By Jennifer Blanchard | HRTools.com Business Writer
If you’ve looked at all the different angles and alternatives to downsizing and have still found that downsizing is the way to go for your company, then you might want to consider offering outplacement services to the employees that you’re laying off.
What are Outplacement Services?
Outplacement services consist of a number of different things, according to Mary Pape, a senior consultant, coach and job market consultant for Lee Hecht Harrison, a talent solutions company.
“Basic outplacement services include a client [laid off employee] going through classes—either online or internally at their company—to learn:
- How to write a resume that highlights their skills;
- How to talk about themselves in an interview;
- How to answer why they left their last job;
- How to interview and what to say as far as responding to questions;
- To understand where jobs come from and what it takes to find jobs; and
- How to negotiate once they find a job.”
Pape says it’s a sale process, in a way, because the potential employee needs to know how to sell themselves to a potential employer.
“Outplacement services basically help people understand how to do all the above mentioned in a time-efficient manner and so it reflects their skills,” she says. “Many people look good on paper, but then they can’t follow through on the job, so outplacement services help them to understand what their skills are and how to back them up.”
Pape says she helps clients take a market-driven approach to finding a job, as opposed to a marketing approach.
“A marketing approach says ‘I am a product/service, here’s the market, let’s get the market to buy me,’” she says. “A market-driven approach, however, says ‘I am a product/service, here’s the market, here’s what the market is buying and how do I shape myself to be this?’ We help customize the employee so they can find a job they like that fits their skills.”
How Do Outplacement Services Help Employees?
A major thing outplacement services help employees with is understanding that they are not the only person going through a layoff, according to Pape. She says it also helps them think through—How do I get out there and find a job?
“When employees come to us, they have a bruised ego because they’ve been laid off, even though the layoff is a business decision and is not the employee’s fault,” Pape says. “They’re scared and we help them get past this by talking them through it all. People who’ve been laid off tend to go through the stages of grief, just the same as someone going through divorce or dealing with a death.”
Part of the job of an outplacement services company is to give employees a systematic approach to finding a job that they want to do and that they’re good at.
Why You Should Offer Outplacement Services to Your Employees
“First and foremost, from a pure reputation standpoint, when employers offer good, solid outplacement services to laid off employees, that gets around by word-of-mouth, and it can affect their bottom line,” Pape says. “So from a business standpoint, that’s a huge reason to offer outplacement services. And from an altruistic standpoint, it’s the right thing to do, since it’s not the employees’ fault they’re being laid off.”
Pape says employers need to maintain their reputation, especially in times of downsizing, so they can attract stronger talent when they are ready to hire again.
“If they have a good reputation, people will want to work there,” she says.
But offering outplacement services doesn’t stop with laid off employees. Surviving employees are also going to need outplacement services.
“When companies make the layoffs announcement, productivity starts to decrease,” Pape says. “And those employees who get to stay usually end up with ‘survivors’ guilt’ [why me and not someone else?], or they ‘hunker down’ and wait for the next round of layoffs. Either way, productivity from survivors goes down.”
In fact, Pape says that, after layoffs, employers tend to lose up to two hours of productivity per person per day for up to two years. So it’s very important to remember the survivors when you’re planning outplacement services.
Pape says “Outplacement services also work with survivors to help them:
- Find reasons to be productive; and
- How to handle the change that’s happening.”
“There are lots of things outplacement services can do to keep employees productive and help maintain a company’s reputation in their marketplace,” she says.
For more information about outplacement services, check out these resources:
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