If a company insists on reasonable understanding, care and concern for employees who are being terminated, that attitude more easily, perhaps automatically, suffices and enhances employee relations and public image at every level. Certainly it can serve as the occasion to instill those attitudes.
The Role of the Outside Consultant
Now, what exactly does an outplacement consultant do? In a nutshell, he or she helps a company think through and prepare for every detail of the termination process. That could include thoroughly reviewing personnel policies, planning the termination methodology, and working out the details of the termination interview. In short, he or she strives to make the entire process as beneficial to both sides as possible.
Outplacement consultants generally come prepared with a complete checklist of items to be taken care of. It can include basics, such as doing the actual firing within the first five minutes of the termination interview, and specific details, such as checking personnel records to make sure the employee is not being fired on a birthday or anniversary. It can include detailed discussion of how best to deal with the variety of possible emotional reactions.
Company officials need to be aware that termination inter views are probably the single most mishandled business function there is. And the reason is simple lack of planning. Managers don't think about what they're going to say - and a person who is fired is going to remember every word fox years afterward - so they hem and haw, or they're too severe, or they issue mindlessly in sensitive platitudes.
After the interview, they don't know what to do with the terminated employee or how to allay the fears of the remaining employees. They're unprepared for the many different reactions they might get - shock, anger, denial, threats of violence - and their unpreparedness compounds a bad situation. The outplacement consultant helps them prepare.
Then the consultant works with the terminated employee(s), either to place them in a new position, learn more effective techniques for finding new positions, or to offer them career guidance. It's a win-win situation for all concerned.
Choosing the Right Consulting Firm
When you find yourself in the position of having to hire an outplacement consultant, there are a number of things to consider:
The firm's experience. How long have they been around and what is the background of the individual professional staff members? How many clients have they worked with over the years? Is outplacement a key part of their business or just a sidelight to the main part of their practice? What do their references, both corporate and individual, have to say about them?
While it's imperative to find good corporate references, I believe the real "proof of the pudding" is to be found in the attitudes of terminated employees toward the outplacement firm. Every career specialist worthy of the name has dealt with "informal" outplacement - individuals who were given no assistance by their company when they were fired, were badly battered in the following six to twelve months, and finally sought help using their own resources. The success the firm has had in helping such people cope with their resentment toward the company and their self-esteem problems, now solidified, provides clear evidence as to how well they will represent your corporation in outplacement services.
Breadth and Depth of Service
What is the scope of the services offered by the outplacement firm to the corporation? How much time will they actually spend with the company's management? Will they assure the confidentiality of their process - both toward your company and toward the ex-employee? And how will they do so?
What is their scope of services for the terminated employees? It could range from as little as a group seminar on resume writing to a high-quality placement program. Or it can be a very sophisticated, in-depth career guidance program providing reassessment, decision making, re-direction, and all-encompassing self-marketing processes.
In fact, outplacement firms will look pretty much the same on the surface, so it's important to visit each one you're considering in order to get a feel for them.
Look beyond the nice surroundings, the specialized equipment and services, e.g., videotaping, resume service, office, telephone (all of which can serve a real purpose), and determine the intensity of care, support and understanding provided to each individual at a much deeper level. It is this latter which ultimately redounds to your company's public image.
Effective Decision Making Support
Determine whether the firm is simply inclined to "place" people in something similar to their previous employment, or whether clients are helped toward a broader freedom of choice. If a firm offers both career guidance and placement services, even in ostensibly separate divisions, it is legitimate to question how much the listing of job opportunities may color the objectivity of the career guidance services.
What sort of guarantees do they offer? I don't know of any reputable firms that guarantee new jobs, but most will, at the very least, promise to work with the individual for an extended period of time, or better, until that person has been re-situated.
Cost is certainly a factor. Expect each firm to be clear and up front about its fee schedules. And of course, consider the personal chemistry. Make sure it's right.
Outplacement is a difficult and painful process. But with the services of a professional outplacement consultant, it can be smoother and easier - on both sides of the desk.
