If you’re an HR professional at a company with more than one location, you’re well aware of the challenges of coordinating employee benefits across offices. Local, state, province, and country laws and regulations can differ regarding everything from paid sick leave to final paychecks. Benefits related to workforce changes can be especially tricky to coordinate, because rules regarding layoff notifications, severance pay, and retirement savings options can vary significantly depending on where your offices and employees are located.
Take, for example, outplacement services, commonly known as career transition support provided by a company at no cost to employees affected by a layoff or other workforce change. Outplacement services are a benefit offered by employers in order to protect their employer brand and do right for their employees, but coordinating services across large multinational companies is often a challenge — especially when the goal is to deliver career transition support that is personalized for each individual employee’s circumstances.
Here are four key tips to help you select the best career transition support experience for your global workforce.
Think globally
To coordinate your outplacement benefits across multiple locations, take a holistic approach when strategizing and planning your organisation’s action plan. Instead of going through separate research, vetting, selection, and implementation processes with different outplacement providers for each of your offices, look for global outplacement service providers that can best serve multinational companies based in multiple locations across the globe.
Act locally
The outplacement provider you select should have in-depth knowledge of the laws and regulations as well as the local customs and cultural influences regarding outplacement services in each of your company’s locations. Some countries, for example, require that employers provide a high level of career transition support to exiting employees for a prolonged period of time. In other countries, “friendly termination” negotiations or “compromise agreements” are used in cases of workforce redundancies in order to avoid legal action, which often result in sizable severance packages and substantial outplacement services. Due to the differences across the globe, it is clear that one size cannot fit all when it comes to outplacement.
Make sure your outplacement provider is knowledgeable and adaptable, and takes the extra steps to ensure the programs being delivered reflect the regional and cultural needs of individuals. This will help ensure the very best outplacement solutions for your employees, especially during this protracted period of uncertainty caused by the coronavirus crisis.
Get personal
The best outplacement programs are tailor-made to suit your organization’s needs so that the individual needs of each of your affected employees are taken into account. Typically, outplacement programs include resume reviews, interview practice, career coaching sessions, and other job transition tools. Career transition support services that provide more opportunities for one-on-one coaching and a deeper understanding of the individual are the most beneficial, as they give employees greater opportunities to experience a tailored program.
Go virtual
Even before the coronavirus crisis began, virtual outplacement services were gaining popularity with companies and employees because of the flexibility and convenience offered by online platforms. Traditional outplacement services required job seekers to go to an office to meet with career coaches face-to-face and receive career transition support, while virtual services allowed people to get the help they needed through their phone, tablet, or computer.
In the first half of 2020, with social distancing guidelines or stay at home orders in effect around the world, virtual outplacement became the preferred mode of service. These online programs, however, can vary widely in quality. Some offer little more than standard job boards and generic job search advice, while others provide on-demand career coaching, video interview practice, social media integration for easier job networking, and more. Make sure to do your research and consider the value of the services your employees in transition will receive when selecting a virtual outplacement service.
About the author:
Carina is Global Director of Operations at Career Star Group. She joined Career Star Group at its inception in 2012 and leads the global operations function. Coordinating member initiatives, Carina ensures that the organization leverages best-in-class processes and technology.With Career Star Group, Intoo USA offers global outplacement services to 102 countries across the globe. With its high-tech, coaching-first virtual outplacement platform, Intoo USA helps multinational organizations coordinate career transition support services across locations, with an in-depth understanding of local regulations and customs as well as new employment laws enacted in response to the coronavirus crisis. Schedule a demo to see how Intoo USA can support workforce transitions for your global company.
INTOO staff writers come from diverse backgrounds and have extensive experience writing about topics that matter to the HR and business communities, including outplacement, layoffs, career development, internal mobility, candidate experience, succession planning, talent acquisition, and more.