Introduction
There’s no legal requirement to offer an Outplacement Support Services when you’re making redundancies – following a legally compliant process is as far as you need to go. So why does an Outplacement Support Programme have a place in the employee lifecycle?
It feels like the right thing to do, you know outplacement benefits impacted employees and most responsible employers will offer it. But what are the business benefits and how do you convince the leadership team it’s a worthwhile investment? Read on and I’ll explain the 8 reasons you should consider offering Outplacement Support Services when you’re making redundancies.
Are Outplacement Support Services worth it?
If you’ve been personally impacted by redundancy or know friends and family who’ve gone through it you’ll know it’s a life changing event. No matter who you are or what you do, losing a job is destabilising. Our jobs are more than just a source of income:
- A job forms part of our identity.
- The relationships we make at work are a source of support and strength.
- Work gives us a sense of purpose.
- Having a job provides a level of financial stability which allows us to support our lives outside of work.
- Work contributes to our self-worth, being rewarded and recognised for the skills and contribution we make.
- A job helps us to plan for the future both personally and professionally.
- Work provides a level of stability and predictability and can be a safe haven for some who have difficult personal lives.
With other life changing events such as bereavement or divorce there are specialists available to support individuals – lawyers, counsellors, mediators. Outplacement Support specialists are the equivalent to support someone in a redundancy situation. They’re the professionals who step in and offer help, advice and guidance to get someone through this life changing event and successfully out the other side.
How do employers benefit from providing Outplacement Services?
If you’ve got company values that mean something and you’re a responsible employer, offering Outplacement Support Services ends the employee lifecycle in line with those company values and best practice. It’s a way of demonstrating that employees matter not only right up until the day they leave but beyond – it shows you care about their future even after they’ve left.
Employees are your business advocates and will happily talk about their experiences. Social media makes it easy to impact a company’s reputation. Emotions run high in a redundancy situation and if things aren’t handled in the right way or employees don’t feel they’re being supported this has the potential to very quickly have a negative impact on company brand and reputation.
Morale of the whole organisation is adversely impacted during a redundancy exercise, it’s not just about those whose roles are removed. Outplacement support not only positively impacts those who leave but also helps with retention for those who remain, allowing them to see their employer is upholding company values and ending the employee lifecycle in as positive a way as possible. They can also see that if this were to happen to them they would be supported.
Performance and job satisfaction are impacted by a redundancy exercise. Those colleagues who remain are inevitably distracted by what’s happening, concerned for their colleagues who are leaving and fearful that this could happen to them in the future. Outplacement support is part of a compassionate approach to managing redundancies which positively impacts on the performance and job satisfaction of those who remain, both during and after the consultation process. People can see their friends and colleagues are being looked after.
A restructure creates uncertainty and a time when your top talent can feel vulnerable. Individuals who had thought about leaving before may feel the need to do something about it if they feel the organisation isn’t treating people fairly and they fall out of love with the business. Offering Outplacement Support can help with retention by allowing everyone to see they are following a compassionate, best practice and supportive approach to redundancies which can positively impact retention.
It will always be difficult to recruit into certain jobs, no matter the state of the job market. Low unemployment at the moment means employers are competing for candidates. Demonstrating how a company treats people at all stages during the employee lifecycle is a measure of whether they’re a good employer and a great place to work. When candidates can choose where and who they want to work for, investing in support for those who leave creates a positive impression with those you’re trying to attract and makes recruitment easier.
No matter how hard you try, some redundancies can end in litigation. Offering outplacement support can help with mitigation in claims for unfair dismissal and help to reduce the potential legal costs.
Outplacement support also frees up time to allow the HR team to focus on rebuilding the organisation. Without outplacement support, the HR team can find themselves spending a disproportionate amount of time with outgoing employees offering help and advice on what to do next, which can be both time consuming and at times conflicting. Freeing up time for the HR team to manage the consultation process while working with line managers on how to deliver the new organisation allows business continuity to be maintained and for the efficiencies and cost savings of the new business model to be more quickly realised.
Why outplacement? Why not just give people the cash instead?
This is something which came up for me when I was working in corporate HR and you may well have heard it too. Some people just want more money and don’t see the value in Outplacement Support. They’re focusing on being able to pay their bills whilst being out of work. This is an entirely understandable perspective – that was my first thought when I was at risk of redundancy for the first time.
Offering Outplacement Support is an investment which far outweighs the real cash value. If someone takes £1,000 but they are out of work for 6 months because they struggle to know what to do or how to find a job, that extra money won’t make up for the loss of income when they’re out of work for an extended time (most people we work with find a job within 3 months on average).
More importantly, reducing outplacement’s benefits to its cost ignores the core issue. The value in the support is about helping the individual to more easily and quickly secure their next role. Being out of work for an extended period not only impacts finances. It also has the potential to affect mental health and well-being which can make it even harder to secure another role, affecting other areas of life.
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