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Three brief case studies of Irish companies, Glanbia plc, eircom and ESB, that have established mobility centres are outlined below.
RTE operated a mobility centre known as the Staff Development Centre (SDC) for a number. The Centre was established as part of the Transformation Agreement between management and staff under which 300 employees will leave the organisation under a voluntary redundancy programme. It is important to note, however, that the SDC not only provided supports to employees leaving under the redundancy programme but also had a major role in facilitating internal staff mobility. For more detailed information on the operation of the SDC which has now been discontinued, follow this link to an archived section of the RTE web site.
ITS, the lead partner in the Mobility Centres project, has prepared case studies of the experiences of a number of Dutch companies which operate mobility centres. One such case study is Stork Mobiel, the mobility centre of Stork, a large industrial conglomerate which employs 20,000 people.
Glanbia plc [Job Centres]
The following is a short description of the Job [Mobility] Centres established by Glanbia. For a more detailed, slide-show presentation of the Glanbia Job Centres, follow this link.
The second company to establish an in-company mobility centre in Ireland after the ESB was Glanbia, formerly called the Avonmore Waterford Group, and which is a partner in the Mobility Centres project. The company was formed from the merger of two large dairy companies, Avonmore and Waterford. Both companies were from the South East of Ireland and were rivals in a number of markets. The merger resulted in a company which had a number of duplicate plants which if eliminated would have resulted in substantial economies of scale—which was one of the reasons for the merger. The new company commenced a programme of rationalising the number of plants which resulted in a redundancy programme at its plants in Dublin and in the South East.
The government established two Task Forces to investigate alternative jobs for the redundant workers in Dublin and the South East. FAS, another of the Irish partners in the Mobility Centres project, was actively involved in both task forces.
Glanbia had learnt of the ESB initiative and decided to establish what it termed a Job Centre in both Dublin and the South East. Like the ESB, the management of Glanbia considered using external out-placement consultants to assist with the redundancy programme but decided to establish its own centre. A manager and a secretary was appointed to each Job Centre which was equipped with computers, printers, telephones, photo-copiers and newspapers. The Job Centres provided a number of services to people being made redundant including:

Financial/taxation advice;

Counselling;

Retirement planning;

Business start-ups;

Training;

Job search/assistance;

Pension planning.
The services provided by the Glanbia Job Centres were very similar to those provided by the ESB Career Change Service. A major difference between the two was that Glanbia developed two initiatives: the first was a development fund financed by the company to assist in the attraction of new companies into the South East. The second was a seed capital fund into which it and Enterprise Ireland, the state indigenous industry development agency, committed funds on a 50:50 basis to assist redundant workers to establish new businesses. The investment fund amounted to 4.76 million euro and the combined seed capital fund was 6.3 million euro.
The Glanbia redundancy programme has been completed and the Job Centres in both Dublin and the South East have now been closed. The work undertaken both by the Task Forces and the Job Centres were considered very successful in assisting the redundant workers to find alternative careers outside of the company.
eircom [Resource Business]
The only company which is currently known to have an internal mobility company in operation is eircom, the privatised state telephone company formerly known as Telecom Eireann. The centres, Resource Business, were established following negotiations between management and trade unions on the need for the company to survive in a deregulated market. The company plans to establish thirteen Resource Business centres around the country which will be mainly staffed by internal employees though they are supported by external counsellors.
For a more detailed, slide-show presentation of the eircom Resource Business (mobility centre), follow this link.
The main objective of the Resource Business centres is to contribute to eircom being a viable, profitable and growing business by creating the environment and support structure which will:

Support employees through change;

Facilitate the identification and pursuit of realistic options and life choices;

Foster on-going personal development and learning;

Encourage mobility across functions and business units;

Support the development of an entrepreneurial culture;

Help meet the staffing requirements of the business units.
Employees whose job has disappeared are required to register with the Resource Business though registration is voluntary for all other employees. The company has closed a number of units in the West and North of the country and the employees of these units must register with the Resource Business centres.
The Resource Business centres work with employees to identify job opportunities elsewhere within eircom; this could be a short-term assignment on a specific project or it could be a full-time job somewhere else within the company. Alternatively, the Resource Business can help employees to seek employment outside of the company or assist the employee to start a new business. As with the case of Glanbia, eircom has established an investment fund to assist in the development of new enterprises by staff members.
The Resource Business centres provide advice and support to employees in helping them to decide their future options which the Resource Business unit calls "pathways". Thus, if an employee expresses an interest in finding a new job outside of eircom, the Resource Business advisor will help him to identify career goals and develop a CV. The employee can participate in a training programme to develop their future career options.
The main focus of the Resource Business unit to-date has been on encouraging and facilitating mobility within the company particularly from business units in rural areas to large urban centres such as Dublin where there are number shortages. In the long term it is likely, however that the unit will focus more on assisting external mobility given the need for eircom to reduce numbers by approximately 3,000 over the next three years.
ESB
The Electricity Supply Board (ESB) is the state owned electricity generating and distribution company in Ireland. Since the early 1990s the company had known that its monopoly position would be under threat from deregulation of the electricity generation and distribution markets. In order to prepare for competition, management and trade unions in 1996 agreed on a voluntary redundancy programme which would result in approximately 2,000 employees leaving the organisation.
An integral part of the redundancy package was that an in-company unit, the Career Change Services (CCS), would be established to provide career advisory and support services to staff members leaving the company.
The CCS consisted of a manager, seven Career Change Advisors and six Placement Administrators, all of whom received extensive training in career counselling and job placement from a specialised UK out-placement consultancy company. Importantly, the CCS staff members were drawn from a number of disciplines and backgrounds within the company.
Two centres known as Career Change Centres were established, one in Dublin and the second at its largest power generating plant on the West coast.
The two Career Change Centres provided a range of services to over 900 employees including:

Career advice;

Self employment;

Self marketing;

Administrative support;

Interview preparation;

Job search;

Training services;

Personal financial advice.
The focus of the work undertaken by the Career Change Centres was on assisting staff members to seek a new career outside of the ESB. It should be noted however that many of those leaving the ESB under the redundancy programme were in the 55+ age group and as they essentially were taking early retirements they were not major users of the services provided by the Career Change Centres.
The services provided by the Career Change Centres were considered useful by both employees taking the voluntary redundancy package and by management. Management also believed that the Career Change Service had been beneficial for a number of reasons including its contribution to a relatively trouble-free implementation of the redundancy programme. The trade unions noted that the establishment of an internal out-placement service such as the Career Change Centres made effective use of existing career advisory-related skills and expertise within the ESB. The users of the CCS felt that they had gained self-confidence to seek new careers outside the organisation.
With the ending of the redundancy programme in 1999, the Career Change Service has closed. A new redundancy programme is, however, under consideration within the ESB and it is likely that some form of career advisory and support services would be provided to employees leaving under this programme.
Future developments
Future enhancements of this site will include additional case studies of Dutch companies which have established mobility centres will also be provided.