Our latest roundup of news from the Federation of European Employers (FedEE).
Europe: Creative ways to deal with downturn
Faced with a sharp drop in demand, many companies across Europe are finding new ways to reduce costs and avoid redundancies:
- Employees at Renault's engine plant in Valladolid, Spain, agreed to take early leave days in order to avoid lay-offs planned for later December.
- Opel's Gliwice factory in Poland reduced shifts from three to two and transferred part of its workforce to perform tasks previously carried out by outsourcing services.
- In Denmark, pensions and investments company Skandia is allowing its employees to take time off each month to carry out volunteer work with a national charity.
- In the Irish Republic, financial services company Permanent TSB introduced a number of incentives for staff to take career breaks of up to three years.
- Following a federal court case in 2006, many companies in Germany are requiring employees to use frequent flyer air miles generated through corporate travel to pay for further business trips.
These measures are in addition to common cost-cutting methods such as temporary plant closures and lay-offs, pay freezes, reducing overtime and discontinuing the use of agency workers.
Germany: Changes effective in January 2009
A number of important social security reforms and amendments will take effect in Germany on 1 January 2009. These include:
- The establishment of a standard 15.5 percent contribution rate for Germany's new public health fund applicable up to a maximum income of EUR 3,600 a month. If an employee earns at or above this upper earnings threshold, they will pay EUR 295 and their employer EUR 263 a month. Although the standard rate will be fixed, individual insurers will be able to charge an additional 1 percent if they run out of funds.
- A reduction in the contribution rate for German unemployment insurance from 3.3 percent to 2.8 percent.
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