Thursday, 21st May 2020, Velenje

Gorenje has already reduced the number of layoffs due to business reasons by 40%

Gorenje has already reduced the number of layoffs due to business reasons by 40%

At the end of April, due to a sharp drop in orders and revenues as a result of the coronavirus epidemic, the Hisense Europe Group launched a redundancy program in four companies in Slovenia. After adopting the criteria for determining redundant workers, in which the trade union did not want to participate, we then reached an additional agreement according to which in any Hisense Gorenje company where there are redundancies, both of the spouses or extramarital partners can not lose their jobs, also any single parents will not be made redundant in any of the companies. Until the preparation of the draft redundancy program for the company Gorenje, d. o. o., which we have already presented to the trade union, we have managed to reduce the number of layoffs due to business reasons in this company by 40%, from the originally planned 544 to 327. 

In the disability company I.P.C. we will not implement the redundancy program at all, as the law does not require this with such a small number of redundancies (the number of redundancies in I.P.C. will be less than 29, instead of the originally assessed 84). The company will terminate the employment contract for business reasons with employees with disabilities only if the conditions set out in the regulations on pension and disability insurance or in the regulations governing vocational rehabilitation and employment of the disabled are met.

If, after the procedure is completed, the demand for workers reappears in one of the Hisense Gorenje companies or with other employers, we will provide these companies with information on the number and category of redundant workers in order to facilitate their re-employment. We will also inform redundant workers about the offer of available jobs in the areas where they live.

Companies of the Hisense Europe Group in Slovenia became partially (as far as they are entitled and those companies that are entitled) involved in state intervention measures, but labour costs, considering the drastically reduced business volume, are still negatively affecting the business result. As the state limited the amount of aid to EUR 800,000 for an individual company with the amendment to the intervention law, we are only entitled to EUR 1.7 million in aid for all companies in Slovenia (and no longer to EUR 5.3 million as before the restriction). Gorenje's expected loss in the first half of the year will amount to EUR 41 million, given the decline in orders, which continues in May and June.