans le secteur public. Or, souvent ces processus échouent dans la réalisation de leurs objectifs de sécurisation ou d’amélioration de la profi tabilité. Et, à l’inverse, font courir des risques physiques et psychosociaux à l’ensemble des parties prenantes des organisations qui y procèdent. Pour réduire ces risques de manière effective, il importe que différents groupes d’acteurs (au niveau des individus, des entreprises ou de la société) collaborent pour mettre en place des procédures de changement plus saines et créer un « convoi social » facilitant les transitions professionnelles des salariés licenciés. Le groupe européen d’experts du projet HIRES (Health in Restructuring) a été coordonné par le professeur Thomas Kieselbach de l’Université de Brême et cofi nancé par la DG Emploi de la Commission Européenne. Leur rapport comporte une présentation concise des effets des restructurations d’entreprises avant de se pencher sur les mesures sociales et les procédures de changements qui permettraient des « restructurations plus saines ». Les recommandations et les études de cas présentant des approches innovantes à l’échelle des entreprises ou des territoires s’adressent aux responsables politiques, aux organisations gouvernementales en charge de la santé au travail, aux syndicats, aux managers, aux personnes en charge de la santé et sécurité, aux actionnaires mais aussi aux salariés. Dans toute l’Europe, auprès de nombreuses professions, institutions et parties prenantes, l’accueil par le public des recommandations HIRES en matière de santé et de restructurations a été impressionnant. Conçues avant le démarrage de la crise, ces recommandations ont rencontré, du fait des développements économiques récents, une sensibilité encore accrue de l’opinion aux questions soulevées dans le rapport HIRES. Le succès d’HIRES a conduit à une étape HIRES Plus, coordonnée par Claude Emmanuel TRIOMPHE (ASTREES, Paris) et Thomas KIESELBACH (Brême) qui ont organisé 13 séminaires nationaux visant à ce que les principaux acteurs soient mieux informés, s’approprient les conclusions d’HIRES et en testent la validité. Et ce afi n d’envisager les différentes possibilités d’inclure la dimension de la santé dans la conduite des restructurations ainsi que la constitution de réseaux à l’échelle nationale et européenne.restructurations d’entreprises, santé, transitions professionnelles, cadres d’action européens, procédures plus saines de changements, études de cas, réponses nationales

Health in Restructuring. Innovative Approaches and Policy Recommendations

Enterprise restructuring can no longer be understood as a temporal crisis. Current developments show that for many organizations and even regions or sectors restructuring became a recurrent and continuous process. But often restructuring processes fail to produce the intended effects of secured or increased organizational profitability. On the contrary restructuring puts the physical and psycho-social health of all organizational members at risk. Besides the uncovering of pre-existing health problems, also the chronification of these illnesses had to be documented both for laid-off workers and survivors of the restructuring. But not only increased rates of sick leave and presenteeism of sick employees deteriorate the organizational performance. Some of the irritations that restructuring can cause also directly impede inner-organizational interactions. Therefore, restructuring should be understood as an individual as well as an organizational stressor. To limit the risks of enterprise restructuring effectively, several groups of actors at the individual, enterprise and societal level have to collaborate towards the implementation of healthier change procedures and to create a social convoy in occupational transitions for workers affected by dismissal. The European Expert Group on Health in Restructuring (HIRES) was coordinated by Prof. Dr. Thomas Kieselbach from the University of Bremen and supported by DG Employment of the European Commission. It presents with this report a concise overview of the effects of enterprise restructuring and the social frameworks and change procedures that should be considered for “healthier restructuring”. The results of this project are based on the interdisciplinary expertises from 15 European project partners and 12 external experts. With its policy recommendations and the case studies of innovative approaches on a company and regional level the report addresses policy makers, governmental structures like labour inspectorates or federal institutes, unions, managers, occupational health and safety personnel, shareholders and workers alike. The HIRES recommendations are even more important if we consider the current crisis with its unprecedented effects on employment and the health of employees.enterprise restructuring, health, social convoy, European frameworks, healthier change procedures, case study reports

Health in Restructuring (HIRES). Recommendations, National Responses and Policy Issues in the EU

Restructuring has become a daily practice in both private and public sectors in the EU. But often restructuring processes fail to produce the intended effects of secured or increased organizational profi tability. On the contrary restructuring puts the physical and psychosocial health of all organizational members at risk. To limit the risks of enterprise restructuring effectively, several groups of actors at the individual, enterprise and societal level have to collaborate towards the implementation of healthier change procedures and to create a ‘social convoy” in occupational transitions for workers affected by dismissal. The European Expert Group HIRES on Health in Restructuring was coordinated by Prof. Dr. Thomas Kieselbach from the University of Bremen and supported by DG Employment of the European Commission. It presented with its report a concise overview of the effects of enterprise restructuring and the social frameworks and change procedures that should be considered for ‘healthier restructuring”. With its policy recommendations and the case studies of innovative approaches on a company and regional level the report addresses policy makers, governmental structures like labour inspectorates or federal institutes, unions, managers, occupational health and safety personnel, shareholders and workers alike. The public reception of the HIRES recommendations on Health in Restructuring was impressive all over Europe and across different institutions, stakeholders and professions. They were conceived before the economic crisis started but the development of the economies increased public awareness for the problems addressed in the HIRES report. It was disseminated on an international level within several scientifi c communities as well. The success of HIRES led to the follow-up project HIRES Plus (co-ordinated by Dr. Claude Emmanuel Triomphe (ASTREES, Paris) and Prof. Dr. Thomas Kieselbach, Bremen), which organized in 13 EU countries national workshops in order to increase awareness of main actors, discuss HIRES conclusions and to test them in the light of the national consultation process, discuss possible ways to include health as an issue when restructuring takes place and to develop networks at national and European levels.enterprise restructuring, health, social convoy, European frameworks, healthier change procedures, case study reports