Support a positive employee experience as employees exit your organization

Five benefits of providing departing employees with career transition support.

Career Management

Events across the entire employee life cycle can influence the employee experience, from the recruitment process to the day an employee leaves your organization. While much focus and effort go into supporting a positive employee experience during the recruitment, onboarding, and employment phase, organizations often overlook the departure process.

There are many reasons why an organization and an employee will part ways. If handled poorly, the exiting process could negatively impact your organization’s brand reputation, culture, and the morale of remaining employees. There is also an increased risk of litigation. 

Organizations dealing with layoffs face a trickier situation. Leadership needs to manage the experience for departing employees, leaders or managers delivering the layoff news, and remaining employees. 

Career transition services are one way to help departing employees manage the change and find new employment while supporting the employee experience for all parties involved. 

Let’s explore some of the benefits of providing career transition support.  

Protected brand reputation

Employees who receive career transition support are more likely to make positive comments about their former employer, helping maintain your organization’s brand reputation. This is especially important today given the labour shortage and the competition for talent.

Positive employee relations

Often during times of transition, the focus is on the departing individual. You may forget to think about how the news may affect the remaining employees. Learning that a colleague has lost their job can cause stress and uncertainty, which may impact performance. Career transition consultants can help guide you through delivering the message to the remaining employees to help the team feel safe and secure, especially for group notifications.

Providing transition services also shows your remaining employees that the organization cares about its staff. It can reinforce that if they find themselves in the same situation in the future, they will be treated with the same respect and dignity.

Employee closure and support

Access to support through the transition and job search helps shorten the disruption to an affected employee’s personal life and quickly brings closure.

With career transition services, a consultant can check in with the individual later in the day to ensure they are doing okay. The consultant will talk to the individual about the emotions they may be experiencing, helping them to refocus and move forward.

“The program was good but what made it valuable for me was my HR consultant… My consultant restored my confidence that was lost over these past few challenging years personally and professionally. I was gifted with such a wonderful person. We became fast friends over our mutual love for helping those in need and the wonderful world of personal development. I am grateful for having been a part of this program!”

– Career transition program participant

Risk management

A career transition program can also reduce the risks to your organization. Lawyers reviewing the severance package of a departing employee typically look more favourably on severance packages that include career transition support. This can lead to less negotiation or mitigate requests for additional severance.

Support for leaders through the notification process

Letting someone go is never an easy decision or conversation. For some, this may be the first time notifying an employee of job loss, and for others who’ve already had the experience, it might make them feel stressed and anxious to do it again. With career transition services, a consultant is with you every step of the way. As you make decisions around the process, your consultant will help ensure you feel comfortable and confident with the messaging and logistics for the notification meeting. Your well-being and mental health are just as important during this process.

“The overall service from start to finish was excellent. The consultants showed empathy and compassion for the employees, as they assisted and guided them through something that was so difficult and showed them that there was a light at the end of the tunnel. I have a huge amount of trust and confidence in People First HR’s career transition consultants. They listened to me and always did the right thing and always accommodated our requests – no matter what.”

– Client organization HR representative

Support for career transitions

How an individual is treated as they leave an organization is a vital part of the employee experience. Whether it’s an employee-led exit or due to downsizing or layoffs, how an employee leaves can have ripple effects across your organization.

For support with career transitions or other important people and culture needs, contact People First HR. We look forward to learning about your unique needs and finding a solution that works for your organization.

Contact People First HR