The world of work is changing. One result of today’s ever-changing business climate are mergers, acquisitions and other shifts in organizational strategy; which can result in the elimination of positions of the positions of talented employees. One way of making these types of transitions smoother is to utilize third party outplacement or career transition services.

What is outplacement?

Outplacement services are the tools and help given to individuals who are exiting a company to help them transition to new jobs and re-orient themselves in the job market. The services are typically provided through an outplacement partner.

Offering outplacement services as a part of a separation process plan can turn a workforce transition into a more manageable and beneficial experience for everyone involved. Here are 3 signs that your organization might want to consider engaging a 3rd party to provide outplacement services.

1. Your company could be doing layoffs or restructuring.

If you believe that in the near future, your organization could be doing any type of restructuring that could result in the lose of jobs; you should strongly consider outplacement. Dealing with a large reduction in force (RIF), can be a tremendous challenge for all impacted parties – stakeholders, HR managers, and most of all the employees whose positions have been eliminated.

Outplacement can provide stakeholders with peace of mind that you are deeply invested in the long term health and success of the company. It also helps the individuals whose jobs are being eliminated move on more quickly. Since outplacement helps exiting employees quickly find a satisfying new job, they will have a more positive opinion of your brand, one that they will be willing to share with others.

Or perhaps your organization already does layoffs or restructuring, and you experience the following pain points-

2. You are looking to spend less on unemployment payments and insurance.

Paying out severance packages and unemployment benefits to employees who have left the company as a result of mergers, aquistions and downsizing can be extremely costly. And while offering outplacement packages does require an up front investment, it’s proven that they help exiting employees find work faster. Employees who take advantage of outplacement packages typically have a new position more quickly than employees who job search on their own.

Offering outplacement packages will end up saving the organization money on unemployment payments and can also help save money on severance payments.

3. You would like to decrease turnover and increase morale.

The elimination of jobs within a company also has a huge impact on the remaining employees whose positions weren’t eliminated. It can have a huge impact on their morale, which in turn impacts their productivity and ultimately your bottom line. If your organization has done any restructuring in recent months or years, this is probably something that you have witnessed first hand.

Restructuring and changes to organizational strategy can also give employees the impression that a company doesn’t care about them and their future. As a result, they start to look for (and accept) new positions at companies that they feel have their best interests in mind. When you choose to offer outplacement services, it can promote goodwill among current and exiting employees, because it shows that you really do care about what happens to them in the future, even if they aren’t your employees anymore.

If you would like to learn more about outplacement services and if they are a good fit for your business, contact our team todayto get the conversations started.