Mercer Workforce Transition: A Comprehensive Solution for Outplaced Employees
By some reports, more than 80% of executives say turnover is their number one concern. Retention, which hasn’t been a concern in the recent past due to limited job availability, is once again a measure on the dashboard. It’s a job seeker’s market, with more open jobs than people to fill them, which means employees and candidates have more choices for employment opportunities.
Employers need to do more than in the past to attract top job seekers and keep current employees engaged. This goes beyond what a company does. More than ever, companies need to focus on their employment brand and establish a clearly defined culture that includes an articulated mission, vision, values, and beliefs.
And what’s different today? Living up to your company’s employment brand is not only important during recruitment or job training — it’s critical to also emphasize and live up to your employment brand when an employee is leaving the organization, whether voluntarily to pursue another opportunity, or due to layoffs.
It makes sense when you think about it. In today’s talent-demand economy, any person that is not a current employee is a potential employee. And what better candidate than one who already has the institutional knowledge of your organization? You need to ensure that displaced workers are leaving the organization with a positive impression, so they don’t self-select out of your talent pool permanently. Read on to learn about ensuring your company is treating departing employees well after termination.
Tricky Situation
It’s awkward, right? You’ve terminated someone, but now you’re trying to make sure they still think positively of you as an employer. Depending on the position, you probably have some workforce programs and benefits to offer them. Maybe you have a severance package and, for certain positions, you probably offer outplacement assistance. This is no longer enough. In order to ensure an employee leaves on a positive note, supportive of the organization, and willing to recommend you to peers or to consider returning themselves, you need to do more towards workforce development. Employers need to court every possible job candidate.
New Expectations
Outplacement is no longer a one-size fits all approach geared toward the executive team. It’s a critical tool that plays a part in the curated employee experience, beyond employment to encompass turnover and departure, and needs to be offered more broadly in the organization. But, in order to offer outplacement services to everyone, you need to deliver it in a more efficient, flexible, and cost-effective manner.
“Mercer Outplacement is convenient, gets results, and even though it's online, there's a real personal touch.”
Editor, Southern CA
These days, people don’t even want to go into the doctor’s office, opting instead for virtual visits using telemedicine. They’re certainly not going to want to go to an office building to meet a career counselor for transition services during office hours, particularly during a period of their lives that is as stressful as being unemployed. This may still be appealing to some, but for many, you’ve probably just terminated them with a severance package and left them scared, insecure, and without a job. In order to create an appealing offer for your broader population, you need to modify the outplacement offering. Mercer Workforce Transition can help.
Outplacement for a New Era
Mercer Workforce Transition is a comprehensive solution that combines deep thought leadership around talent strategy and cutting-edge technology to develop a customized solution for your organization. Job seekers who use our solution get back to work nearly two and a half times faster1 than the national average.
Mercer Workforce Transition:
- Helps job seekers at all levels of the organization, regardless of their physical location with a Software-as-a-Service subscription.
- Offers social integration so people can use their networks to help secure their next role.
- Gives access to tools and resources 24/seven, including live virtual coaching, resume review, and real-time job alerts.
Want to learn more? Visit our Workforce Transition page to get more information or browse the other valuable Mercer products to help you strengthen your value proposition at imercer.com.
1 Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, National average duration of unemployment in the U.S, April 2019.