Redundancy of work and short-time work
When the pandemic hit with full force the result ended up being that most companies within the hotel and restaurant industry were hit with a redundancy of work. Mass unemployment threatened the industry, and as a response Sweden activated the rules of short-term employment (or temporary layoff). By and large this was a whole new thing and neither the responsible agencies nor the companies understood how the legislation should be interpreted. As advisors it fell to us to interpret the legislation and the ever changing statements from The Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth (Tillväxtverket)
Terminations and negotiations
It wasn’t enough with short-term employment and some financial support from the government for many companies, which is why the termination of staff was unavoidable in most cases. We guided both multinational companies and smaller employers through the forest that is labour law and negotiations with the trade unions, order of selection, formalities and preferential rights to re-employment. Thanks to our and VISTA’s help, many companies still made it through the crisis and could eventually slowly recover.