Phases of an outplacement process and how to manage offboarding

11 of February, 2025

Outplacement in HR assists employees in leaving the company prepared to face the job market again. However, you must understand how it works, what steps to trace, and who to contact. And to do it right, you need to manage offboarding correctly.

In a dynamic business environment, restructuring and downsizing processes are inevitable. Outplacement, or external repositioning, and proper offboarding management have become essential tools for handling these transitions efficiently and humanely.

Fortunately, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we will explain how to manage this process comprehensively. Also counting on the help of technological tools that will serve as support both in onboarding and in the departure of employees.

What is outplacement in HR?

Outplacement in HR is a process intended to assist employees in readjusting and reentering the job market after leaving a company.

The primary goal of outplacement is to mitigate the negative effects of dismissal both for the employee and for the company, maintaining corporate reputation and minimizing the emotional and professional impact on the employees.

This methodology allows advising the worker to find a new job with which they are satisfied and meet their professional objectives.

Outplacement process in HR

Outplacement in HR is a much-needed process for workers who are leaving their position. Basically, outplacement helps the employee manage the process of change.

The outplacement process comprises several phases to follow. Keep reading, we are going into them in detail.

1. Evaluate the situation of your company

Before starting to plan an outplacement process, you should carefully evaluate your company’s situation. This means taking into account the number of workers being fired, the causes, the current work environment, and motivation and productivity factors.

It is also essential to consider the financial situation and the specific needs of the HR department.

The goal is to understand how the organization will be affected. This stage will allow you to identify what resources you have at your disposal to manage offboarding.

Additionally, you can also gain useful insights about your specific industry or your competition to determine what offers are available and how they can affect the labor sector in general.

2. Create your outplacement policy and plan

Now that you have assessed the situation, it’s time to create a sustainable outplacement plan for your company and employees. This includes defining the policy for your HR department.

Moreover, legal requirements related to offboarding must also be considered. If it is a dismissal, compliance with labor law must be ensured. Lastly, you need to determine how long the process will last.

3. Enhance internal communication and empathy

We know how hard it is to fire an employee and how painful it can be, that’s why it’s important to create a bridge of communication between both parties, to build a respectful environment.

Using the right HR software, you can easily set up messages and notifications that will inform your employees throughout the process. Being honest and transparent during these tough times is key to maintaining a good relationship with your employees, even after they leave.

4. Manage offboarding

Managing offboarding is one of the phases of the outplacement process. The employee’s exit management should be performed by the human resources department to ensure the worker’s safety and welfare.

Offboarding management also involves long-term follow-up to see how the worker has evolved since they left. This helps HR understand which strategies work best to help them find jobs after leaving the company.

There are several essential steps to follow, which we will explain more in detail in the next section.

5. Contact partners specialized in outplacement

If you have an HR department, it is crucial to build bridges with some reliable and specialized partners to help you perform the outplacement process. This will allow you to ensure the success of the process and achieve the desired results.

The chosen partners should have experience in the area of outplacement, and meet the set quality standards.

In addition, they should have flexible programs to adapt to individual and organizational needs as needed. Therefore, look for partners that offer customized programs to meet the specific needs of the company and the involved worker.

6. Follow-up with the worker

Once offboarding has been managed, it’s crucial to do a follow-up with the worker. This will help you evaluate the situation and ensure the worker is happy with the process results.

For this, there are several communication channels you can resort to, such as emails, personal interviews, or surveys.

Doing follow-ups will not only help you obtain data for future hirings but also show empathy and concern for the personal situation of the workers affected by your outplacement process.

Offboarding management in outplacement

The management of offboarding in outplacement involves advising the employee on how to face their new job situation.

A good HR software can help you a lot with this task by providing you follow-up lists to carry out the offboarding and thus contribute to growing the business successfully. If necessary, it can also assist you with your new selection processes and onboarding.

1. Advise the employee on their situation

It’s crucial that all workers receive adequate help and advice during the process of leaving the company.

The HR team should provide emotional support, as well as information about the employee’s situation, the programs available to help those fired, and the steps to follow after the dismissal or departure from the company.

In addition, it’s important to provide the worker with the necessary information and strategies to find a new job.

2. Prepare a performance report

When an employee leaves the company, it’s important to allow them to continue to develop professionally.

For this reason, outplacement often includes a performance review. This gives the worker a clearer view of where their skills are and gives them information to improve in the future.

As additional help for the process, you can count on the analysis of tools like Artificial Intelligence in HR to obtain more complete reports about the worker.

3. Create a letter of recommendation

Creating a letter of recommendation is a critical step in helping workers relocate during an outplacement process. These letters are formal documents that show the old employee can be a good option for a new job.

A letter of recommendation contains job rating, information about skills, talents, and positive features of the employee.

By creating these letters, the former employer can provide the new employer with confidence and back up the employee’s qualifications for the new position.

4. Help them set future goals

As part of the outplacement process, it’s crucial to assist the worker in setting goals for the future.

Setting goals will help them stay focused on the job hunt they are conducting.

It’s recommendable that the goals are SMART. This will not only help the employee but also the HR team to measure progress in a specific timeframe.

5. Put the worker in contact with the partners

Finally, it’s necessary that you put the worker in contact with other outplacement expert partners.

Thus, useful information about the new steps to take with the collaborators can be provided and the contact channels to carry out the follow-up of the process established.

Benefits of outplacement

Professionally managing HR outplacement has multiple benefits to your company:

Humanizes the offboarding process: outplacement gives workers the opportunity to receive tools to find a new job, which helps them feel better.
Increases work commitment: workers will feel more dedicated to their job if they know they will be supported when needed.
Boosts brand image: outplacement shows an empathetic vision towards personnel management and establishes a positive image of your brand.
Protects the company from conflicts: this practice reinforces the ethical values of the company, guaranteeing the right agreement between the company and its former collaborators.

The implementation of an outplacement program also offers multiple benefits to the employees:

Emotional and psychological support: reduces stress and anxiety associated with job loss.
Improvement of employability: increases skills and knowledge, improving the opportunities to get a new job.
Smooth transition: facilitates a quicker and more effective transition to new job opportunities.

In conclusion, the outplacement process is an excellent way to assist employees leaving the company. If your organization is looking for a way to streamline these types of processes, Sesame HR is the right choice.

These processes not only benefit the employees, providing support and improving their job prospects, but they also protect and improve the company’s reputation, ensuring a smoother and more efficient transition.

Our HR software will accompany you throughout the process. And, if you want to know more about the onboarding and offboarding processes, do not hesitate. We are your trusted experts, so keep reading in our resources section for more information.

Customer-oriented, both internally and externally, specializing in the definition and implementation of HR policies, as well as talent management, recruitment, and retention. Strong leadership, communication, negotiation, organization, and team coordination skills. Over 12 years of experience in Human Resources.

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iriserrador

HR Content Specialist