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.
Information / Communication Computer Programming, Consultancy And Related Activities Computer Programming, Consultancy And Related Activities 62.09 - Other information technology and computer service activities
290 jobs Number of planned job losses
Announcement Date
23 January 2023
Employment effect (start)
6 March 2023
Foreseen end date
Description
The Finnish retailer of refurbished cellphones, Swappie, announces that up to 290 of its employees at the company’s refurbishment factory in Kalasatama, Helsinki, could be facing changes in their employment. The company plans to concentrate its refurbishment operations by moving repair operations outside Finland, mainly to Estonia and Germany.
Swappie has initiated cooperation negotiations with staff representatives, as an attempt to improve efficiency and cost savings. The company’s business activity has been affected by both rising inflation and decreasing web-sales. Rising interest rates have in turn made financing harder to come by for growth-oriented companies such as Swappie.
Swappie was considering reducing its number of employees already in June 2022, by laying off up to 250 employees globally. Only a few months earlier the company had announced its goals to increase its staff by 1,000 employees by the end of 2022. During 2021 the company planned to hire up to 400 employees at its Helsinki office, and 200 people in Tallin, Estonia, due to rapid business growth and expansion.
Swappie has around 1,000 employees globally, of which 503 were in August 2022 employed by the Finnish parent company.
Sources
23 January 2023: Helsingin Sanomat (HS) (www.hs.fi)
Eurofound (2023), Swappie, Internal restructuring in Finland, factsheet number 108249, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/108249.
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.
