Outplacement programmes are utilised by organisations around the globe. They are commonly found among corporate giants and international organisations. There are two main ways in which this service is operated. Firstly, is when it is operated under the organisation’s own HR department, and there is a special group of people employed by the company to take care of outplacement. Secondly, is when the company hires a separate outplacement consultancy firm, which they have a partnership with, and the former employees are referred to a consultant under a contract.
Whatever the service provider, the course of outplacement is almost the same everywhere. The main difference lies in the flexibility and quality of your provider. Suppose an employee is being made redundant and before they stop working for the company, they are approached by the consultant or coach hired by the HR team. They discuss what may be convenient for the employee and whether they want one-on-one meetings or they can’t come to the office and choose to communicate virtually. Once this is decided, the employee and the consultant discuss the employee’s CV and the type of job they are looking for. The coach then might work on the employee’s profile and suggest any changes needed to improve their personal brand. Regular meetings are scheduled, and the employee is updated on the progress. During this period, the employee is advised to sign up with training programmes and learn new skills to decrease the risk of redundancy in the future.
The best way outplacement helps the employee is that the job search starts with full throttle even before an employee has left their job. This is a significant step ahead for them as they can find a new job as soon as they leave the old one and the unemployment gap is reduced. Otherwise, if they start the job hunt after leaving employment and after recovering from any trauma they may suffer from due to losing the job, the gap between losing and finding jobs get bigger.
In the meantime, the coach may help prepares the worker for interviews and helps with networking, which is a very important tool to have to acquire a job.
After the person successfully lands on a job, the outplacement service prepares a report to give back to the firm that hired the outplacement service. This report includes details of the new job found, the time period between getting laid off and finding a new job, and a satisfaction statement from the former employee.
There are various add-ons to an outplacement programme. All programmes should be tailored to the organisation and employee needs and aspirations. An excellent outplacement provider and programme does not follow a one size fits all solution, and has various different delivery and coaching options.