Everyone should realize that job security is a myth. To think that a job or role at a company can’t or won’t change in our modern world is foolish. Technology shifts, financial market moves, geo-political events, the weather, changes in shareholder expectations, and many other unpredictable conditions facilitate the often inhumane practice of needing to break the relationship with employees who only days before leaders were fighting to keep. For businesses that claim they are a People-First company, this can be especially hard to justify or rationalize.
The good news is that people are resilient and rational if they feel they are dealt with authentically and receive support in the transition. It is possible to help each human through the loss of a job and even have them advocate for you later because your company supported them so well as humans. Helpful support starts by understanding that the outplacement transition process for any person has three phases that layer on top of each other and will last for around a year.
The Three Phases of Outplacement Care
Think about the newly laid-off employee’s life a year from now. The hope is that they have secured a perfect new role (but not working for your competitor) and they are happy and successful.
But have you considered what that person must endure to get to this new place of success?
Each person goes through three phases of the Outplacement transition, and we can predict the care and support required for each stage:
- I lost my job!
- I need a job!
- Starting a new job!
Each stage requires a high emotional burden, even if each phase goes well. Remember, if the person you laid off does not like their new job, guess who they will blame? The company that laid them off.
So either you have genuine human-centric outplacement care, or you are likely wasting your outplacement money and should spend it on trying to win the Glassdoor review game. Let’s get it right.
Human-Centric Outplacement Care Phase 1: I lost my job!
Very few emotionally difficult stressors are more significant in life than job loss. No matter the reason, justified or not, the former employee experiences the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Their thought process might progress over time as follows, “It wasn’t my fault! They are terrible for doing this to me! Maybe they wouldn’t have let me go if I had done more!? I don’t know what to do! I think I can find a new path forward.”
Unlike other events of life that involve grief, job loss is uniquely tricky when you add the shame and fear of how this will impact the ability to secure a new role at a new company.
They might wonder: “How will I tell my family? What will I tell my friends? How can I explain to a recruiter? Will I find work near my level?”
Yet, this is just the end of the beginning. Most people don’t have time to work through all five stages of grief before they feel pressured to secure a new role.
With or without severance, people feel an urgency to fill the already conspicuous gap on their resume driven by the shame, concern for lost income, and the “I’ll show them” social pressure.
The solution must bring true clarity and confidence in themselves and what they can offer the market. A thorough inventory of the human’s values, purpose, goals, and current competencies based on experiences and education. Human-centric outplacement is about supporting the human’s belief in themselves and motivating them into the market that needs them.
All these phases require genuine human support from experts available round the clock, 24/7/365. We’re not talking about a run-of-the-mill resume service with generic tips about using local job boards or handling basic interview questions.
Human-Centric Outplacement Care Phase 2: I need a job!
Job security may be a myth, but Career Security is attainable. Career security is the confidence or likelihood that someone can consistently attain stable and fulfilling rewards from their work in a market they find satisfying.
To gain confidence and focus on the future, we want to discover the most effective and logical transition into new work that offers the highest value to the human and the new company.
The former employee will need support in doing good market research and understanding the specific “lanes” or types of opportunities they could pursue. These “lanes” are created by considering how they can add value using their strengths inventory – it’s where the rubber hits the road. The personal choices someone makes related to how companies pay, their location, the industries they can align, how much travel would be required, or the potential level of impact determines the width of the lane and the shape of the road.
In addition to building confidence from a thorough understanding of their values, purpose, strengths, wins, learnings from losses, and goals, they can thoughtfully craft and declare their story in meaningful networking and interviews. Their confident communication strategy has clarity and consistency across their resume, LinkedIn, and references and flows into the start of their new role.
Highlighting their greater purpose and goals beyond what any one job allows the talent to think about their career and how they can continue to learn and grow with every experience. Every interview or networking meeting is an opportunity to meet new people, learn, and fine-tune their career planning.
Human-Centric Outplacement Care Phase 3: Starting a new job!
The anxiety of starting a new role after being laid off is unlike any other transition. The remnants of the grief stages creep back in and challenge confidence. Fear of failure reduces the willingness to take risks or be bold. The lost trust in any company makes connecting with leaders or teammates harder. These factors can result in a spiral of poor first impressions that take much work to recover.
When a person has fully worked through the job loss and takes the proper time and energy to know themselves, organize their assets, design a plan, and accelerate with personal accountability, they are ready to be successful.
However, even if your former employee secures a new role in a reasonable timeframe, the actual assimilation and determination of success in that new role will take six to twelve months before they are ready to advocate for your company and its outplacement process.
CareerTruth has designed a specific one-year process built as a human-centric solution to the emotional and practical needs of the three phases of the Outplacement transition.
CareerTruth supports the whole human experience of job loss within a single platform. We offer assessment tools, market research, career mapping, growth coaching, and tools for enhancing their career, such as resume and LinkedIn assistance. Plus, it provides round-the-clock talent support, no matter where someone is in their career journey.
Because CareerTruth begins actual human outplacement care with the end in mind, what can be a disruptive process becomes highly effective and efficient for all.
Change is inevitable, and sometimes, people and companies part ways. To maintain a good reputation in the talent market and care well for any laid-off employee, it’s crucial that your outplacement process genuinely addresses the human aspects of this transition.