The Value of Outplacement?
by Linda Jackson, Managing Director at outplacement and career management consultancy, Fairplace www.fairplace.com
As the public sector braces itself for across the board job cuts, a recent survey of public sector workers found that 85% of them want career transition services and CV/interview advice to be made compulsory. They also found that 50% of public sector employees expect further redundancies in the next twelve months. The Office for Budget Responsibility has forecast that 600,000 jobs will go in the public sector by 2016 as massive spending cuts are imposed.
Although 80% of public sectors workers who had experience of being made redundant had made use of outplacement services, 73% of public sectors employees said there was no current support from their employer around being made redundant.
I’m not convinced all HR professionals understand the benefits of quality support for the departing individuals. Most people have a vague idea that it’s about helping with the CV and improving interview skills but those are just the basics. Some people will say “I’ll start my programme when I’ve decided what I want to do next” – little realising that assessing people’s skills and strengths and asking about their aspirations is exactly the career consultant’s bag in terms of developing options for employment.
Working with their vision, giving them confidence and help to achieve it, is what it’s all about – perhaps seeing your employee happily and successfully into a new role or advising them on how to start their own business.
But you need to invest appropriately. Not all your employees need the same sort of support, so a good career management consultancy will advise you as to the best options for your people and will project manage delivery and cost for you. It should never be a one size fits all approach.
What are the benefits for the organisation? Some people might have a sneaking feeling that they would be better off spending the cash on remaining employees or even giving the departing employees the extra cash. (I might be tempted to agree with you if you’ve paid lip service to outplacement consulting and employed a bucket shop!).
Firstly, there is the ethical standpoint. There may be many employees who will struggle to find a new position either in the short or the long term. What of the worry and distress caused to people who have been loyal and hardworking? What a way to repay them if you don’t help them into new jobs. What about the impact of this sort of PR on your organisation? What about your employer brand and reputation with existing staff and potential recruits?
What about litigation? Not only can an outplacement firm help the individual move forward, but the act of providing outplacement advice may help to mitigate against a departing employee’s claim should they decide to take legal action; it can be shown statistically that an individual who takes up quality outplacement advice is more likely to find a new role in an average of three months.
It would also be true to say that some organisations seem to miss a trick when it comes to redeployment opportunities. It seems ludicrous, but often the recruitment team doesn’t spend enough time talking to the HR team involved in a restructuring or they aren’t put in touch with the outplacement consultancy. We recently helped an organisation by setting up a competency tool for employees at risk and provided redeployment workshops to cope with change and internal interview and networking skills. The result was that half were redeployed saving over £2.5m in recruitment and redundancy fees. No small sum!
It’s people who make a difference to productivity and efficiency and, if you want to hang on to your talent, then you have to invest in them – but not at the expense of departing employees or your organisation’s reputation. Ask your Chief Executive if he is prepared to risk that!