Increasingly due to changing economic conditions, businesses find that the services of some of their employees are not required, so they either ask them to resign or terminate their employment. Since employee layoffs can adversely affect the morale of the remaining employees and also affect the relationship with the employees who were laid off, increasingly businesses are hiring outplacement firms to help the employees leaving to find new jobs. Since there are a large number of firms offering outplacement services, businesses would like to compare the services and outplacement pricing before taking a decision.
Services offered
Typically the outplacement firm will offer the following services to the employees laid off
- career counselling about the opportunities available
- resume review
- understanding the personal preferences of each employee
- providing job leads
- coaching for interviews
The pricing for the outplacement services per employee will vary depending on a number of factors which are discussed below.
Number of employees
The service provider will usually provide outplacement pricing per employee who will require these services. If the business only has a few employees who are being laid off, the outplacement firm will usually charge a higher amount per employee. In contrast if the business is dismissing hundreds of employees, the outplacement firm will often offer bulk discounts, and the cost of outplacement per employee will be lower.
Scope of services
In some cases, the placement firm will guarantee that each dismissed employee will get a job. For this the outplacement agency will have to make more effort in generating leads, and ensuring that the employee applies for the job and is selected, so the cost per employee will be higher. In other cases, the outplacement firm may only generate job leads and may not guarantee placement, so the fees will be lower. A few outplacement firms are only offering career counselling, resume review, rewriting and coaching for interviews, so their fees will be lower.
Personalized service.
Outplacement firms which handle a large number of laid off employees often use automated tools for counselling, resume review and rewriting. The employee is provided login access to a portal, where he has to provide some information about himself and will be given suitable advice. Since the process is largely automated, the outplacement firm will usually charge less. In other cases the outplacement agency may have one or more experienced trained counselors with degrees, diplomas in psychology, executive coaching, human resources who will spend time with each individual to understand his requirement and then give suitable advice. Depending on the expertise of the counselor and time spent for outplacement, the charges per person will be higher
Employee age
It is usually easier for individuals below the age of 35 to find a new job, so outplacement of these individuals will be easier. There are far more job leads available, so they can find a new job quickly. In contrast there are few organizations who are hiring older professionals especially above the age of 45. So if the outplacement agency has to find new jobs for older professionals they will have to spend more time since there are limited opportunities and they will charge more for out placing senior employees.