Employee treatment during layoffs is just one text away from going viral!
Blog Series
Outplacement Is an Investment in Recruiting & Retention
Part 1: Employee treatment during layoffs is just one text away from going viral!
Since the 1960s, outplacement has benefited millions of transitioning employees. By providing effective outplacement services their former organizations reaped tangible economic benefits. Those same benefits, both for employees and organizations, are needed today. In fact, the business case for providing outplacement is actually stronger today than in those early years of the fledgling career transition industry. To put it succinctly, whether recruiting or seeking to engage and retain those all-observant millennials, how you treat their friends in a layoff is only a text away from going viral! Given that reality, it is counter-productive that at best only 30% of companies offer outplacement and with declining program budgets and services. What gives?
The Business Case
Bob Parkey, a former public company President, CEO and board director, and a current Partner with Newport Board Group, said it best: “For remaining employees who keenly observe their co-workers and colleagues departing, the cost of regaining damaged trust from a poorly handled transition is immeasurably greater than the cost of a professional transition program.”
As I reflected on my 30 years in talent management and the transition industry, I was both energized and deflated. I am energized because the business case for outplacement is indeed stronger than ever in view of the transparency of social media, recruiting trends, and the imperative for engagement and retention strategies to close the talent gap. On the other hand, I am discouraged that companies are failing to truly understand the economic benefits outplacement provides:
- Increased company image and reputation
- Stronger brand for attracting and retaining talent
- Reduced legal risk and unemployment taxes
It is time for board members, executives, and HR professionals to review their failed transition policies and evaluate what the most admired organizations already have discovered when they’ve implemented best-practice outplacement and change management policies – that it is all about the future!
Outplacement Retrospective & Economic Drivers
It is gripping to review the succession of economic factors that propelled the industry. Economic downturns, mergers, reorganizations, natural disasters, war, disruptive global and workforce trends, technological change, and energy industry upheavals all impact organizations and their employees at the visceral level. (View Economic Drivers Video)
In reviewing the outplacement industry trajectory (see the Outplacement Retrospective timeline adjacent), it is obvious that the economic drivers that create the need for layoffs are the most compelling argument for a compassionate solution – it is gripping to review the succession of economic factors that propelled the industry. Economic downturns, mergers, reorganizations, natural disasters, war, disruptive global and workforce trends, technological change, and energy industry upheavals all impact organizations and their employees at the visceral level. (View Economic Drivers Video) Whether you have lived through all those decades of change or just the turbulence of the last one, reflecting on an historical retrospective invariably elicits an emotional, gut-wrenching reaction. Bill McCown, HR Director for Diamond Offshore Drilling, shared, “While in the last few decades a lot has changed in the way talent is managed, one thing that has not changed is human nature and the impact of layoffs!”
McCown, who has a long career in human resources and led several major downsizings, went on to say, “If anything, the rationale for outplacement is greater today given the realities of instantaneous communications, recruitment via social media and employee referrals, and the necessity of engagement and retention due to the global talent gap…” Despite this business reality, a recent CareerArc survey demonstrated the disconnect between how employees value outplacement vs organizations: 60% of employees and 71% of job seekers desired outplacement as opposed to merely 34% of employers.
In light of recruiting trends indicating 50% of candidates come from employee referrals and some 15% are boomerangs, it makes all the sense in the world to treat exiting employees as alumni, not discarded chaff!
By Sheryl Dawson, CEO, Dawson Consulting Group
For full article, visit: Outplacement Is an Investment in Recruiting & Retention
