Unemployment prevention: The role of Human Resource Management in job-to-job transitions in the event of redundancy

Irmgard Borghouts – Van De Pas,Charissa Freese,Mark Bosmans

doi:10.1177/1388262721995209

Irmgard Borghouts – Van De Pas, Charissa Freese + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1177/1388262721995209

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Abstract

In downsizing organisations, redundant workers suffer from insecurities about work and income. Social security provides income security to the unemployed in the event of job loss. The role played by employers in unemployment prevention for redundant workers, and the effects on unemployment spells and transitions on the labour market, are neglected in both the social policy and HRM literatures. This article addresses the following question: Which factors play a role in the decision to offer job-to-job support and in determining its effect? This article provides the context for the theoretical assumptions regarding why employers initiate job-to-job measures for redundant employees and distinguishes the different types of measures based on a literature review. Secondly, this article contributes to empirical knowledge in the field of unemployment prevention among employers and the effects of job-to-job activities facilitated by employers on redundant workers’ unemployment spells. A two-wave study was conducted on a sample of 2,258 Dutch redundant workers. The study shows that age, breadwinner status and gender are important predictors of unemployment duration after involuntary dismissal. The findings show that investing in the human capital of redundant workers by providing training and education and individual coaching, for example, are associated with a reduced unemployment spell. In our model, in which we controlled for other variables, we found that when one received training, education or individual coaching shortly before or after the dismissal, one was unemployed for an average of almost three months less.

Highlights

Companies restructure their organisations in response to crises, globalisation, increased competition, and new technologies, often resulting in downsizing
It is important that redundant employees make a smooth transition to new jobs to avoid long-term unemployment, which stresses the significance of unemployment prevention, training, and education
There is no difference between men and women when it comes to finding a new job or not, the results showed that gender was associated with the unemployment duration: female redundant employees were more likely to have shorter unemployment spells than male redundant workers (b 1⁄4 -0.11, p < .01)

Summary

Introduction

Companies restructure their organisations in response to crises, globalisation, increased competition, and new technologies, often resulting in downsizing. Market pressure to increase the profit margin is an additional reason for company restructuring. In these times, redundant workers face tension and uncertainty regarding work and income (Shoss, 2017). To measure the overall association, the total number of job-to-job activities in which the respondents had participated was assessed at the individual-level. This indicated whether the association of job-to-job activities with the unemployment spell was stronger when participants took part in a greater number of different activity types. The overall association of job-to-job activities with the unemployment duration was assessed by measuring the perceived usefulness of activities. To measure the association of each activity with the unemployment spell, participation in this specific job-to-job activity was measured (no (0) or yes (1))

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