Last week we discovered in the latest Northern Ireland unemployment figures that in 2013, there were a total of 2,011 confirmed redundancies.
This was somewhat positive- as much as it can be- as the number was down 40% on the previous year (3,353 in 2012.)
In Northern Ireland, some businesses seem unwilling to put such departing employees through a career transition programme (outplacement), whereby support and advice is given to staff to prepare them for the next steps outside of your company.
This may help them to secure employment within the same industry, a career change, start up their own business or even consider retirement.
Whilst there may be the company attitude of, “Isn’t the redundancy package enough?”, industry studies suggest that, on average, outplacement costs less than 5% of the total costs of separating employees- but that it can produce substantial returns.
This includes reputation as a good employer while boosting morale of existing staff.
Some departing staff choose not to undertake the outplacement programme, but career transition can help those made redundant in five distinct ways.
- Career Assessment –Outplacement will help you to determine your career needs, establish how to leverage your most marketable skills and identify your realistic and attainable career goals.
- Stress Management – Career transition programmes help to answer the very many questions and concerns you have, so that you have the energy to focus on the task ahead.
- Time Management – Your career consultant can help you to formulate a realistic and achievable transition plan. A transition strategy will mean you have more time to concentrate on what’s really important: finding and pursuing new opportunities.
- Professional Development –Career transition will allow staff to have access to learning and employability resources designed to increase their marketability
- Transition Success – Going through a transition alone will mean you may not have the ongoing support you need to understand the process. Outplacement allows you to explore options you might never have considered and then helps you follow them through.
Whilst it is hoped that this time next year the redundancy figures are down once again, unforeseen and outside circumstances may mean that companies here have to let staff go in 2014.
The fact that 50% of employees get back to work faster than if they conducted a job search of their own, demonstrates that in today’s competitive jobs market, outplacement certainly isn’t redundant.
For more information on our outplacement services, please call: +44 (0) 28 9076 9900