(The Industry Standard)

Germany is set to stage its first official pink-slip party, with the aim of bringing together laid off workers and recruiters.

The Berlin event will be held on 30 April and is being organised by Frank Lichtenberg, CEO of snacker.de, a food delivery portal, and spokesman for the start-up association ecostartup. "We want to bring back optimism", Lichtenberg says.

Admittance will be free for people who have recently been laid off. So far, 600 "pink-slippers" have registered on the event Web site (www.pinkslipparty.de), said Lichtenberg.

Headhunters will pay 125 euros to attend the event. They will be given pink badges, so that job seekers can identify them. Among the sponsors of the event are an online job listing company, a career site and Randstad, the temporary-staff agency.

Germany's new economy is seeing a growth in the number of workers being laid off. E-commerce software firm Intershop and the leading multimedia agencies Pixelpark, Kabel New Media and Razorfish have all reduced staff numbers. Many companies are trying to circumvent Germany's employee-friendly labour laws by persuading employees to sign "revocation contracts" rather than technically laying them off.

And many IT employees are deciding to move from start-ups to more established technology firms. Tech companies are still struggling to find experienced software engineers. Business software producer SAP alone has added 1,000 people, mostly programmers, to its 25,000-strong payroll in the last quarter.

While the pink-slip party should serve the practical purpose of a "modern employment exchange", Lichtenberg said he also wants glamour. "First Tuesday is nothing but warm wine in plastic cups now," he said. "We'll really party." The event is to take place in Berlin's Reinbeckhallen, a modernised industrial loft in the eastern part of the city that can accommodate 1,500 people.

Lichtenberg intends to organise further parties in May and June in Munich, Hamburg and Frankfurt.

Copyright (c)2000 The Industry Standard