Offering Outplacement Services to Terminated Employees

Reader Question: What are the benefits of offering outplacement services to employees that are terminated as part of a reduction in force?

Outplacement can offer up a variety of benefits with the most basic being that you are assisting your departing workforce in their effort to secure further employment. That gesture can then positively impact your firm in that you could reduce the time someone is on salary continuation and/or receiving unemployment benefits. It also may help pave the way for securing an executed separation agreement (if one is employed) by its inclusion in the package. Lastly, it actually can help in recruiting and retention since the employee population is more likely to stay on during an uncertain period knowing that if they lose their job a softer landing would await.