News about companies undergoing restructuring and retrenchment appears just about every day. However, here’s one word we need to see more of – “outplacement”, a human resource strategy which leads to win-win outcomes for an organisation and its employees (or ex-employees).

By Cheryl Lim

What is outplacement? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it as “the process of easing unwanted or unneeded executives out of a company by providing company-paid assistance in finding them new jobs”.

However, a conversation with Mr William Ayers of The Ayers Group, a renowned career transition management firm based in the United States, will prove that this talent management strategy takes care of more than a job-hunt per se.

Fact vs fiction
Indeed, the businesses of outplacement firms and recruitment agencies are worlds apart.

“When an economic crisis hit, when there was a recession, every recruiter out there thought he could be an outplacement person. What people don’t realise is that outplacement requires a great deal of support. It’s not simply getting a résumé and interview for one job. It’s got nothing to do with one transaction,” says the founder, Vice President and Business Unit Leader of The Ayers Group.

“It’s getting to know a person in terms of who they are, about their strengths, their weaknesses, their family, the issues regarding work-life, their financial condition,” he elaborates. “It’s talking about how you prepare an individual to compete, and giving them the technology resources that can help them accomplish that task.”

For The Ayers Group, outplacement is not just about the end point of finding an individual a job – the journey is equally, if not more, important. The company’s philosophy centres on this old adage: “Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, but teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime.”

This conviction shines through in how The Ayers Group conducts its business. “We prepare you to effectively go out and compete in the marketplace – and win,” says William. “We create opportunities, we make introductions. But the person has to win on his own. What we do is we prepare those people to win.”

An industry flashback
Outplacement originated more than 30 years ago in the United States through Thinc Associates, a New York-based career consultancy firm and pioneer in the field. During its infancy, outplacement was an expensive service that was only offered to employees at management level.

However, with technological advancements came an enormous loss of jobs in corporate America – hence the evolution of outplacement into a service made accessible to lower-level staff such as blue-collared and clerical workers.

“Because operations became automated through technology and sophistication, the jobs that existed in those practices disappeared. And so hundreds, thousands of jobs were lost overnight. People had to re-create themselves into different roles,” says William.

Within the Asian context, outplacement only gained recognition in the region about one to two decades ago, during a time when the notion of “cradle-to-grave” employment began to erode. It was introduced by multi-national companies who had established businesses in the region, but for some reason had to reduce their headcount.

“Career transition starts when organisations recognise that it’s imperative to support and help people that have lost jobs. And I don’t think there’s anyone in the world more concerned about the status of their employees than the people in the Asia-Pacific,” he enthuses.

Indeed, an “iron rice bowl” career no longer exists in the employment market today – not even in the public sector. While employers no longer expect an employee to stay in the same organisation over his entire career, employees likewise can no longer expect to receive lifelong employment.

Outplacement – the Ayers way
Since 2006, The Ayers Group has been a division of Kelly Services, a world leader in workforce management services and human resource solutions. With more than three decades of experience in career consulting, the company has clients from many industries comprising consumer goods, financial services, law, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, and publishing.

“We cover all those sectors, and within those sectors, each one of them has a different kind of demand on the services that we prepare and provide,” says William.

However, regardless of each client organisation’s needs, the quality of service offered is consistent throughout. At Ayers, outplacement involves comprehensive career management and coaching. Tests and personality profiles are conducted to clarify an individual’s career preferences and identify their strengths. Depending on the client’s needs, an interim physical office space can be provided to affected individuals during their career transition process.

“Our services range anywhere from a workshop that lasts one day, to a programme that has a private office and unlimited service until they land,” William says. “Because of the economic times, we typically never end an individual’s programme. Services like a physical plant, having a desk and a chair and a secretary – when a programme is over, those things will go away. However, we will not take away the technology resource, the access to information, the ability to interface with the coach that they were working with.”

With a ratio of 35 to 50 individuals per counsellor at Ayers, clients can rest assured that their employees are in safe hands. Besides the relevant qualifications, one major prerequisite of counsellors at Ayers is a passion for people. “I love people. And the people that work with me love people. There’s a common thread that runs through all of us,” says William.

“We teach people how to negotiate, how to listen, how to properly go out and get an excellent reference. Asking for a reference correctly will make a difference between you winning the job or losing the job. Many people don’t know how to do that.

“We create a conducive work environment for people to be helped. It’s happy, it’s upbeat, it’s fun. People smile, people are engaged. If we get a bunch of sourpusses, we put our arms around them and put a happy face on them. It’s a mandate, because you can’t succeed with people that are depressed. You can only succeed with people that are happy and excited – that’s the difference.”

Into the future
Here in Singapore, the concept of outplacement is neither new nor unheard of. Since the start of the economic crisis in the third quarter of last year, local outplacement firms reported an approximate 20% increase in demand for their services as compared to the year before.

While that shows how employers are realising the importance of providing career-transition assistance to retrenched staff, the disparity between the increase in demand and actual retrenchment levels highlight that there are many who were laid off but received little or no assistance.

The truth is, forward-thinking organisations would do well to include outplacement in their talent management strategy.

For one, having outplacement aid enables outgoing employees to focus on the future. They can look ahead rather than dwell on the past. This ensures that no bridges are burnt in the process, but instead reinforces the positive relations between the organisation and its ex-employees.

Plus, you (the employer) and your ex-employees might cross paths again in the future. They could be competitors or clients, and how they treat you will be determined by how they were treated. Engaging an outplacement firm will be less costly than having a disgruntled ex-employee make negative statements about your organisation to industry partners, potential clients, and even potential new hires.

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