Did You Know
Did you know that by not having an offboarding process in place, you're losing out on re-hireable talent?
Intro
Hello, action taker! Welcome to Live Blissed Out. A podcast where I have inspirational and informational conversations with business owners and subject matter experts to help you get the scoop on a variety of topics. Tired of hesitating or making decisions without having the big picture? Wanna be in the know? Then this is the place to go. I'm your host Marisa Huston. Helping you achieve bliss through awareness and action. So let's get to it.
In this episode, Tonia Martinez shares the various important considerations employers should make and implement in order to do what is right for their employees when lay off’s arise.
After 22 years in Corporate America, Tonia made her dream a reality by Founding Career Transformations, a Recruiting Consulting Firm. She designed an Outplacement Program to provide support to employers that need to lay off one or multiple individuals. Tonia is a Career Specialist that optimizes opportunities for employers and individuals on the job market.
The 3 services she offers are:
☑ Recruitment Needs while staying focused on Finding the Right Person for the Right Seat, the First Time Around with a proven track record of delivering talent.
☑ Outplacement Services when organizations need to exit individuals from organizations and want to do it the right way which protects their brand.
☑ Job Search Strategist who helps individuals with their job search and job placement needs.
To learn more, visit www.careertransformationsdenver.co
Disclaimer
The information opinions and recommendations presented in this podcast are for general information only and any reliance on the information provided in this podcast is done at your own risk. This podcast should not be considered professional advice.
Marisa
Tonia. Welcome to the show.
Tonia
Thank you, Marisa.
Marisa
What are we talking about today?
Tonia
We're talking about what inspired me to design an outplacement service, and I'd like to share a little bit about this amazing program. And then I'd also like to talk about the importance of brand and an organization's reputation.
Having been on both sides of the fence, being laid off and laying off employees. It's never a good feeling regardless of how we are affected and hiring. Isn't an easy task. And when we hire the wrong person, we face those consequences. We put the company at risk and waste a lot of time, money and resources.
And when organizations must perform layoffs, offering a severance check, isn't always enough. It's doing the right thing for your employees and truly making a difference in their abilities to quickly obtain support and employment. And by doing the right thing, you protect your brand, reduce risk, lower potential unemployment costs.
And when we do have to lay off one or multiple people, it's important that you do it the right way.
Marisa
And do you feel that most employers manage this appropriately? Or do you think there's room for opportunity?
Tonia
I think there's definitely room for opportunity 100 percent.
Most of the time larger organizations will have something like this in place, but smaller organizations may not. And they may think that they don't have to. But it's really protecting the brand that is critical.
Marisa
Yeah. And I suppose you're going to be sharing with us your story as well as what the consequences might be if you don't follow this process to make sure that your brand is protected.
Tonia
Yes. What inspired me to offer this type of service outplacement service that is, is, , I've been an HR professional for 22 years of my career, and unfortunately recruiters aren't generating revenues. So oftentimes when budget cuts happen, there's a reduction in force. Recruiters are impacted. And sadly enough, I've been laid off before and I've been part of laying off talent when my position wasn't impacted. And I can say that neither side is a fun experience. But when I was laid off the first time I was given a severance package, which included a check based on my years of service and an outplacement program that I could participate in. And I took advantage of the program .And I was thankful that I did because they really helped me learn how to job search effectively, how to write a resume, how to put a cover letter together. And I got my own career coach that really helped me figure out what types of roles and industries I wanted to focus my search on. And sometimes those career coaches also served as a mental health support because getting laid off isn't fun, it's stressful. It takes a lot out of you. And then the second time I was laid off, I wasn't given a severance or outplacement service because of my time of service. And let me tell you that was a little bit rougher. But luckily I had the previous experience to draw from, so I was a little bit more prepared on what to do and how to, quickly get out there. And then from an HR and organizational perspective, when an organization lays off individuals, everyone remaining needs to be educated on how this change will impact the organization from a positive and negative point of view. Because not all lay offs are bad. Oddly enough, knowing how to address and maintain support with the remaining employees is so important. And there is a process to who gets laid off and it's imperative. You do this correctly the first time with minimal to no risk at stake. An organization cannot afford to fire someone that wasn't supposed to be fired because the cost of an attorney will be painful. And if the career coaches you hire can help place your employees into new positions, your unemployment costs are then reduced in the end, which is another win for the organization. And as we know, culture [00:04:00] is so important to an organization. And when you conduct layoffs with one or multiple people, it's important to maintain that culture, continue doing the things that you've always done so that it's at least impacted and, get your leadership team together and your management team. Get them a mentor or a career coach, if they don't already have one .During change like this management may be tapped to take on more direct reports. They may have to lead other teams in the interim, if another supervisor was let go during a layoff and they may need guidance to maintain positivity and leadership, which will in the end really help them continue leading and excelling their team and their individual performance.
And this is a great way to community with your employees that care about them while securing brand reputation, employee, morale, commitment, retention, and productivity. Doing the right thing is so important at this time of change and to save that brand, when all possible. You really should offer an outplacement program along with a severance check, if they're eligible, and then those employees leaving the organization had a better experience in their departing and they're less likely to bash the company on Glassdoor or any other social media avenues. We know those changes hurt an organization and they're difficult to recover from. I've been there before and I've had to help shape culture and minimize those reviews. And it's not a quick fix and it's not a comfortable situation.
Marisa
Yeah, Tonia and I like what you said. It really resonated with me. And that is, not all situations like this are bad in the sense that, a lot of times these employees are not happy where they are. And the only reason they're there is because they need to be. They're worried about putting food on the table and providing for their families and they don't want to rock the boat. And so when a situation like this happens it can turn into something very positive because now you're giving them tools and resources to go do the things they really want to do in the first place. And perhaps the next opportunity might even be better than the one they were in. And I think that it's important that we understand that too, and that we can make a very win-win positive environment if we follow the right steps.
Tonia
Yes, exactly. Kind of moving into the next section employers have the option to add benefits, like outplacement services to really ensure when they have a layoff, it doesn't get ugly and organizations could start by, building a strategic plan, part of your core values and your social responsibility and partner with an outplacement service provider, like career transformations to execute outplacement for your exiting employees and knowing you are helping your employees land on their feet through this change, says everything about your organization and the culture of the organization. If you're going through a reduction in force of any kind small or large. Or you need to exit an individual from the organization that isn't a good fit any longer. Our outplacement program will help you do this ethically while remaining compliant. And you'll leave a good message to the departing employee. And we'll help you create a severance package and walk you through the importance of the entire process through our holistic customized five pillar approach. You only select the services that you need assistance with. We have three HR packages and if you don't need HR services, but would like other services, you can select those. One is a self service driven package. The second provides some consultant. With that self service aspect to it from our HR expert. And then the third is really where we handle a majority of the process and take all that stress from you. And again, if you don't need the HR assistance, but would like to take advantage of financial and health consultants support our consultants will guide you and your employees through options pertaining to their financial and healthcare plans, living them less stressed about where their money goes and what kind of benefits they have. And that includes Cobra education and portability of plans. And then we can also support the organization from an EAP perspective where our consultants provide mental health support to your employees remaining and departing. This is such an important benefit, Marisa. Now more than ever. When you're laid off having that person to talk to can be life changing for many. And lastly, if you didn't want any or all of this different support, you can simply hire career coaches for your remaining leaders or, if you want to help the departing employees with career support, we can provide those coaches to assist your employees through, whatever navigations they need to really help them land on their feet. Our outplacement is designed to meet you where you are and help your employees get to where they're going, regardless if they're staying or leaving your organization.
Marisa
So essentially there's something for every business. The important thing is to have that conversation, figure out what is needed and then make sure that you're providing whatever resources are necessary so that you maintain your brand reputation and you have the situation that could potentially be negative Dern into something positive and helpful for the employee that's being let go..
Tonia
Yes, you got it. And I touched on this earlier, but to share a little more and draw into my experiences and how organizations can be negatively impacted through layoffs. I'd like to share a few pointers. First of all, brand reputation, is everything to an organization. If you think about how long it takes an organization to build culture, it's a long time. And then growing and maintaining it even longer. So when you lay one person or 200 people off, the impact is huge. And if you can change some processes internally before the layoff stage, specifically speaking after the hiring stage, you'll be thankful you did, and you'll be better positioned to handle or lay off a little more effectively and with less impact on the organization. So some recommendations I would have, is first, , sit with leaders and management to implement some hiring strategies that are designed around your core, values, your mission, and learn how to hire more effectively if you're not doing this now. And then designing an orientation and onboarding program that is engaging and it keeps them interested and happy throughout their first, at least 90 days. Then setting up the touch points to give feedback and ask for feedback. Things like stay interviews can be done once or twice a year, maybe at the performance review time, but don't forget to utilize that data and talk about it with leadership and management to really enforce change and keep those people happy and engaged . Some organizations will hold town halls to share what they're doing, what they've learned over the quarter of anyone that's left the organization. And then that transparency is golden too. it's key to really an open and transparent organization, which is what people want. When employees are happy, they share those experiences with others, and this becomes your best source of hires, internal referrals. Then you go out and you create a program for them so that they could keep delivering talent to you.
Marisa
When things are done inappropriately, it could really be disastrous. I recently heard about a company that basically let go a bunch of people over zoom. And it came out he came out in the news and now they had to backtrack and apologize and figure out how to get out of the hole they dug for themselves. Everybody was upset to the point that, , when you're impacting that many people all at once and you don't do it the right way that's exactly what you can expect to happen.
Tonia
Could be so painful. And then offering employee engagement opportunities quarterly or as often as you can, , this is so important because it builds that culture that people are looking for. And through this pandemic culture and leadership has become a little bit more important to people. It seems, , pay is less what people are looking for. Also don't forget to hold those exit interviews when people leave the organization and do something with that data again. Don't just gather it and file it away. Talk about it, define a plan to change things when there's changes that are needed. And oftentimes that's leadership changes as well. So really taking that information seriously, validating it. You might have to update benefits if people are saying I'm leaving the organization, because the benefits stink. You may have to make some edits, , with what you're offering to keep your people happy and, keep them there. And then this all goes back to how we hire. And we all know it's important to hire the right person for the right seat the first time around. It's my tagline. That's, what's important. You want to avoid hiring bad hires, because then you're spinning your wheels on how we're going to exit that person without, , having a ton of risk and, , without wasting time and money and resources and putting the organization, , at risk and their brand at risk.
Marisa
Yeah, exactly. There are organizations, like you said, that already have things like this in place, but there are many that don't or feel like they've never really had to address it before or if they ever addressed it, they haven't had any bad experiences. But it only takes one for that to turn. And so being prepared upfront and knowing that there's somebody out there that can help you, a team of people that will be able to listen to you and figure out what your specific situation is, that's invaluable.
Tonia
Yes. And our program has several different coaches from diverse backgrounds, because it's really important to find a career coach that is a good fit for you. Not every coach is a good fit for you. So being able to pick your own coach really helps people accept the program and really embrace it..
Marisa
Absolutely. And in fact, I truly believe in that because I know several people, for example, that could be good in a particular area, but when somebody asks for a referral, I always like to give at least three options because it's up to that individual to figure out which of those three people who are all exceptional is a good fit for them. It's not cookie cutter.
Tonia
Exactly.
Marisa
Tanya, how do people then learn more about the services and how to get a hold of you when they're ready and, need your help?
Tonia
Yes. So you could take a look at the website we're at www.careertransformationsdenver.com. You can also reach out to me via email which is info@careertransformationsdenver.com. You can take a look at my YouTube page and check out the videos. They're also on my LinkedIn page. So there's lots of ways to get ahold of me. At the end of the day, no organization enjoys making difficult choices about their workforce but when you respect them while, showing compassion and empathy they'll know your organization cares about them. Off boarding is a critical step in the lifecycle process and outplacement is one benefit that will help you depart employees and really help them gain some great skills to prepare them for their journey. And it sends a great message to your remaining staff. Plus your reputation and credibility is not so much at risk when you do the thing.
Marisa
And luckily we're in a time now where there is lots of opportunity as well. So that doesn't mean that you just let them go and expect that they handle things on their own, but it does make it easier because the opportunities are available. At least here in Denver, we're seeing a lot of demand for help in lots of different areas. And it's always better for the employee in those situations, as opposed to in situations where there are no jobs to be had, no matter what. But it's still this not excuse an employer from making the transition. The transition still needs to happen and making that seamless. So it's easy and they have a positive kind of viewpoint in their heads to the, , the reputation of the company and their experience. That is always helpful..
Tonia
Yes. And when you have that good relationship, , built with your employees, they trust you there's transparency and they open up and tell you what's on their mind. Most times it won't be a negative experience. Whereas if you didn't have that established. Those employees, if you do have to lay off, , they tend to go to Glassdoor and Facebook and put up, , bad reviews. But when you have all of this established and this trust and rapport, , they might go out to Glassdoor and put a good word out there, , based on the relationship they have, the changes that the organization made. This amazing, , outplacement package, you provided them with that truly helped them land on their feet. Those employees, you lay off may come back to your organization or still refer people to join you based on their positive experiences.
Marisa
And even be long-term customers. It, really is a win-win for everybody to do it the right way. Tonia, thank you so much for being here and sharing this with us.
Tonia
Thank you Marisa, and I'm happy to help and thank you as well.
Outro
That's a wrap for this episode of Live Blissed Out. Thanks for listening and thanks to Tonia Martinez for joining us on the show. If you have a question or comment for a future episode, all you have to do is go to www.speakpipe.com/LBOVM or click the link in the show notes to leave a brief audio message. If you find value in our show, please visit www.liveblissedout.com to reach out subscribe and share on social media. This show is made possible through listeners like you. Thank you. So long for now and remember to keep moving forward.