If you’re new to global outplacement, it can be hard to know where to begin. What should you look for? What differentiates programmes? How do requirements differ between countries and cultures?
You may have already seen our tips on choosing a general outplacement service. However, global outplacement has its own set of complexities. Here, we’ll provide explanations to ensure your chosen provider meets the needs of your business and the needs of your displaced employees.
How global outplacement works
To remind you, outplacement is a service provided by employers to displaced workers following a reduction in force or redundancy process. It helps employees to secure a new role outside of their original business.
Global outplacement goes one step further than local programmes. With the prevalance of virtual work and globally-dispersed workforces, the service can help employees wherever they are based.
What is the process?
Global outplacement extends local support to cover multiple countries, cultures, and languages. Some providers outsource global programmes to partner networks, impacting the quality of the service they can provide.
At Careerminds, we take a one-firm approach. That means we carefully select and train our coaches to provide consistent services wherever our participants are located in the world. We do this with a single platform and client portal, providing fully transparent metrics for our customers.
We deliver virtual services, enabling participants to access our expertise from anywhere in the world and on their own schedule. Where face-to-face services are in demand, we can also provide blended programmes combining in-person and virtual sessions.
The procurement process generally starts with a Request for Proposal, or RFP.
The advantages of global outplacement
We’ve discussed the process, so now let’s look at why you might consider providing outplacement services to your workforce. The advantages are numerous – particularly when adopted on a global scale.
The key advantage is the robust support system that we provide for employees through every stage of their career transition, ensuring a smooth exit from your company. Unexpectedly needing to secure a new role can be difficult and stressful for your employees, so global outplacement is one of the most supportive services you can provide for them.
The service also enables you to smoothly navigate challenging business decisions. Unfortunately, however undesirable, sometimes a redundancy process is necessary. Global outplacement can help you to transition displaced employees by delivering a seamless process.
Global outplacement can also help to protect your business. We want to help you protect your company from cultural and brand damage. Redundancies can have a negative impact on these social areas of your business, which can impede future recruitment, decrease employee retention, and harm morale. Global outplacement services can provide the support your business needs to avoid this.
Providing global outplacement services to your workforce shows that you care about them during times of change. It offers a path forward and minimises the stress they may feel.
With global outplacement, it’s simple to offer this support to your teams, regardless of where they are located.
What should you look for in a global outplacement service?
A globally-dispersed workforce can raise many business challenges, but outplacement need not be one. To ensure you provide the best possble experience for every member of your workforce, look out for these key offerings.
Partnership and flawless integration
As your partner throughout the transition period, your global outplacement provider should be a natural extension of your HR department. As such, they should be able to provide a flawless integration with your current HRIS system.
As an example, Careerminds can provide a one-click integration with the most popular HRIS systems, including:
- SAP Success Factors
- Workday
- Ultime
- ADP
- Oracle
This provides a seamless experience with the Careerminds portal, covering programme management, communications and reporting.
Our AI-powered platform also offers a straightforward experience to your workforce through the full lifecycle of their job search. We use an algorithm to match their resume to relevant job postings and can recommend valuable keywords to make sure their resume matches the requirements of target job adverts.
A true global outplacement partner will also provide organisational resources to support businesses in resolving their hardest challenges. For example, at Careerminds we can train managers on how to notify employees of upcoming changes virtually and how to manage their remaining staff following the layoff process. This can include overcoming resistance to changes, managing stress, and focusing on the future.
At Careerminds, we want to help our clients to overcome their problems. We’re there for them as soon as they are ready to partner with us and encourage them to share their business issues. We love to receive feedback and strive to continuously improve our client portal and global outplacement services by integrating new solutions.
Full transparency and metric reports
When your internal systems are integrated with our portal, you’ll be able to seamlessly track your results – with full transparency.
At Careerminds, our secure system stores employee engagement data, survey results, and landing page data. Wherever your teams are in the world, you’ll always know how they are using our system.
That’s because we’re committed to transparency. Our reports are clear, concise and accessible, so that you have the data insights you need to assess the performance of your global outplacement programme. This enables you to evaluate how employees are progressing without adding any complexity.
Careerminds’ Founder Raymond Lee emphasises that “clients have 24/7 access to metrics and data on demand for participants, anywhere in the world.”
Fairness, accessibility, and inclusion are of paramount importance for us and for our users. We are committed to ensuring that our online services meet everyone’s needs, regardless of location or culture.
The Careerminds global outplacement portal is a social learning platform. Not only does each participant have their own coach, providing one-to-one sessions, they are also able to connect with others on the programme. We offer a bespoke social network, interactive webinars, and more. In globally-dispersed teams, during a difficult period of transition, participants can feel isolated. We help them to find a community of people who can support them through to this change.
Support through to placement
A key consideration when choosing an outplacement provider is ensuring that the service is provided continuously, until the participant secures a placement.
“Until placement” or “until landing” means that the service is offered to every participant until they secure a meaningful new role. There is no cut-off point and they can access support for as long as they need it.
Many outplacement providers offer services for a fixed period of time, ranging from weeks to months. At the end of the allocated period, their services end – whether the participant has secured a new role or not.
At Careerminds, every participant is welcome to use our services until they land a new role. The coaching, support, and portal access we provide are absolutely unlimited.
Wherever your employees are located in the world, they receive the same level of support. That means we offer coaching, local expertise, and unlimited access to resources and tools to every single participant.
This element is vital in countries where work councils require outplacement programmes to align with job levels and the length of tenure. Executives need different resources, coaching, and support to entry-level employees. Their job search will also span a different timeframe and they will need to adopt different strategies. Time-based programmes do not take this into account, but with Careerminds’ “support until placement” approach, we can meet the needs of employees at every level.
Let’s take a closer look at the value of global outplacement support at every level of business.
Input for employees at every level
As our global outplacement services aren’t time-bound, we don’t price based on time. Our prices are based on the seniority of each participant, from entry-level through to executives.
Our AI-powered platform also offers a seamless experience to your workforce through the full lifecycle of their job search. We use an algorithm to match their CV to relevant job postings and can recommend valuable keywords to make sure it matches the requirements of their target job adverts.
Careerminds’ Founder Raymond Lee explains that “everyone gets’until landing’, but the features of the programme increase based on the level of the organisation you’re working in.”
This approach means that every single employee received the coaching and career support they need to enable them to successfully manage their transition to a new role at an appropriate level.
What makes Careerminds outplacement special?
As you can see, Careerminds ticks all the boxes for effective global outplacement services.
Our global outplacement services provide flawless integration for clients and participants, as well as clear, transparent reporting. The portal covers 80 countries and 50 languages, with all content expertly translated. We also share resources on best prcatice and job search norms in every market, balancing local expertise with global oversight.
Each programme is bespoke for the participant, based on their industry, role, level, skills, and experience. Every individual can access one-to-one coaching until they land a new role, with absolutely zero limits.
Unlike our competitors, our pricing is not time-based. Despute this, we are able to keep our prices very low. That’s because we’ve been building our business as a virtual outplacement provider for far longer than our competitors – 15 years and counting!
The Careerminds global outplacement service was launched in 2008. Even back then, it was a fully remote, technolgy-led service with a, innovative virtual platform, online resources and bespoke coaching. It wasn’t until the 2020 pandemic that our competitors did the same, forced into a new way of working that we had adopted over 12 years previously.
Since our inception, our platform has developed. It’s now smarter and stronger, enabling us to provide industry-leading outplacement support to clients and participants alike with a human-first approach.
Careerminds Founder Raymond Lee is clear that “we’re not only saving companies money, but we’re also delivering industry-leading results. We’re currently the only outplacement provider with a 100% retention rate after companies make the switch to us.”
In summary: global outplacement services
As you can see, a global outplacement provider can protect your employer brand, boost morale, and have a positive impact on your company culture. At the same time, your staff, at all levels, are supported and cared for.
When choosing your global outplacement provider, ensure the partner you choose meets these key requirements: flawless HRIS integration, transparency, metric reporting and support through to landing for staff at all levels. If you can achieve this, your company and your displaced workforce will all benefit.
You’ll also want to ensure that your outplacement partner is using their own team to provide these services. Providers who use outsourced partners can’t have the same rigorous processes and quality control. That means choosing a service with a one-firm approach to platform integration, transparency, and accessible reporting for the business, and one-to-one coaching and local expertise through to placement for your workforce.
At Careerminds, you’ll find these services and more. Our industry-leading outcomes, combined with our human-first approach, means that we can surpass the competition to become a true partner for you before, during and after this stressful and challenging time.
Ready to progress with global outplacement? Speak to our experts or request a free demo by clicking the link below. Find out whether we’re the right partner for your business.
Author
Jen David (based on an article originally written by Rebecca Ahn)
Jen is a careers writer and CV specialist, with over 13 years’ experience in the job search sector. Find out more by connecting with her on LinkedIn or visiting her website.
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