What Is Outplacement and How It Can Be Advantageous to an Organization

Outplacement literally means the process that involves the efforts made by the downsizing company to help their former employees to get new jobs and enter the job market. Outsourcing is generally done through individual sessions or in a group. The various topics under outplacement are: career guidance, career evaluation, resume writing, etc.

Termination involves the ending of employment in an organization. There are two types of termination:

•       Voluntary Termination        
•        Involuntary Termination

Termination gives rise to outplacement and career transition services. The companies largely depend on HR Consulting firms for the outplacement services. The HR Firms work accordingly with the employee and the employer separating and fulfilling the needs of both the parties.

Following are a list of procedures followed by the HR firms to do the outplacement jobs:

·    Pre-termination phase (involving a detailed planning of employee termination and outplacement with the organization).

·     Termination phase (including the actual declaration of termination to the employee).

·      Post-termination phase (it involves all activities essential for an organization to retain the trust of the retained employees.  In such cases, the HR firms try to eradicate the anxiety from the minds of the employees by properly training them).

Following are the services provided by the HR firms through the above three steps:

• Career evaluation
• Planning the career continuation and development process
• Career guidance
• Resume writing
• Interview preparation
• Network development
• Job search and research
• Job market analysis
• Administrative assistance - preparation of concerned documents and letters, etc.
• Handling exit meeting
• Skill development programs
• Workshops to deal with the period of transition
• Checking legal compliances
• Preparing severance packages

Besides this, the HR firms also help conduct HR meetings to communicate the news amongst the terminated employees, as well as, the other staff showing that the organization is concerned about the retained employees.

HR plays an important role in the selection of employees. Each employee has to be checked whether they match with the specific job criteria employers are looking for.

There are certain advantages of outplacement:

•   Avoid the risk of litigation.
•   Maintain a positive public image.
•   Improve morale and productivity.
•   Helping displaced workers to find new jobs quickly and easily.

According to the Wall StreetJournal; ‘in 2009, "More than two-thirds of 265 U.S. employers with layoffs during the past two years offered outplacement, at an average cost of $3,589 an employee, according to a June survey for The Wall Street Journal by the American Management Association and Institute for Corporate Productivity."

Thus, Outplacement and HR are both interlinked terms. The HR Firms plays an important role in managing this service making it smooth, quick and easy. This in turn also improves the reputation of an organization.