A career transition is rarely easy, no matter the circumstances. In today’s economy, where layoffs are commonplace and dominate the news feeds, how you help your people navigate changes in their professional lives is critical.

Providing outplacement support and career transition services is critical to help your exiting employees, but it also protects your employer brand and reputation, helps you retain talent and maintain productivity, and manages costs and risks.

What are the main challenges facing businesses exploring outplacement support services?

The most common problem our clients face is having to do layoffs. In these situations, their key challenge is to protect their employer brand, as letting people go can damage their company's reputation. There are, however, other significant problems organizations face when downsizing:

1. Maintaining the morale and productivity of the people who remain, who may feel anxious and demotivated.
2. Legal compliance – to avoid potential lawsuits from disgruntled leavers.
3. Cost-effective ways to manage people out.  

What does the Bravanti team at ZRG Consulting Solutions offer on outplacement support and career transition?

We provide high-touch, personalized one-on-one coaching and support tailored to individuals navigating career transitions, such as redundancy or internal redeployment. This includes support with:

• Resume review and writing.
• Interview preparation.
• Networking strategies.
• LinkedIn profile review.
• Job search assistance.

Our coaches bring deep knowledge and extensive experience, with many having been business leaders themselves.

While support is provided for anything from a few weeks to when you start a new role, the quality relationships our coaches build with our clients mean candidates stay in touch long after they’ve landed somewhere new, even across their career as they move and progress.

What are the business benefits of outplacement support services?

It might be easy to see outplacement support as simply a 'nice to have,' but this perspective could potentially overlook its significant advantagess. How people leave an organization matters – to them, and to your reputation. In an age where employees are streaming themselves being laid off on social media platforms, the way you treat people on their way out will spread quickly. If your values mean anything, it’s at exit time.

Outgoing employees should be treated just as well as incoming ones, and if done correctly, outplacement can help you maintain positive relationships with former employees who may boomerang back to you, or advocate for you as an employer to others.

Outplacement support should not be thought of as a cost, but as a strategic imperative to protect your brand, differentiate you as an employer, help you hire and retain the talent you need to grow, reduce your recruitment costs, and manage legal and reputational risks. In short, it’s a must-have.  

What should you consider when choosing your outplacement support firm?

If your company is looking to do layoffs or restructuring, and you want to offer outplacement support and career transition services, this is what you should be looking for in a partner:

1. Does the firm offer tailored programs to meet individual needs, or is it one-size-fits-all?
2. What are the qualifications, backgrounds, and experiences of the career consultants and/or coaches?
3. What does the program entail – does it cover all aspects of career transition, or just certain elements – e.g., resume feedback?
4. Does your provider have technology and resources to support candidates and coaches?
5. What track record/reputation does the company have?
6. How flexible and responsive is the firm? Can it provide quick, timely support when you need it?
7. Does the company have proven experience and expertise working with executives?  

What advice would you give to leaders about to conduct layoffs?

First and foremost, the execution of layoffs is so important. To ensure you're treating departing employees with respect and dignity:  

• Partner with a reputable outplacement support firm that can provide strategic consulting and responsive delivery.
• Have a comprehensive communication strategy and plan.
• Be open and transparent to stay in control of the message.
• Make sure those delivering the news have been trained in handling difficult conversations.
• Focus on the employee experience. This will be an emotional time, so lead with empathy.  

How is ZRG’s offering different in the market?

What sets us apart is our tailored, white-glove coaching designed for top-level executives and senior leaders. In addition to the standard services, we act as a strategic career coach, working with our clients as a thought partner, no matter that type of transition they are going through. For example:

• Starting a business: If they're thinking about starting a company, we’ll bring in a small business expert to help answer questions, provide advice, and guide them through the process.
• Career pivot: They may be exploring a career pivot, such as moving into a completely different industry, so we’ll help identify transferable skills.
• Planning retirement: If they’re considering retiring, we coach on readiness and preparation.

As part of ZRG Consulting Solutions, we can also offer our clients invaluable market intelligence through conversations with experts in executive and interim search in their chosen or target industries.

Overall, we believe our offering is a strategic approach to outplacement support and career transition, combined with responsive delivery, that creates tangible benefits to the individual and the organization they are leaving/have left.

Outplacement support and career transition services make solid financial sense, as well as being the right thing to do. With ongoing economic pressures, future layoffs look inevitable.  

By taking a strategic approach to how you treat those leaving your organization, you can turn a difficult situation into an opportunity to build your brand, attract and retain talent, reduce costs, and grow revenue.

We partner in business transformation, leadership acceleration, culture transformation, assessment & succession planning, executive and leadership coaching, and talent acquisition.

Get in touch to learn more and get started!