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.
Transportation / Storage Land, Water And Air Transportation Air Transport 51.10 - Passenger air transport
New offshoring locations
Hong Kong, Singapore
540 jobs Number of planned job losses
Announcement Date
2 September 2014
Employment effect (start)
1 January 2015
Foreseen end date
Description
Finnish airline company Finnair is offshoring approximately 540 of its cabin personnel positions from Finland to Hong Kong and Singapore. The reductions will initially affect 20 of the routes Finnair operates globally, and will also affect approximately 80 regional cabin crew members from Adecco. The announcement comes after failed negotiations with the cabin personnel related to Finnair's goal to reduce their costs by €18 million yearly in 2011.The cabin service will be taken over by the Norwegian crew management company OSM Aviation which operates from Asia.
The reason behind the restructuring is the high wage level of Finnish cabin personnel which provides an obstacle to Finnair's long term programme to save €200 million to create economic sustainability. The cuts will only affect full-time cabin personnel, and are expected to enter force early 2015.
As reported, Finnair will fire the youngest employees first, while the more experienced employees with higher wages are forced to go on permanent leave for a maximum of two years before getting laid off. This method of reducing its workforce allows the company to maintain a 'standby' workforce in case of a sudden need to expand, while greatly reducing the costs of its operation. To date, no jobs have been cut.
Finnair dominates the domestic and international passenger air service market in Finland and is one of Europe's leading passenger airline companies, transporting over 8 million passengers per annum. Its annual turnover is around EUR 600 million. The median monthly wage of a Finnair cabin worker is €4,200.
Sources
2 September 2014: Helsingin Sanomat
1 September 2014: Finnair (press release)
2 September 2014: Affärsvärlden
Citation
Eurofound (2014), Finnair, Offshoring/Delocalisation in Finland, factsheet number 77500, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/77500.
Digitisation and automation technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), can affect working conditions in a variety of ways and their use in the workplace raises a host of new ethical concerns.
The retail banking sector is fertile ground for studying the impacts of digitalisation on work and employment. Financial services are increasingly provided online, without the intermediary of customer-facing institutions.
European labour markets have recovered strongly from COVID-19. By the end of 2021, little more than 18 months after the start of the pandemic, employment rates in the EU were almost at pre-crisis levels.
