5 reasons why your organisation should invest in career transition / outplacement support.
Career Transition or Outplacement Support is a business critical investment that is becoming an essential service for companies downsizing or restructuring. For some HR professionals and business leaders, it may seem counter-intuitive or even a waste of money to invest in the welfare of departing staff, but there are numerous reasons as to why these support services are critical.
Who benefits from career transition/outplacement support?
It is not just the outgoing staff member(s) that benefits from outplacement support, but also the company as a whole, their investors or shareholders, the company’s management team, and the members of staff who remain within the affected department or team.
There are 5 key reasons why businesses needs career transition/outplacement support:
1. Outplacement provides practical and emotional support to affected staff.
Most obviously the outplacement service supports affected staff through a series of job search and career transition tools and coaching sessions. This can help to ease the distress and trauma caused by redundancy as well as recognise the contributions of those redundant employees. Individuals are matched with an appropriate Career Coach who works with them on a one to one basis and acts as a mentor, a sounding board, and a source of advice and motivation as they work through their change of role. Support can include career coaching, resume and cover letter development, job search strategizing, LinkedIn training, network coaching and interview skills training. All services are focused on helping the individual cope with the change and make finding and securing the new role as smooth as possible.
2. Protects and maintains the company’s brand and professional image.
In simple terms, if the outside world sees that displaced staff are taken care of, it promotes a positive company image. Clients, investors, suppliers and other key stakeholders will often be aware of changes within the company and will, consciously or unconsciously, form an opinion of what’s happening and how staff are being treated. Generally, we like to do business with people we can trust, and the presence of victims of poorly handled retrenchment decisions can raise questions in our mind about those we do business with.
Additionally, staff who have been made redundant but who are provided with outplacement support are less likely to act unprofessionally with stakeholders during the last few weeks or months of their employment.
3. Increases the productivity and protects the morale of remaining staff.
When redundancies occur, the productivity and morale of remaining employees can often drop. This can be attributed to higher workloads, unproductive time spent discussing the terminations, strong loyalty toward lost colleagues, and even the fear of potential future job cuts. Even a 1% drop in productivity can have a significant impact on the bottom line of a business. However if these remaining staff are able to see the support and care given to outgoing employees, they are more likely to maintain productivity and professionalism, and any drop in morale will be minimised.
4. Reduces the likelihood and cost of potential legal action.
Employees who feel the company has treated them unfairly are increasingly likely to settle their grievance via legal action. An effective career transition/outplacement program can reduce perceptions of mistreatment and therefore decrease the likelihood of a tribunal from 8% to less than 3%.
5. Improves productivity of leaders.
Redundancies often naturally coincide with increased tension and pressure on a business. Business leaders by default are therefore called upon to manage potential low morale of remaining staff, absenteeism, or even poor performance. Good support provided by outplacement to outgoing staff can alleviate stress and uncertainty, leaving business leaders better able to manage the remaining team and concentrate on the future effectiveness of the organisation.
Blue Sky Career Consulting provides a robust Outplacement Service designed to support outgoing staff members affected by redundancy or redeployment. If we can help your business, please get in touch at info@bluesky.net.au or call 0434 427 255.