The Unspoken Cost Of Outplacement

As we know that the main objective of outplacement is to reduce the number of employees working in the payroll of an organization. However, with so many companies offering, outplacement services, it is being sold as employee packages to the companies. The cost of outplacement is dependent upon a number of factors based on the specific needs of the organization and the professional level of the employee impacted by outplacement.

The cost of outplacement varies from employee to employee. But it is the responsibility of the organization to take care of the employees who have been loyal to them and helped them achieve the success in the business and above all, are losing the job for no fault of their own. However, there is no law that requires the employer to help the laid off professionals get into new jobs, but, it is a right thing to do. Still, a large number of organisations abstain from giving outplacement service to their laid-off employees.

There are evidences which prove that the cost of not offering career transition services or services for outplacement is quite high in comparison to paying for a well-designed outplacement package.

Here are some of the unspoken but proven cost outplacement brings with it:

·         Negative Laid Off Employee Sentiment

Since the Earth is round, the laid off employees are going to become your customers, stakeholders, business partner or even competitors one day. They may even end up joining your organization again in a different capacity, for instance, as consultants offering board advisory services. So, they can bring a huge damage to the company’s brand at a later stage because of the disrespect and ill treatment given to them at the time of layoff.

·         Financial Cost

Future employment also cost and the companies are required to consider this immediate cost which arises as a consequence of the showing the door to the existing employees. Also, when the lay-offs are not handled in a proper manner without any training to the managers in terms of delivering lay off notifications, the law suits by employees can cost the company of its two valuable assets i.e. time and money. Apart from the financial impact, it also brings with it negative publicity, leading to doubt on company’s integration further impacting the future income.

·         Cost Of Low Employee Engagement And Low Productivity

Not offering the outplacement opportunities not only impacts the employees who have departed, but also, the employers who are currently working on your payroll. It greatly impacts the productivity and engagement of the remaining staff members. It emotionally impacts them as watching your people, your friends being laid off without proper assurance for the future can be highly traumatic. Thus, the treatment of the organization to the laid off employees make the remaining employee feel insecure about their current and future position in the organization. In a sense, it leads to harbouring of negative feelings about the organization in the mind of employees who are staying in the organization.