Much can be written on this subject. The following sections are of great importance specifically to managers, though many points raised also can be appreciated by employees of all levels.
Outplacement
According to one theory, the term "outplacement" originated in the early 1960s, when employment agencies and placement firms recognized a rich new market in working with just-fired or terminated employees and placing them in new positions as quickly as possible. The idea was that it is easier to place someone who has just been terminated than it is to place someone who has been unemployed for a period of time. In my experience, this is unquestionably true.
Since then, outplacement has come to encompass a much broader scope of services. In its fullest sense, outplacement includes working both with corporations in preparation for a firing or layoff, and with terminated employees, by way of a complete and comprehensive career guidance program. Some companies provide outplacement assistance through their own human resources department, but most engage the services of an outside consulting firm.
Avoidable Mistakes
Most employers find it very traumatic to fire an employee. It is an emotion-laden situation in which the employer and the employees' immediate manager genuinely feel badly about the necessity to take such a step. Concern for the individual who is being let go is intermixed with feelings of failure, sometimes anger against the employee, sometimes self-pity. The employer is therefore prone to make some rather serious mistakes because of the lack of objectivity in such a situation.
Invariably, because of this factor, most firings take place six to twelve months later than they should have, occasionally longer. When the problem is belatedly acknowledged, there is frequently an urgency to "get it over with" as quickly as possible. The resulting failure to plan, inadvertently causes unnecessary pain for the fired employee. For example, there have been far too many firings on wedding anniversaries, or on the birthday of the spouse or children of the employee, and other inappropriate occasions.
Companies should give serious thought to a really beneficial severance program which can provide a "bridge" for the employee to his or her next position. Managers should fight against the very human tendency to hold a termination interview at 4:30 p.m. on a Friday so that they can have it over with, then go home and forget the entire ordeal. This, of course, leaves the terminated employee with an empty weekend to face family and friends with no access to professional help.
Benefits of Outplacement
An increasing number of companies are recognizing that it's in their economic and social self-interest to help terminated employees through what is, next to the death of a loved one, one of the most difficult crises they'll ever face.
A complete "outplacement" offering provides a "damage control" service in advance. It helps the employer soften his or her defensive posture, and in a positive sense, provides every possible assistance to the employee. It helps the manager who is to do the actual firing to plan and prepare what to say and what not to say during the termination interview. So often in the heat of the moment, such a person will unintentionally make statements which inspire lasting resentments and/or greatly weaken the employee's self-image.
It is best for everyone concerned that the consultant be present and meet with the employee immediately after the termination interview so that the employee can have the opportunity to vent the severe emotional trauma of the moment. When someone who is fired is given this opportunity, the negative emotions much more quickly run their course, and the individual can be helped to achieve an "onward and upward" frame of mind and begin making plans for the future.
In this fashion, a complete career guidance process can begin immediately. An employee will quickly overcome his or her resentment toward the company, and will be open to receive help in objectively reassessing his or her situation. An employee can quite quickly make a new decision as to whether to stay within the field of experience or move into a new one, and then learn the professional procedures required to penetrate the market in the chosen direction.
The initial half-hour or so with a newly terminated employee is particularly taxing and emotionally draining for a career consultant, but it has many rewards. Some individuals have asked me to accompany them home to help break the news to their families. I have accompanied fired personnel as they went to their desks to gather personal belongings - simply to provide moral support during a last half-hour in the company. When professional help is made available immediately, healing occurs quickly. If, however, the person is not given, or refuses, such help, the hurt and anger seems to solidify and becomes much more difficult to eradicate.
It is very common for individuals who have been terminated to speak of initiating lawsuits against the company. Spouses in their initial anger can encourage such action. But in all the outplacement cases I know in which individual attention was made immediately available, not one lawsuit has been initiated by a terminated employee against his or her former company. (My own recommendation is that a decision of that kind be postponed until a new career direction has been established. The energy, time and emotion expended on a lawsuit would be completely counterproductive for most people.)
There are other benefits to companies who provide outplacement support: Severance costs are reduced because employees generally find new jobs faster In addition, the cost of such a service is saved many times over in good public relations alone. Morale among employees who remain with the company is improved, and furthermore, those who have been let go will generally acknowledge, "In spite of it all, they were very fair to me when it came time for me to leave."
