10 Traits of the Best Outplacement Services

Whether your business runs with 10 or 10,000 employees, investing in an outplacement service is always a smart idea. As an employer, you are sometimes faced with the extremely difficult task of firing your team members. It’s not something that you ever want to do, but when times are tough it is sometimes your only option.

Outplacement services should most strongly be considered if there are large numbers of individuals, all in similar roles, being affected. In these instances, it’s advisable that organisations work hard to support and manage employees through the period of transition to ensure employee engagement is maintained.

With budgets tight, how can employers be sure they are getting value for money if investing in outplacement? For a start, by using outplacement consultancies with the ability to deliver local services. Asking employees to travel long distances may erode their goodwill. It’s also important to assess the quality of consultants and level of one-to-one support they can give each employee. Moreover, consultancies should have strict criteria and assessment processes for their coaches and invest in their continuous training.

Here’s 10 Traits Of The Best Outplacement Services

1. Comprehensive online video and written tutorials that can be accessed 24/7.
2. Step-by-step, guided instruction on job search with milestones for success.
3. Checklist of all career tools needed to find work.
4. Extensive knowledge on how to use the latest job search technologies (i.e. LinkedIn).
5. Ability to have career tools reviewed by career coaches.
6. Live “office hours” with career coaches to get questions answered in real-time.
7. Ability to get all questions answered privately by e-mail.
8. Option for phone or Skype coaching calls.
9. Extended access to ensure coverage for job search duration.
10. Interview training

Many HRDs are motivated by social responsibility and the desire to do the right thing. They also understand that the benefits in reputation and rebuilding trust and employee engagement outweigh the cost of investment. Another advantage in using outplacement consultants is that they are a good way of connecting with the marketplace. They can be a good recruitment channel. Clearly, these days there’s far more to outplacement than softening the blow of redundancy.

If you’re a wise and caring employer that offers outplacement services to your displaced workers, making sure that your former employees benefit from this cost-effective benefit will not only help you maintain positive relations with them, but it will likewise go a long way in strengthening your relationship with your remaining employees who can move forward in a healthy way, knowing that your organization had to make tough business decisions but kept people’s needs at the forefront of their considerations. That provides a critical degree of relief in today’s volatile workplace as well as a return on investment that goes far beyond dollars and cents.

If you need advise on how to approach outplacement for your company, make sure to drop us a line.

External links:

SHRM
HR Magazine
Research Gate
Sage Journals
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