what do redundancies and career transitions mean for today's workforce?
In the days of holding one long career in the same field, potentially even the same job through an entire career, “workplace transition” was not a commonplace term. “Transition” essentially meant retirement at the appropriate age.
These days the majority of our workforce will experience several forms of workplace transition throughout their career. Whether it be a role change, career or industry move, redeployment, a restructure or redundancy, the “transition” phase has become as inevitable as all other stages in the employment cycle.
This presents a challenge for employers and employees alike. As restructures and redundancies are becoming more and more commonplace, mergers and acquisitions are forcing role changes and organisations are restructuring due to rapid changes in technology and industry trends.
increasingly, employers require guidance in protecting both their organisation, as well as individual employees, through periods of sweeping change.
“Employee departures are a natural part of business,” says Sanjay Sathé, President and CEO of US-based market leader in innovative, technology-driven outplacement services, RiseSmart.
“Large-scale restructuring or downsizing may draw particular attention to this difficult process, but the exit of even one employee can have significant implications. The words, tweets and posts of a departing employee can influence a company’s reputation, with a ripple effect on recruiting capability, compensation levels and the productivity of current employees.
“The post-employment experience also influences the risk of wrongful-dismissal lawsuits and the company’s future unemployment insurance tax burden,” he added.
“With this in mind, outplacement support is now recognised as much more than a perk for high-level departing employees; it is becoming an integral part of best-practice employee lifecycle management for all levels of talent. By providing support to help a departing employee secure a new position, a company can turn the negatives of involuntary employee departure into a positive career transition experience.”
Alison Monroe, National Director, Australia New Zealand of career transition experts, Sageco, says while redundancy continues to be a somewhat sensitive and at times taboo topic, transitions like redundancy are a reality of modern working life.
“While the circumstances surrounding career transition may often be out of both the employer’s and the employee’s control, everyone can and should be prepared for the process,” said Monroe.
“We have hundreds of conversations each month about outplacement and career transition. Every client has a story. Every participant has a story about experiencing redundancy, going through an outplacement or contemplating a career transition.
“The reality is the majority of people in the modern workforce will probably face several of these transitions in their lives. We must also remember that the notion of retirement is a major transition and affects each individual differently. Employees in late-career may want to work longer, but differently, and also need support. Our role is to partner with clients to create their future, by guiding and inspiring organisations and individuals through periods of change – no matter what age or stage they are in life.”
While the majority of workplaces focus on going ‘up the career ladder’, the reality for many is that they are actually transitioning up, down, sideways, and of the career ladder. Likewise for employers, while redundancies are often motivated by a need to create value for the organisation, they often create new problems that affect the company’s bottom line and brand reputation.
By offering employees positive outcomes such as outplacement during periods of change, employers can not only reduce costs but also limit legal risk, protect future talent acquisition and protect your brand.
Joining forces with Sageco and RiseSmart - recognised leaders in outplacement and career transition - will strengthen Randstad’s sourcing, onboarding, and talent management portfolio, reinforcing our position as the leading HR partner across the entire talent lifecycle. This acquisition brings together Sageco’s holistic approach, RiseSmart’s innovative technology platforms and Randstad’s experience and global reach. We’re offering our customers a best-of-breed, highly-differentiated solution and this partnership will serve to further underscore our commitment to becoming the outplacement market leader in all regions of the world.
The expanded solution of these combined companies means organisations going through change will achieve more successful outcomes, and employees will be more successful in finding new roles in the future, faster.
This will be an unrivalled force in the career transition and outplacement market.
about Randstad
Randstad is one of the world’s leading recruitment & HR services specialists, passionate about matching people with organisations that will develop their potential and matching organisations with people that will take their business to the next level.
The Randstad Group employs over 560,000 people every day with the aim of 'shaping the world of work'.
For further information visit www.randstad.com.au
about Sageco
Sageco is a specialist outplacement and career transition business, established in 2003 with a national presence in 10 locations, and a team of over 80 staff and transition specialists in Australia and New Zealand.
Sageco has deep expertise in career, mature age and executive transition, guiding and inspiring organisations and individuals through organisational change; transforming the career experience of people at all ages and stages to create a positive future.
For further information visit www.sageco.com.au
about RiseSmart
RiseSmart is an outplacement innovator, providing contemporary career transition services that strengthen employer brands, improve retention and re-engage talent. Since its founding in 2007, RiseSmart’s contemporary approach to outplacement has combined personalised services from trained professionals with unmatched technology delivered through a convenient, cloud-based platform.
High-performing organisations in more than 40 industries rely on RiseSmart’s outplacement solution to help former employees find new jobs faster.
For further information visit www.risesmart.com
For further information about Randstad’s acquisition of Sageco and RiseSmart, click here
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