Outplacement Firms Can Help to Soften the Blow of Being Fired
In the bad old days, a fired worker could count on getting a box to clean out his or her desk, a pink slip and--if the boss was compassionate--a pat on the back.
Instances in which companies helped former workers prepare for a new job and cope with the shock of being released were not the norm before the 1980s. That decade’s emphasis on divestitures, mergers and downsizings displaced thousands of workers, providing fertile territory for the outplacement industry to flourish.
A growing number of companies are finding that outplacement satisfies “the dual aims that the dischargee and the company have in common--both want to see the person being released get into a new job quickly and minimize the down time in that person’s life,” said John A. Challenger, a vice president with Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago-based outplacement firm.
Companies such as Challenger’s generally work with employees regardless of why they were terminated, with the exception of willful-misconduct firings for reasons such as theft or drug use.
Challenger ticked off several steps “that companies can take to make it less traumatic for the person being released and help them get through the transition” between jobs.
He favors communicating the bad news “humanely, in fact, fairly tersely. It’s not a time to berate someone. But don’t try to be a friend--you can’t be a friend to someone once you’ve done that to them.
“Don’t give someone an office to stay in while they’re looking for a new job. It tends to leave the person emotionally attached to the company, and it’s hard on the people who continue to work, because they don’t know how to treat the person,” Challenger said. “So clean breaks are best.”
Because bad work references can sometimes impel a former worker to file a lawsuit, Challenger cautioned against them. If a manager doesn’t have anything good to say, he suggests at least remaining neutral. Many companies take that warning a step further and only confirm a former employee’s dates of employment.
It’s important that the manager involved in the termination process show genuine care and concern, said Roderick P. Deighen, a vice president with the Assn. of Outplacement Consulting Firms.
“The manager’s job of separating people is probably the most distasteful thing that they’ll have to do,” he said. “Consequently, human nature being what it is, they may try to sidestep or waltz around the issue of separation, and people sometimes don’t even know that they’ve been fired.”
Deighen and Challenger both agree the termination interview should be brief.
“Make it short and very succinct,” Deighen said. “Don’t draw it out. Explain the reasons; don’t lie. Don’t fabricate the truth. Don’t offer false hope by saying, ‘We’re looking around the company to see where you can fit in.’ ”
By their nature, termination interviews tend to be tense and uncomfortable, but outplacement counselors can teach managers to take off some of the edge, Deighen said. “You can say, ‘Tom, I’m really sorry about this, but we’ve just gone up and down the flagpole about where you can fit in this merger, and we just don’t need two comptrollers anymore.’
“An added value that the outplacement firm brings to this picture of separation is that we will train managers and supervisors in group sessions on what words to use when separating people. The reason for that very necessary service is to make sure the company’s position is being uniformly explained to every employee.”
That’s important for two reasons: so no one will feel singled out and sue the company later on, and so the business community will get a uniform message about the reason for the separations.
Otherwise, “you may end up with some people saying the company is in deep financial straits and can’t operate,” Deighen said.
“And therefore, some customers may start to hold back on placing orders with the company,” he added. “Or the rumor may go through the community that they’re about to close down the establishment.”
Once a fired employee has departed, he or she becomes the primary focus of the outplacement process.
First, outplacement counselors help the “person deal with the trauma of personal loss, due to the job evaporating,” Deighen said. That’s usually accomplished by getting the dismissed worker to talk about his or her feelings regarding the separation. A sense of denial is common, as is rage or a fear of having to look for a new job.
Next, outplacement firms generally ask released employees about their career goals and assist them in developing and implementing self-marketing strategies.
“That involves developing a very, very well thought-out resume and very, very precise, targeted cover letters,” said Deighen, who owns a Cleveland outplacement firm. “In addition, the client is shown how to develop an extensive contact network.
“The third major area is the physical support necessary to conduct a job search,” Deighen said. “This would include an office to work in, access to unlimited telephones, secretarial services, word-processing services, fax and copying services, an answering service and a whole host of other things--for example, research facilities.”
