Best Outplacement Services and Software – October 2020

Clearly there are many pitfalls when laying off individuals or groups.  These can come back to damage your employer brand, employee moral, or even lead to lawsuits.  Not to mention, they can have a very detrimental impact on the employees you had to let go.

Here are a few of the major pitfalls we’ve identified to help you succeed:

Virtual layoffs: Virtual layoffs in the time of COVID-19 are a brand new dimension to this already tricky as of HR.  Where possible, you still want to do 1:1 conversations over Zoom and communicate just like you would in person around why this is happening and next steps. The worst horror story we’ve heard is doing a group lay off over Zoom where several people joined late and had to be informed of why half the people on the line were crying.

Landing Rate: Landing rate is the percent of people who get a new job.  Most HR teams don’t track this and view outplacement as a check the box to cover their liabilities.  But, you should be tracking landing rate, and how long it takes people to get jobs.  In the US, a good benchmark is 24 weeks after being laid off.  A top outplacement solution will lower this by around 50%.

Individual’s Experience: Don’t send eligible employees their outplacement information a week late, or forget to do it during the chaos of layoffs.  This may sound obvious, but is something that many HR teams get wrong.  Constantly think about the individual who is going through this process and optimize their experience.  If you don’t believe this is important, then there’s no need to do outplacement in the first place!

Group Sessions: While tempting, it is very hard to do group career counseling sessions with former employees.  Even beyond the emotional strain of a layoff, talking through personal career path can be just that – personal.  It’s not for a larger group of strangers to know what your aspirations are.  And, you ideally want to have a career coach providing tailored advice to departing employees.

The right Career Coaches: Helping ex-employees through a career transition is hard work, and you need to ensure the right people will be tasked with this very tough job. There is increased competition in the job market for employees who are part of a lay off. Make sure to understand the credentials of career coaches, how they are monitored for quality, and how coaches are assigned.