What does it look like to fire someone in Europe? As an outsider, all I’ve heard is that it looks very different from the US. What does the author mean by ‘associated compensation’?
To me in the UK, "fire" generally refers to letting someone go because of incompetence, bad behaviour, or whatever - the role will still exist but the individual is let go. In which case you're entitled to whatever your contract says, which is probably "stop now and we'll pay off your notice period". Whereas layoffs and redundancies mean the roles are disappearing, the individuals being a side-effect (indeed, you aren't legally allowed to target individuals AIUI. Happy to be corrected on this, though)
I've never been fired, but I have been made redundant twice. Both times I'd not been in the role longer than 2 years which meant I was legally entitled to fuck all. First time, that's exactly what I got. Second time, the company was laying off such a significant proportion of staff that they were mandated to negotiate with those affected and come to an agreement about notice, pay, etc. They came with an OK offer; the employees requested a lot more; the company met us half way. Being entitled to nothing, I was very happy with what I ended up taking home :)
Note that they are not require to negotiate notice, pay, etc. which are already specified in contracts and statutes.
What they are required to do if they plan to make more than 20 people redundant is to conduct a formal 'consulation', which means that they have to discuss with the employees potentially concerned about the reasons and how to keep redundancies to a minimum.
Companies may offer more than they have to for the sake of their reputation and for goodwill, and (maybe especially) to make employees sign terms that they won't sue and won't discuss the matter.
You’re right, of course. Consultation was the word I failed to recall. In both my redundancies, notice periods were negotiated because both employers wanted us to work longer than our notice. “We’re getting rid of your roles, but can you just deliver this unreasonable project first?”
Depends on the legislation in the country of employment. In Sweden, the law covering this situation is LAS, Lag om Anställningsskydd, The Employment Protection Act.[1]
I'm not exactly an expert, but if you're going to lay people off you have to do it based on how long someone has been at the company. Before you can lay someone off for 'lack of work', you're also required to show that this person cannot fill another position at the company. The rules are definitely in favor of the worker in Sweden.
This has been evolving over time. There are exceptions you can make as long as they're compensated. Now those things are negotiated in collective agreements at most places or individual contracts in the rare case.[1] There are also consequences for like if they claim it's a layoff but it's a firing and so on. It's kind of complicated and getting more so.
Looking at the Wikipedia-article, it appears to apply to unionized workplaces, and Klarna is not one of them.
There are of course ways you can part with your employer that falls outside this law - you can be asked to waive your rights, in some cases against compensation. Your employer can also choose to break the law and bank on you not knowing your rights/not feeling equipped to fight for your rights.
The relevant part is this "LAS gäller för alla arbetstagare med undantag för de i företagsledande ställning. Lagen är tvingande, men kan inskränkas genom kollektivavtalsskrivelser."
The law covers all employers and employees regardless of union membership, but agreements between unions and employer organizations can limit the scope.
As you say, in practice companies will often sweeten the deal with a big severance package if they want to make changes which the law doesn't allow. I.e. get the right people to voluntarily resign instead of having the wrong people being laid off.
"Instead, if you are working in Europe, you will be offered to leave Klarna with an associated compensation"
Legislation and procedures depend on country. The quote above suggests that they intend to offer a voluntary redundancy package, which enables them to bypass a lot of hoops and red tape by offering you more than you would be legally entitled to if you agree to leave voluntarily. It is not uncommon.
In Germany and I assume similarly in Sweden, there are no "at will" work areas like most of the US is. Eliminating a position is very difficult to do because of the worker protection laws that are in place.
Usually there are a few steps that have to be followed depending on the circumstances, most of which involve providing thorough justification. Yes, the government agencies do care about this.
Further, we have periods of time after a position is severed that the company must also compensate or keep the employee employed (like notice periods, only they're on a schedule based on how long you've worked) that have to be respected by both sides unless agreed upon otherwise.
I would imagine they've figured out some sort of severance package or lump some that is a function of their salary. Just speculating.
It really depends on the country. In Denmark if a company have massive layoffs. You would probably continue working for a couple of month if you wanted to. Also the company world typically help employees with finding a new job, pay for extra training etc.
I don't think you will see much of the "you got two hours to pack your stuff and then you are out" like in the US. In Europe most people will "finish" their job independently of whether they were fire or quit them self.
In some EU countries it is common that the companies offer employees a “deal” to leave without laying off the staff. At least three months of salary in compensation is common. I know companies that handed out 3 or 6 months + 1 month for each year of employment in salary.
You may only get fired if you are deemed incompetent and have a higher position or does something silly. Not working is not enough.
For Finland fired is different from laid off. So you can fire someone if they repeatedly break instructions like OSHA related stuff, fraud or stealing and so on. Very high bar in reality. Laid off on other hand is longer process requiring negotiation between employer and employees, comes with payment from 2 weeks (under 1 year employment) to 6 months(over 12 years). Also in some case temporary layoff, like in the original meaning of term is possible. After sometime the employment continues like before with same contract and seniority.
Depends on your contract/the country... Americans here often forget that the EU isn't a single country, but countries have vastly different employment laws, like they have vastly different education and healthcare systems.
> Instead, if you are working in Europe, you will be offered to leave Klarna with an associated compensation. Outside of Europe, the process for impacted employees will look different depending on where you work. You will obviously receive more information about this very soon.
The article makes it seem like regulations in Europe (technically, the countries in Europe with a Klarna employee presence, although that's not explicitly mentioned) are similar enough, which is what the GP wanted clarity on.
I've never been fired, but I have been made redundant twice. Both times I'd not been in the role longer than 2 years which meant I was legally entitled to fuck all. First time, that's exactly what I got. Second time, the company was laying off such a significant proportion of staff that they were mandated to negotiate with those affected and come to an agreement about notice, pay, etc. They came with an OK offer; the employees requested a lot more; the company met us half way. Being entitled to nothing, I was very happy with what I ended up taking home :)