Hiring an outplacement service for your company is a major investment; the best outplacement agencies cost as much as $2000. We’re not talking about $2000 total, but $2000 per employee you wish to cover. It is a great deal of money for any company to insure every employee on the payroll for outplacement. Understandably, this is the main deterrent for companies who decide not to make the investment.
No matter the cost though, it is a good idea to hire the services of an outplacement agency. Not only does it enhance the wellbeing of your employees even after they’ve been terminated, there are tons of reasons to take the leap into outplacement. Here are 3 main reasons to start contacting outplacement services for layoffs today.
Employees from the past act as a PR service
Perhaps you spend thousands or tens of thousands of dollars a year on Public Relations or reputation management services. This makes sense since relating to the public and establishing your company in a positive light is a surefire way to turn a profit. But you might not realize that your employees act as the best PR service imaginable.
Most press releases relating to companies are from employees who have been wrongfully terminated. All of the negative aspects of the business start to come out of the woodworks, from a credible source nonetheless. When an employee is fired, this person is obviously not going to be happy. But you can alleviate the entire firing process by providing your employees with tools and resources necessary to find their next source of income.
Employees and ex-employees like to talk
Not only do your employees talk to the public, they also talk to each other. Some of them might even be best friends, having worked alongside each other for months, years, or decades. These ties won’t just be severed once someone is terminated. In cases of termination without outplacement, a laid-off employee might be tempted to post a poor review on Glassdoor or another site.
The fire will be fueled if this unhappy ex-employee chats to current employees about the situation.
An HR rep at a major corporation says that “these folks still have friends here, and they will need them as references. I know those who signed our severance agreed not to sue us, but they talk to others, and I want them to speak positively about the way we treated them. It will come back to us.”
You won’t just be “laying off” your loyal team members
Outplacement is the ultimate way to not just “throw away” employees as soon as your no longer need them to work for you. You’ll probably feel some remorse everytime you need to fire someone – it is unfortunately just part of running a company.
At least with outplacement, you won’t feel as if you are just laying someone off. You ex-employees tend to be much more understanding of the entire situation when they given access to outplacement services like resume writing, interview coaching, and job search tips.
