Offering outplacement services to departing employees, particularly during redundancies, can really go a long way towards preserving your company’s reputation and keeping morale among remaining employees high. Ensuring that employees transition easily and quickly into new positions reduces the risk of disgruntled employees spreading negative opinions of your company, or even filing wrongful termination lawsuits.
Outplacement assistance can give departing employees a better experience, and can really ease the transition into a new position. Employees who remain are less likely to experience decreases in job satisfaction, performance, and commitment to the organisation. Your brand will better weather the damage that can come with mass redundancies, and you’ll find that it’s easier to attract top candidates when it’s time to hire again. Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of outplacement assistance.
Ease the Transition for Departing Employees
Getting laid off is one of the worst things that can happen to a person. While it’s true that some people will regard being made redundant as an opportunity to move forward professionally or may even be secretly relieved to lose a job that they didn’t really like that much, many people identify closely with their jobs and a redundancy can be a deeply personal blow.
It’s easier to deal with the feelings of personal loss and economic uncertainty that accompany a redundancy when you have a clear plan to move forward, and outplacement services can provide that plan. Rather than lying around at home, collecting JobSeeker Payments, and feeling sorry for themselves, former employees can use outplacement services to begin the job search right away. This will enable former employees to feel a stronger sense of control over their situations, which can significantly improve their emotional well-being — not to mention, getting back on the job market immediately can substantially shorten the amount of time employees spend job searching.
Keep Remaining Employees Satisfied and Committed
Just as getting laid off can have a huge negative impact on an employee’s mental health, watching your colleagues get laid off can also be extremely stressful, especially during mass redundancies. Employees simply can’t help but wonder if their jobs will be next on the chopping block. As a result, employees who “survive” redundancies have been found to experience a decrease in job satisfaction of 41 percent, a decline in organisational commitment of 36 percent, and a decline in job performance of 20 percent. Satisfaction, performance, and commitment can remain when employees have the security of knowing that a potential career transition will be supported.
Protect Your Corporate Reputation
These days it’s more important than ever to safeguard your corporate reputation. Laid off employees who don’t get any career transition support are more likely to become disgruntled and spread negative opinions about the company. They could even leave negative reviews on sites like Glassdoor, which could scare potential job candidates from working with your company in the future or even influence customers and clients to take their business elsewhere.
You’re even less likely to deal with wrongful termination lawsuits, as former employees will be too busy working at their new jobs to consider filing lawsuits. The sooner you can get a former employee into a new position with outplacement services, the less time that person will have to brood on their redundancy and decide to take legal action. Besides, an employee whose professional transition is supported will feel that support and be much less likely to feel that they were wrongfully terminated.
Attract the Best Candidates
Outplacement benefits should be presented to job candidates and new hires along with life insurance, disability insurance, annual leave, and other benefits, because it’s an important benefit that can make your organisation seem more appealing to the best job candidates. Top candidates will favour your company when they know that you’ll continue to support their professional development even after they’re no longer on the team. Be clear about what outplacement benefits your organisation can offer to employees: coaching for career transitions, CV and social media profile help, opportunities to learn new skills or upgrade existing skills, and access to networking events and exclusive job opportunities are just some of the benefits that most outplacement programs can offer to departing employees.
Outplacement services are an essential employment benefit, especially in today’s uncertain economic times. They can protect your company’s reputation, keep your remaining employees happy and productive, and help you attract top talent when you’re ready to hire again. Don’t hang your former employees out to dry — do the right thing and help them transition to a new position with outplacement services.
