The Overlooked Benefit That Chief People Officers Need to Know About

Benefits have historically been a great way for businesses to attract and retain talent, going all the way back to the invention of employer-sponsored healthcare.

With the economy currently thriving, many modern CHROs and Chief People Officers have started going above and beyond to offer new benefits at their organizations.

Some have added gym memberships, pet-friendly activities, flexible work arrangements, and much, much more. There was even a point during the last decade where ping pong tables, nap pods, and fully stocked bars were implemented as perks to keep workers happy and engaged.

While these are all interesting ideas, they don’t strive to fix any workforce-wide problems the same way that the original employee benefit – healthcare – did.

This is why many of today’s perks will never become standard practices across the business world. The best benefits strike at pain points for workers and show them that the employer truly cares for their well-being and is actively trying to make their overall experience better both at work and at home.

Another problem is that these newer perks generally only impact the beginning and middle of the employee lifecycle – two parts that get all of the attention because they are, generally, the easiest to talk about.

But what about the last step of the employee lifecycle, offboarding? Specifically layoffs?

This is where outplacement, as a benefit, comes into play.

Layoffs, though no one likes to talk about them, are a standard practice in the business world. Whether it’s because of an economic turn, a pivot to a new product, or any other reason, layoffs happen all of the time, even when the economy is doing well.

This poses a problem because layoffs and layoff procedure are often never discussed openly at organizations despite the fact that RIF events happen frequently. With no one talking about it, the experience never changes. It will continue being one of the most stressful tasks for CHROs and the staff members impacted by the event.

But there is good news: CHROs and Chief People Officers can start to change the dialogue by providing outplacement as a benefit that is already in place before an event takes place, ensuring that everyone involved is taken care of.

As a refresher, outplacement is a service provided to laid-off workers that helps them land a new role outside of the original company.

Careerminds outplacement pulls this off by pairing displaced workers with expert career coaches, professional resume writers, and the application of high-level learning tools.

All of these things, combined with networking prep, interview prep, and job search technology, allow displaced workers to find new work quickly and without much of the stress that comes with job hunting alone.

Careerminds outplacement fixes a historically neglected problem that seriously impacts employees’ lives. It also is a huge sign of goodwill to all employees who know that if they were let go, they’d be taken care of during every step of the process by experts who are dedicated to their success.

CHROs need to embrace outplacement and be proud that they offer it as a benefit to their workers. Getting laid off can be the most stressful time in a worker’s life and organizations have the power to help.

Despite the fact that layoffs are rarely talked about, their upfront and future impact on organizations is well known.

Organizations that execute poorly planned layoff events often find themselves in hot water with surviving staff members, the general public, future hires, and more.Layoff survivors who believe that their coworkers and friends were treated poorly can end up leaving the organization weeks or months after an event, causing a runaway retention problem.

At the same time, laid-off staff members and survivors may start to post negative reviews, spread opinions via word-of-mouth, and slowly decrease an employer’s brand to the point where hiring new talent becomes next to impossible.In other words, a poorly held layoff event can directly impact the other stages of the employee lifecycle, which companies typically spend a lot of money and brainpower trying to increase.

By offering outplacement, specifically Careerminds’ outplacement, and being upfront about what it is, how it works, and why the company has it even in times of prosperity, will show workers, potential new hires, and the world at large that the company is ready and willing to care for employees even if they get let go.

Since companies elect to have outplacement – there’s no law saying that a company needs it – workers will know that they are basically ‘insured’ and that the company values their time and effort so much that they will go above and beyond to support them.

On the business side of things, outplacement also helps negate a lot of the potential issues that come with layoffs and RIFs. For example, by providing outplacement support alongside a strong severance agreement, employers seriously cover their bases when it comes to potential lawsuits and brand erosion. These are two things that can cost a company dearly if neglected.

In today’s modern world, employees value companies that value them. No one wants to work for a place that doesn’t have their best interest at heart.

One of the best – and, quite frankly, easiest – ways of doing this is offering outplacement services as a benefit that employees know about from the very start.

Employees will know going into the company that they will be taken care of – that they have value and that the company will support them through thick and thin.

It’s easy to see the benefit of outplacement for both employees and employers. With many company’s adding more and more benefits that do not move the needle, it’s time for employers to look at what really matters: security, trust, and honesty.

Outplacement hits all three of these and can be a huge talent retention tool, brand protector, and much more.

Read more about how Careerminds outplacement protects employer brands here. To get started providing our outplacement services as a benefit for your workers, click here.

Josh Hrala

Josh is an HR journalist and ghostwriter who's been covering outplacement and offboarding for over six years. Before pivoting to the HR world, he was a science journalist whose work can be found in Popular Science, ScienceAlert, The Huffington Post, Cracked, Modern Notion, and more.