A-Z of the dismissals
A series of steps will lead to the selection and dismissal of a number of employees on 5 October. Photo: Birgitte Ramsø Thomsen
In these final days of September, the fate of a number of CBS employees is being decided. The final amount of money saved on salaries via voluntary severance agreements (aka redundancy packages, Ed.) and senior agreements will be known. After this, the actual number of employees up for dismissal will be decided by management – and then the individuals will be selected.
News | 30. Sep 2023
How many?
The actual number of dismissals will not be published, according to Senior Management.
The date: 5 October
Every employee in the affected units or departments will have been told by their leader to be at their computers, ready for an email from 9 o’clock on Thursday 5 October. Some CBS services such as the Student Hub will be closed on that day. The HR and Legal unit will be notified the day before.
The criteria
When an organisation has to lay off workers in large numbers prompted by its overall conditions, it falls within the definition of a mass layoffs in Danish law. In these cases, objective criteria for layoffs must be documented to the official body The Regional Labour Market Council.
For that purpose, three main areas of ‘objective criteria’ – in no priority – have been decided by Senior Management after consultation with the General Consultation Committee (HSU). The leader has to make an overall assessment of each individual employee.
Both VIP (faculty) and TAP (administration) criteria share the areas of performance, potential and approach (see illustration), but have slightly different descriptions. Each employee will be scored from one to five on each of these three criteria.
The assessments will not be used outside this staff reduction process.
What if you are moved to a different department or unit? Do you have to accept?
This will depend on the specific situation, e.g. whether the employee is employed as a specialist or a generalist.
If the move entails a substantial change of tasks, employees will be notified according to administration law – meaning that employees can choose to either accept the new conditions or, if not, the conditions the employee will receive will be the same as those that apply on being laid off.
Severance agreements – senior agreements
Staff members considering a voluntary severance agreement or a senior agreement had the opportunity to contact their managers until 20 September. A reduction in weekly working hours was another option. All agreements are negotiated individually, and these agreements are to be concluded before 30 September.
Severance agreements ensure that employees are in a more favourable position compared to involuntary terminations of employment.
This could be in the form of:
- Paid leave of absence
- Task adaptation
- Newplacement programme
- Competence development
- Extraordinary pension fund contribution
- Emeritus/emerita affiliation agreement (VIP only)
For senior agreements, the perks could be:
- For managers, a ‘reduced-role’ position
- For 60+, reduced hours
Newplacement programmes
CBS collaborates with the HR consultancy Hartmanns, offering free ‘newplacement programmes’ to employees who are let go – to equip them for the next steps in their careers. Hartmann will also be present on campus with staff on 5 October to offer crisis counselling.
Heavily affected by the crisis – need to talk to a therapist?
CBS has an agreement with Prescriba. Employees may call Prescribe to hear if they may be eligible for psychological counselling from a therapist.
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