The organizations generally have to suffer through the pain of downsizing or restructuring their workforce. Outplacement services are a inevitable resource for businesses that want to take care of the outgoing employees and preserve the brand image. The choice of the appropriate outplacement service is a strategic as well as an ethical move. Read on to select the right outplacement service for your business.
Table of Contents
What Are Outplacement Services?
Outplacement services would be defined as professional aid to workers who are let go or laid off. Outplacement services would help individuals transit to new job functions or careers by building up resumes, career coaching, job search consulting, and interview preparation. Such an investment in outplacement services is a proof of commitment by an employer toward employee care during difficult times .
Why Businesses Need Right Outplacement Services
Outplacement services are beneficial to the employees and the organization at large. Reasons why it is important and should not be eliminated include:
Maintaining the Brand: Outplacement services ensure the exit staff leaves on good terms, thus helping in upholding your company’s reputation.
Risk of Litigation Decreased: As more employees are supported in layoffs, there is less of a chance of causing some legal complications for the company because they tend not to file lawsuits.
Boosts Morale of Remaining Employees: The rest of the employees may feel appreciated when their colleagues go and the organization is interested in showing a little bit of care during such layoffs.
Helps Improving Employee Experience: Your employees generally speak well about your firm if they are helped to become self-sufficient.
How to Choose Right Outplacement Service
Choosing the best outplacement service for your business is definitely not a decision you make overnight. These should be the considerations in your selection process, so:
Evaluate Your Company Needs
First of all, to select an outplacement service, you need to analyze the needs specific to you. Do you need a service for a few employees or for the entire workforce? Different outplacement services provide help for different scales of layoffs. For smaller layoffs, a more personal service would be adequate, whereas in a large layoff, a service that could handle huge volumes is required.
Also, consider the needs of your employees. Whether they require an enhanced job search support or just career advice and resume building? Many outplacement services are provided in various packages, so you need to compare your chosen one with the needs of your organization.
Compare Different Outplacement Providers
Once you determine your needs, it’s time to research outplacement services providers. Target companies with a good experience and a good reputation in providing the service that you require. There probably isn’t a better way to do this than through reviews, testimonials, and case studies from companies similar to yours.
Have the providers given you services like one-on-one career coaching, digital learning platforms, interview preparation, and job search tools? Compare their prices with your investment for value returned in terms of budget.
Scope of Services Offered
What an outplacement provider offers as services is very important to its success. The scope of service they should be able to deliver must, at the minimum, support your needs for sending off outgoing employees. Some of these needs include the following:
Career Coaching and Counselling: The service has to include a career coach offering personal coaching according to the client’s aim at career goals.
Good Resume and Presence in the Online World: A customer should have a good resume and a solid online presence. The outplacement service should offer professional resume development alongside construction of the LinkedIn profile.
Access to Job Search Tools and Resources: An outplacement service provider must offer tools for job search, industry information and tools for finding a new role.
Opportunities for Networking: Of course, networking is the cornerstone of successful job search, so choose an agency that will either provide or incorporate networking opportunities or access to employment providers.
Technology and Digital Support
This would imply that right outplacement services need to include technology that advances the employee experience in a new digital age. Quality outplacement should make webinars, e-learning courses, and job boards accessible online. Digital tools could, thereafter, turn the entire experience of job searching into a much more manageable and efficient one.
Some service providers would offer virtual on-the-job coaching sessions or AI-driven tools to the job seekers. That would prove greatly useful to the employees who are not geographically close to a career coach or have to look for a job while still working on some other job.
Customization and Flexibility
Every organization and employee is unique, hence the role of personalization in selecting an outplacement firm. Be sure to pick an outplacement firm with diverse programs that will fit your company’s needs. Some outplacement firms provide fixed packages, but most have a fixed package and allow you to create customized ones, so you can set up exactly the level of services you want for your people.
Flexible programs ensure that any employee receives just the right level of support, whether it be career transition coaching, resume writing, or interview preparation.
Success metrics and reporting
Accordingly, an outplacement service to be selected should be one that takes into consideration how it measures its success and reporting practices. Engage the potential providers in inquiries about their key performance indicators and success metrics, which might include how many average times it takes for displaced employees to secure new employment, percentages that found employment in the desired industry, or employee satisfaction rates with the services provided.
Having these measurements will be able to let you know if the outplacement service indeed delivers promised value and justifies the investment.
Personalization of Employee Support
Another essential element of any outplacement service is the amount of personalization provided to every single employee. For one thing, one cannot make specific provision for all employees in your organization. In any case, individualized career coaching, together with job search support, ensures that individual employees receive fully customized guidance that works for each distinct set of skills, career objectives, and other individual circumstances.
Be sure to ask about their personalization plan. Do they really come to know each employee individually, what is in the background and so on, what are their career ambitions? Do they offer individualized coaching or is the program pretty much one-size-fits-all?
Cost vs. Value
In most cases, cost is always a factor, but it should balance against value delivered. The cheapest service may not be good enough if it does not provide support to your employees. On the other hand, the most expensive service may add too little value above and beyond a mid-level service.
It also compares the cost of providers with the services they will provide and looks at long-term payback. An effective outplacement service also saves your company in the long run by minimizing the risk of litigation, maintaining morale, and protecting your brand reputation.
Conclusion:
Choosing the Right Outplacement Service for Your Business
This is a decision that requires serious thinking and researching by your business in choosing the appropriate outplacement service. In evaluation, you consider what your company needs; then, you look around at different providers and assess their scope of services, technology, and reporting.
They’ll not only help you with career transition counseling, but they will also protect your brand while keeping your organization hostage in reputation as being responsible and caring for your employees. Good outplacement service can help your company turn what could be a tricky transition into an opportunity for growth and success.
FAQs about Right Outplacement Service
What is the ultimate goal of outplacement services?
Outplacement services are professionals who will guide any employee that received the bad news of displacement to new work by advising on careers, building a resume, and job hunting
How does the outplacement benefit a company?
Outplacement services save the brand from lawsuits, uplift the morale of the employees retained in the organization, and reduce the risk of denting lawsuits.
What should I look for in an outplacement provider?
Consider reputation, scope of services, technology support, customization options, and success metrics for a provider.
What is the general cost of outplacement services?
The cost for outplacement services will vary according to the provider and the level of support needed. Be sure to match the cost with value and what support you are providing to your employees.