The Great Recession is now behind us and we are fast moving into a full employment economy with low unemployment levels and robust job growth.
What does this mean for outplacement services which are designed to provide career transition assistance to employees impacted by layoffs, downsizings, and restructurings?
It turns out that outplacement and redeployment can still provide an important function by providing organizations innovative and humane ways to transform themselves as they continue to strive for business growth, agility, and competitive advantage.
The role of outplacement in a down economy is fairly self-explanatory. In a business downturn, organizations are faced with the unpleasant decision to dramatically reduce their cost structure. Many times this involves layoffs and reduction in force (RIF) of their employees. In these situations, outplacement firms are there to provide the impacted employee the important outplacement services to help them get their careers back on track.
The role of outplacement in a full employment economy is different.
First, outplacement is still needed even in a full employment economy. This is because not every industry and business will all be performing at the same level. There will always be disruptions, business cycles, mergers and acquisitions that will require organizations to downsize. You can see this playing out currently in the retail space where brick and mortar retailers are aggressively tackling their cost structures to address the increasing shift to online shopping.
Second, outplacement services can be adapted to provide redeployment for organizations where they are looking to restructure their business headcount. In these cases, outplacement consultants can provide valuable career transition assistance to employees looking for new roles within their own organization. In these cases, organizations can reposition their talent pool to help them best structure their teams for their future strategy.
These efforts involve advance planning, some financial resources (possible relocation or training), and creativity. What firms get int return is a decreased number of payoffs, a more engaged and energetic workforce, and a stronger employer brand.
Third, outplacement services at its core are about coaching. Outplacement firms like mine have a well-trained team of consultants that firms look to for executive coaching services. Our partner firms recognize that experienced career consultants can provide valuable insights to their talent pool.
In a full employment economy, outplacement and redeployment still do matter.
