Offer practical and emotional support

Offer career guidance and signposting

This year has asked a huge amount of business leaders, it certainly has brought more challenges and has required bosses to be agile, strong, decisive, and open to learning. In fact, many if not all business leaders have been doing all they can to learn through a period of unimaginable uncertainty. No one had a manual to navigate through the last 2 years and it may well have brought out new skills in a manager. One of the biggest additions to the toolkit of leaders has been empathy – treating their workforce with care and understanding. The things that were urgent and important in January changed overnight and the response from the leaders of business will have left a lasting impact on the workers in those businesses.

If you have had to make redundancies this year or are planning to do so, do ensure that you do all you can to support those leaving the business for their onward journey. Be it a formal or informal outplacement programme – there is huge merit in offering guidance, support, advice, and direction to those who are leaving.

Many have described the feelings of being made redundant as similar to that of a grieving process. It takes a long time to reach a position where someone feels that they are ready to accept what has happened and to approach the jobs market or make plans for the future. For some, it may have been a long time since they wrote a CV, prepped for interviews, sold their skills to a future employer or written job applications. It is not easy to navigate the current jobs market so any guidance or support would be welcome.

What can business leaders do to support?

  • Offer empathy at all stages of the redundancy process – be mindful that each person is likely to feel vulnerable and worried about the future in the immediate aftermath of learning the news.
  • Collate useful information from local recruiters, careers advisors or outplacement companies in order to be able to offer up to date details – there is plenty of support that can be accessed and partnering with a specialist gives businesses the chance to focus on operational duties while staff are supported.
  • Direct your workers to specialist businesses who can give up to date market knowledge in a changing economic climate.
  • Consider offering your leadership team coaching on confidence-building and developing techniques on how to manage change and uncertainty.
  • Direct workers to take advice to support their financial situation – practical guidance.
  • Signpost workers to businesses, individuals or networks who can support them through the process of entering the jobs market.
  • Signpost people to LinkedIn training networks or specialists in that field
  • It is important to remember that there is often a feeling of guilt for those who are not made redundant, it’s important to maintain morale for those remaining in the business. For them to see their colleagues being treated well in their departure is important for their future attitude to work and their positivity.

There is a strong possibility that your professional paths will cross again in the future so how you deal with the redundancy process and the additional support that you are able to offer is so important for the here and now but also for future business relations.

For more information about how we could help you with an outplacement support plan, please do contact jeni.jones@draytonfox.com.