In this episode of Redundancy Matters, June explores how HR and people professionals can support employees through redundancy when formal outplacement support isn’t available. Drawing on her experience as a career coach and former HR professional, June shares practical, compassionate in-house approaches that help people leave well while maintaining clear boundaries and realistic expectations.

Useful Links From This Episode

Listen on Apple: Building the Business Case for Outplacement Support

Listen on Spotify: Building the Business Case for Outplacement Support

Read the blog: Outplacement Benefits: How to get senior buy-in for outplacement support during redundancies

Listen to Apple: Why Empathy Matters in Redundancy

Listen on Spotify: Why Empathy Matters in Redundancy

Connect with June on LinkedIn

Visit the Wildwood Coaching website

Sign up to hear about our next FREE 1 hour Redundancy Lunch and Learn

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If you found this episode of Redundancy Matters helpful, please rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

If you’re kind enough to leave a review, please let June know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: [email protected]

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Welcome to today's episode

of Redundancy Matters.

2

I'm June Hogan.

3

I'm a qualified career coach and

outplacement specialist, and I've

4

got a background in hr, and today

I'm going to be talking about the

5

things that you can do if you are not

able to offer outplacement support.

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So I know that when you are managing

redundancies, it can bring up a real

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mix of feelings because working in HR

and in the people profession, many of

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us choose to do that because we want

to make an impact and because it aligns

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with our values, doing the right thing,

actually caring about people and wanting

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to improve people's working lives.

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So when you're asked to manage

redundancies, that mixture of feelings

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about caring about people, knowing

the impact that this is going to have

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and also caring about what happens

to people after they leave, is often

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something which I would carry when I

was managing redundancies, wondering

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what was gonna happen when someone left

the organization, if they'd be okay.

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But I also know that many teams are

managing in difficult circumstances

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and that outplacement support might not

always be available as much as you know

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that is the best and best practice.

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Way to conclude redundancies.

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Sometimes it might be that there

just isn't any money available.

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Companies gone into administration,

for example, it could be that the

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leadership team don't want to offer it.

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Or they think it's too expensive, they

don't want to make the investment.

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And so in these situations, I know

that you are gonna want to do the

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best for people and offer support

and try and manage that internally.

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So in this episode, I'm gonna talk

about some practical in-house ways that

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you can support people to leave well.

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So if outplacement isn't

offered, it doesn't mean that

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people aren't being supported.

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It just means that that

support has to look different.

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And in reality, you are not going

to be able to replace professional

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outplacement support with an in-house.

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Offering because outplacement support

covers lots of different elements, such

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as helping individuals to process the

emotion of redundancy, help them think

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about what next practical things like

looking at their cvs, helping them through

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LinkedIn, preparing for interviews,

et cetera, giving them accountability.

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A sense of momentum.

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A safe place and a safe space that

they can explore things with you.

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First 100 days planning for a

new role and in role coaching.

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So the time that you have with

somebody who is at risk of redundancy,

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it's just not practical that you're

gonna be able to cover all of that.

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So I think it's about thinking about.

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What is practical, what's realistic,

and what's gonna have the most

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impact for the people that you

are supporting in their particular

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circumstances, in their situation?

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So I'm gonna talk through each one and

talk about what's realistic and then just

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talk about how our placement support can

help in a slightly different way, because

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it isn't necessarily all or nothing.

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It doesn't mean to say that you either

offer outplacement support and you

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give that to a provider and they do

everything for you, or that you don't,

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and you have to do it all in house.

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Sometimes there is a blended

approach that can work quite well.

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And if you are listening to this thinking,

well, I would really would like to offer

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outplacement support, I'll put a link

in the show notes to a previous podcast

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episode where I talked about building the

business case for outplacement support.

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And there's also a blog if you

want to have a read as well.

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So starting with the emotional side.

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Of redundancy.

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So redundancy, as you'll know if you've

managed redundancies before or maybe it's

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your first time, that this is a shock.

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People will experience a whole

range of different emotions.

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Can be anger, grief,

some people are relieved.

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There can be confusion, anxiety,

and these things can change from

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day to day for people depending

on what they're going through.

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In that situation, there will be a

role that HR teams can play in helping

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individuals to acknowledge that what

they're going through is difficult.

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This is some of what we do when we

work with individuals, and we can

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provide them with that safe space,

that independent space, and that

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opportunity to talk to someone who's

completely removed from the situation.

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But if you are offering this in-house.

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Then it's important to create those

boundaries for people to create

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that safe space to contract and

make sure that they understand the

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confidentiality if they are having

conversations with you, for example.

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That can be quite hard to do if

you're involved in the process itself.

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So just think about how you might

navigate that or whether you might have

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other people who aren't involved in the

redundancy process itself that you might

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sign posts individuals to if they want to

have those kind of deeper conversations.

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And I'll come on to talk about how that

works with boundaries, et cetera later.

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But in the first instance, if

you are faced with someone who

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is overwhelmed with emotion, it's

not about jumping into sympathy.

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And again, I've got a podcast episode

I'll put a link to around why empathy is

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hugely important in redundancy situations,

but simply something like people

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experience this very differently and

any reactions and that you may, emotions

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you may be feeling are entirely valid.

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So you are acknowledging what the

individual's going through rather

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than trying to fix what they're going

through and hopefully providing an

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open conversation that they then

might want to talk more about, those

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emotions and how they're feeling.

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But the role of the HR team in this

situation where it can get difficult

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is if you are trying to kind of hold

all of those emotions for yourself.

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So it's important to have your boundaries

in place when you are in a redundancy

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consultation process and you are not

just sort of in the process itself, but

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you are also offering support outside.

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Just make sure those boundaries are

really clear , because when you see

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someone who is struggling and when

someone who's suffering, it's a natural

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human reaction to want to step in.

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But you really do need to maintain your

boundaries in order to maintain a level

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of distance and also a level of capacity

to be able to do all the other work that

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you have to do as well, without getting

dragged into too much of the detail for an

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individual in their particular situation.

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If someone is really struggling, there

are things that you can signpost them to.

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For example, you could signpost them to

an emotions wheel to help them name their

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emotions, and you can signpost them to

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stephen Covey, circle of control.

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Circle of influence.

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That can be quite a nice exercise

to get someone to do if they feel

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overwhelmed and not sure, what to

do next, and feeling out of control.

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So thinking about your role

in all of that, what you.

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Realistically can do what you practically

are able to do and feel kind of

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qualified and comfortable to do, and

also what is going to be most useful

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for that individual in that situation.

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And then another element

of outplacement support.

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Is around the kind of career

coaching side of things.

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Now, depending on where somebody is on

that change curve, and depending on how

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long you have to spend with somebody, some

consultation periods can be quite short.

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It might not be practical.

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For you to have career conversations

with somebody because they might just

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not be in that right place, which is

where when you use outplacement support,

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it gives people time to kind of come

to terms with as much as they can do

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what's happening to them during the

consultation process, and then start to

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work on some of the practical stuff later.

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But in this situation what we often

find with working with clients is

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there's a whole lot going on for people.

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Because redundancy impacts

self-worth, self-esteem, confidence.

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It can undermine your, the

thoughts and ideas and plans

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that you had about a career.

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So things to think about would be to.

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Have a career conversation with someone

if they're open to that, to ask 'em

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about their thoughts about what they

might be thinking about in terms of

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next roles, things they want to leave

behind from the role that they're

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leaving, things they want to do more

of, less of things they're proud of.

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You know, there's loads of things that

you can ask in a career conversation

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setting, and some of the most practical

and helpful things for people are.

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To have access to a CV template

because lots of people will have a CV

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that's out of date, understandably.

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They may have worked in the

organization for a long time,

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might not have a CV at all.

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And so if you can provide a CV

template and some examples of what

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good looks like from your perspective.

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You might also want to provide them with

a guide of how to succeed in interviews.

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You may want to put on a lunch

and learn, for example, where

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you ask people to drop in.

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And that lunch and learn could

be just for general questions.

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It could be on a specific topic

and particularly things around cvs.

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Interviews, those are really popular.

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You might want to do something around

how to look for a job because the world

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of work is changing, and again, for

some people they won't be up to date

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with how and where to look for roles.

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If you've got an internal talent team,

I would suggest you draw on their

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experience and their resources and get

them to support you with some of this.

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Maybe run a session on how recruitment

works from their perspective.

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Providing some kind of drop in

career clinics, if you've got

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capacity to do that again, where

people can come in, they might have

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been doing some work on their cv.

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They might have been giving some thought

to what's next, and they can come and

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talk to you or people in an adjacent team.

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You could issue a skills audit to get

people to think about the sorts of things

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that they enjoy, the sorts of things

that they're good at, because this can

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be a time when people lose sight of

that because redundancy nots confidence

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and all that people can think about

is that the redundancy is about them.

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We know that redundancy is about

roles, not people, but it does not feel

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like that when it's happening to you.

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So encouraging them to think about

their skills, to think about their

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experience, and to think more broadly

about some of this can be helpful.

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And one really important part in all

of this, if you are looking to do

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outplacement internally as much as

you can, is to enroll line managers.

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Because line managers know

the people more than you do.

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They'll know their strengths, their

skills, the work that they really

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shine in, and really encouraging line

managers to offer those one-to-one

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conversations with individuals.

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This can be around feedback.

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For example, it's not a

performance review at all.

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It's not a formal conversation.

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It's just about a line manager giving

some insights, giving some ideas,

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giving some feedback, observations in

an honest and supportive way to help

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that individual to remember what they're

good at, where they add value, and to

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give them some ideas if they can't.

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Think about these for themselves are

the kinds of roles or environments

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that might suit them based on their

knowledge of them as an individual.

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And of course, when we are working

with people, this all goes a lot

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deeper in terms of when we're

digging into confidence or identity.

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But using what you can do and

using line managers can be a really

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powerful thing for individuals.

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And then job search support.

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So again, this can feel.

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Like a mountain to climb for

some people because they just

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don't know where to start.

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Maybe they're not confident

with technology, maybe they

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haven't got access to technology.

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And that's an important point.

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And something that I would encourage

anyone to do in a redundancy process

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is to provide individuals with

access to technology where relevant.

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Um, of course, you need to provide people

with reasonable time off to look for

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work, and that might be that you provide.

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People with access to the technology

to look for roles and to get confident

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and familiar with where to find jobs.

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So it might be that you provide a simple

kind of job search tracker for people.

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You might do some initial research

on job boards or recruiters

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that you've used in the past.

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You might bring somebody in who's

a local recruiter, depending

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on the size and scope of.

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The exercise that you are managing,

give people a LinkedIn demonstration.

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Give them a tour of LinkedIn.

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Show them how and where they

can find roles on there.

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LinkedIn recommendations are really

powerful if you can get line managers to

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give those to people before they leave.

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And then just give people some

time to do their own research.

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And again, if you are running

dropping career clinics, then people

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can come in and ask for advice.

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So these sorts of things really help

people move forward because they can see

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and access things in a practical way.

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And as well as job boards and the

practical ways to look for work.

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Also emphasizing the importance

of their network, and that's

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where line managers can introduce

people or make recommendations,

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and that can be really powerful.

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And then the last element is around

helping people to maintain that momentum

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and to have a level of accountability

that can be really hard to do internally,

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as I've said at the start, depending

on how long you've got with somebody

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in terms of the consultation period.

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So being clear about what you can

do for people and for how long?

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It's pretty much impossible to

have an ongoing relationship

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after somebody's left.

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So it really has to end at the point

of which consultation has finished

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and concluded, and that individual

is leaving the organization.

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But be really clear about that.

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So they understand the timeframes, they

understand the boundaries, and that

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this isn't something that's gonna be

carrying on after they leave in the

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event that their role is made redundant.

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And also signposting.

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That is one way of helping you to not

feel like you're holding everything and

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carrying everything, as well as trying

to manage and lead the process and.

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If you notice that you are starting

to feel responsible for how someone

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is coping, or you are feeling that the

conversations that you're having with

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someone might be veering into more

of a counseling or therapy need, then

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it's really important to acknowledge

that and to signpost and not to

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feel that you have to fix everything

because that's not helpful for the

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individual and it's definitely not

helpful for you, as a HR professional.

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So thinking about your boundaries.

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And being really clear on those because

they do protect both you and those people

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who are at risk and in signposting, it

also helps to give people agency over

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their situation and what they need next.

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So signposting to people internally.

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So you might have mental

health first aiders.

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You might have an EAP, A

pension provider, for example.

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And then there's also external support

in the Department of Work and Pensions

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Mind, charity, the Samaritans.

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So feeling like you can give people other

places to go for support because at the

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end of the day, your support can only

last until they leave the organization,

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which might not be for a very long time.

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So if you're not in a position to offer

out placement support, I hope that's given

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you some insights into what you can do.

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And also think about the fact that

you could do a blended approach

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in terms of offering some things

in house and then offering some

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things through an external partner.

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So I heard that's been helpful

and do join me again for the next

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episode of Redundancy Matters.

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Thank you so much for listening

to the Redundancy Matters podcast.

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I hope you found today's episode helpful.

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It would mean a lot to me if you

would follow rate and review this

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podcast wherever you listen to your

podcasts, as this helps it reach more

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people who are managing redundancies.

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Let me know what you thought,

and if you have ideas for future

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episodes, I'd love to hear from you.

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You can find me on LinkedIn, June

Hogan, and get in touch via my

265

website, wildwood coaching.co.uk,

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where you'll also find more resources

to help you manage redundancies.

267

I hope you'll join me again soon for

the next episode of Redundancy Matters.