An interview with Alessandra Giordano – Delivery Director at Intoo Italy
Let me start from the beginning. If an organisation recognises the true value of implementing a redeployment strategy, it means that it has understood the importance of engagement. Employee engagement is a key factor in organisation success, but it is also crucial to create an environment where employees can understand the importance of bringing value to the company and staying employable. It will help to nurture and develop your future leaders.
The same goes when you purchase a machine, requiring constant maintenance to keep it functioning, otherwise you have to invest to repair it and replace it. You should keep the same approach with your employees, sharing with them the company strategy and helping them to grow along with the organisation, achieving goals, developing skills and also attitude, culture and company’s values.
In my opinion, implementing a redeployment strategy is essential, even if you do not think it is aligned to your big picture, you should consider it because it is beneficial for the company. When employees feel engaged, they are more willing to get continuous training, therefore remaining relevant in the workplace; and employees who feel valued by their managers are more likely to be motivated and their sense of self-worth and self-esteem increase.
What is workforce redeployment?
How does Intoo build and approach redeployment projects?
Our approach is placing the employee at the centre. We believe that change starts with self-awareness, which consequently leads to build a long-lasting and profound change to the company and its strategy.
Take time to listen to your employees and show them respect. This is the key to more productive employees. Employers can’t push their workers to upskill programmes or to feel the need of reskill trainings, however they can help them to understand their importance and support them in being proactive. Let me give an example, in our performance programmes, we give candidates the opportunity to create their own development plan in order to improve their job performance, without shifting the responsibility to others.
According to our experience, self-awareness allows you to understand what changes you have to make in order to reach an agreed goal.
Why is so important to be part of CSG?
We can discuss and compare our experiences across different countries (some far apart) and exchange our success and failure stories. This helps us to expand our horizons and to stand out from the competition. We provide programmes tailored to our client needs, with particular attention to the programme chosen and the local culture – this is particularly important for multinational companies. For example, we usually design our skills and needs assessment tools according to the specific country.
Thanks to our exchange among international outplacement companies, we have the chance to tap into advanced markets and therefore to study and analyse new trends and strategies in advance, but also to share challenges and mistakes, saving time and boosting motivation.
How has the pandemic affected outplacement and redeployment programmes?
The Italian government has chosen to proceed with a layoff freeze and therefore companies have shifted their attention to employees and their development. For this reason, at Intoo we have been working with many organisations more on redeployment programmes, even if the outplacement services remain our core business. Nowadays, one of the challenges companies have is how to help their employees to reach their full potential, including rethinking their way of working.
The pandemic has also accelerated the focus on employee wellbeing – one of the keys to increasing their performance. A clear example is the current race for coronavirus vaccines in the workplace; organisations are starting to look after their people by enhancing employee’s welfare – with particular focus on healthcare. It significantly helps to perform better and improve employee engagement.
How will life be after the Corona virus pandemic?
I believe that the key will be to follow the market trends and be able to adjust and change accordingly.
Covid-19 has irreversibly changed the world, forcing us to rethink our daily lives, skills and processes.
Communication is now more important than ever, therefore your expertise will not be enough if you do not learn how to express your uniqueness in a new and wider market.
What the future holds is a person- centred approach that will be vital for the success of businesses.
If your organisation could benefit from learning more about redeployment and employee engagement programmes, get in touch today.
Intoo is the leading company in Italy for outplacement and career coaching services. For 30 years, Intoo has supported people in gaining awareness of their employability, within or outside the company context with a view to fully achieving their professional growth goals. Intoo supports people changing or finding a new job and focuses on the key skills of their role, with assessment and coaching paths. Intoo is part of Gi Group, a world leading company for the development of the labour market. Intoo is present in Italy, UK and USA.