Strengthening your employer brand with an outplacement service

How can you help your ex-employees start the search for a new job? By partnering with an outplacement specialist who will help them land their next job quicker and more effectively. We walk through some of the reasons why outplacement can strengthen your employer brand.

An outplacement service is a tool for recruitment

What makes a great employer even better? Knowing that in the case you are let go, the company will take care of you and help you find your next job. While an onboarding program is the best way to introduce new employees to the organisation, an outplacement program is the best way to help your employees find a new job. You will send a powerful message to talents, candidates, competitors and business partners by introducing an outplacement program. The word will spread that you take care of our employees even if they aren’t a part of your organisation in the future.

There are various reasons why you must let an employee go, but we’re not going to discuss the “why” and “how” of letting employees go. The critical factor is that candidates and employees will know they have a safety net which will help them find their next job.

Outplacement will become a significant part of your employer brand because candidates will know that you take care of them from the beginning to the end of their employee lifecycle.

Find the perfect outplacement partners

How do you find the ideal partner when so many recruiting agencies either specialise in outplacement or include it in their services?

Research the options in your local area and meet with them, preferably agencies that have worked with IT and tech businesses before. You’ll have a much better baseline for your discussions when both parties see eye to eye. A meeting costs nothing, and you don’t commit to anything, so use your research to find 4-5 relevant agencies and meet with them. 

Finding an outplacement partner is almost like recruiting new employees. Being a match on a personal level is just as important as having the industry know-how to help an ex-employee find a new job.

If the time comes where you must discuss outplacement with an employee, you can have two to three different agencies as your preferred partners. In the end, you should let your employee choose its preferred outplacement agency.

Building stronger relationships with former employees

The main goal of introducing an outplacement service in the employee lifecycle is to take care of your employees in the unfortunate case that you have to let them go. Don’t treat outplacement as a service that is exclusive to C-level executives. Everyone should benefit from an outplacement service (if the situation isn’t due to severe or illegal reasons). 

By ensuring that your employees leave the company on solid ground, they’re more likely to talk positively about you, and they might even act as employer advocates. You want your ex-employee to say “even though they let me go they still treated me with respect and helped me find a new job” when talking about you.

Don’t make outplacement a part of your recruiting pitch

Include the outplacement service in the contract when you hire new employees and if possible, add the service to all existing employees’ contracts. However, people don’t choose a job on the back of such a service. So consider not making a huge deal out of it when recruiting talent. Their reaction should be “Oh, that’s nice” and not “So they’ll probably fire me at some point…”. The outplacement service is there and ready if needed, but you don’t need to make a big fuss about its existence.

Outplacement is an excellent service to make sure that your employees can find a new job with the best and most professional help possible.

It says a lot about your business and your company culture that you take care of your employees, even when you have to let them go. Always invest in your employer brand and your employees!