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.
Retail Wholesale And Retail Trade And Repair Of Motor Vehicles And Motorcycles Sale Of Motor Vehicles 45.11 - Sale of cars and light motor vehicles
130 jobs Number of planned job losses
Announcement Date
30 June 2021
Employment effect (start)
1 July 2021
Foreseen end date
Description
Retail company Kesko’s car trade division is cutting down 130 positions in Helsinki, as a result of the company’s codetermination negotiations.
According to Kesko’s President of the car trade division, the decision was made for the company to further grow its efficiency, profitability, and sales.
Due to the automation and digitalisation of operations and process development within the company, a further decrease by a maximum of 150 persons during the next 18 months is expected.
Kesko and K-retailers together form K Group. According to their website, the group is the third biggest retail operator in Northern Europe and employs around 39,000 people. Kesko operates in the grocery trade, building and technical trade, and car trade. Kesko has around 1,800 stores in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.
Sources
30 June 2021: Kesko [press release] (www.kesko.fi)
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.
