In 2015, the top management of French tire-maker Michelin, was evaluating Michelin's approach to divesting its rubber plantations ten years after incorporating a novel strategy. In 2004, Michelin had a Brazilian rubber challenge. Its Bahía plantation had been hit with the South American Leaf Blight fungus, the same fungus that destroyed Henry Ford's dreams of industrializing rubber production, and the plantation's productivity had dropped. Bahía had to go. That much was clear. But how to do it? From the Michelin headquarters in Clermont-Ferrand, the rubber plantations of Bahía Brazil seemed half a world away. Still, Michelin, then led by Édouard Michelin, great-grandson of Michelin's founder, was founded with a deep belief in the importance of treating its employees and the environment fairly. Michelin embarked on an ambitious plan to divest the plantation while practicing corporate social accountability. However, in doing so, it had to understand the needs of its plantation workers, its environmental impact, while also considering its own needs as a business. Now, Michelin had to evaluate how well the company had done with its Bahía program, if there was anything that could be improved in its divestment process, and whether or not the plan, or elements of it, was something Michelin should consider using again in the future.

"Not another Bochum." Nokia Board Chairman Jorma Ollila was clear in the goals he set for the 2011 restructuring that Nokia's new CEO, Stephen Elop, had decided was necessary to address the dramatically changed competitive environment the company faced in smartphones and mobile phones. The strategy shift would include transitioning Nokia's phone operating system to Microsoft Windows, and closing phone R&D centers and factories in 13 countries, with layoffs that would eventually impact 18,000 employees. Yet with several important R&D projects still under development, and capacity needed in factories for many more months, Nokia's board and leaders wanted to avoid the mistakes the company had made in a plant shutdown in Bochum, Germany in 2008. EVP of Corporate Relations and Responsibility Esko Aho was mandated to develop a "Nokia way" to implement the restructuring that would reflect the company's values and allow them to maintain morale and commitment among the employees who would eventually lose their jobs. The case describes the development of Nokia's "Bridge" program, a comprehensive approach to helping employees find new employment opportunities and to replacing jobs in communities where Nokia had been a major employer. The case challenges students to make decisions such as when and how to tell employees about a layoff, how to manage local government leaders, and what support to provide in 13 different countries, each with its own legal and regulatory environment, cultural norms, and expectations and needs of employees and local communities.

Nokia's leaders reflect on the Bridge program, lessons learned during its implementation, and the business benefits it brought to the company. Nokia's Bridge program resulted in 60% of employees knowing their next step the day they exited the firm. It also helped employees start 1,000 new companies, and replaced jobs in communities where Nokia was a major employer. One-third of all mobile phone sales between 2011 - 2012 came from new products that were developed at R&D sites and manufactured at factories that were to be closed down or downsized as part of the restructuring.

CEO Dave Cote spent six years turning around an ailing Honeywell and in 2008 Cote and his team face a new challenge: how to respond to the Great Recession. Cote does not want to give up the gains he made in transforming and unifying Honeywell. With a fall-off in demand, Cote and the team must decide how to enact spending cuts in all parts of the business. They face choices in whether to employ layoffs or furloughs (unpaid leaves) for any needed workforce reductions, and whether to enact hiring freezes and other cost-saving changes to employee and executive compensation programs and benefits. Each of these choices is hard, and together they may derail the company's momentum if not handled carefully.

Five years after the Great Recession, Honeywell's CEO Dave Cote and his executive team reflect on the choices they made to manage costs and earnings forecasts during that uncertain time. They discuss which cost cutting measures they decided to take and their personal decisions of whether or not to accept bonuses in 2009. Cote also discusses the challenges Honeywell faced implementing unpaid work leaves (furloughs) in different parts of the world and how he believes the choices they made during the recession positioned Honeywell to respond to the economic recovery.

This technical note describes the practice of employee furloughs (also known as work sharing or short time work) including their regulatory frameworks in different countries and the business and ethical implications of their use.