In November 2025, the local trade union association at Halmstad University was informed by the employer that up to 15 members of staff were at risk of redundancy. Eleven people were subsequently given notice, and in the end, seven lost their jobs.
“It’s never pleasant when there are redundancies,” says Jonas Carlsson, Chair of Saco-S at Halmstad University, “but it’s at least good that it wasn’t as many people as we feared at the start.”
One person was offered redeployment but declined, and in the other six cases the employer was not able to find any viable redeployment options.
“I regret that we have had to make valued and highly skilled members of staff redundant,” writes Marie Andersson, Head of Human Resources at Halmstad University, in an email to Universitetsläraren, “even though the number is lower than we initially feared given our financial situation – a challenge we share with many other higher education institutions.”
A reorganisation is also currently underway at the university. The number of Schools is to be reduced from four to three, and the support functions are also to be reorganised. Previously, the plan was for the new organisational structure of the Schools to come into effect at the turn of the year, but this has now been postponed by six months after the management took on board feedback from staff, a decision that Carlsson welcomes.
“We have emphasised the importance of involvement. Collectively, the staff have many years’ experience of working with both research and teaching.”
At the same time, he is concerned that the reorganisation of the university’s support functions is being rushed. He tells us that the employer has said it is to be introduced as early as 1 January 2027.
Marie Andersson writes to Universitetsläraren that the reorganisation of administrative support has been “brought forward”, without specifying a date.
“They seem to be in more of a hurry,” says Carlsson, “and it’s not clear why. It’s important that the administrative staff are consulted and feel that they’re listened to. And so we think the timetable for implementation is far too tight.”
The changes have raised fears of further redundancies, but Jonas Carlsson emphasises that the union has heard nothing to suggest that is the case. “Obviously there is concern amongst our members, and of course they contact us to express these concerns, so we try to pass them on when we speak to the employer.”
