Outplacement/Career Counselling

"Organisations need effective career development to grow the skills and experience the business needs for now and the future. The majority of high skill jobs require skills that are specific to the organisation or are hard to recruit."
CIPD/National Institute for Careers Education and Counselling.

Career assessment and job search
CVs, interview preparation and practice.

Have you ever thought that you or some of your staff might be in the wrong job or that your whole career has been a mistake?

Thinking People who undergo psychometric testing and personality profiling benefit greatly from the insight it gives them. These techniques have long been used by businesses to assess potential employees. Why not use them to carry out a personal audit to assess where you are in your career? Take a look at the results of psychometric testing in relation to your career history and your aspirations. You could make a positive and rewarding career move based on your aptitudes and on what you have achieved so far.

When an individual or a group of individuals find themselves in a position of having to seek alternative employment due to a redundancy situation or similar, Team Insight can offer invaluable assistance. We can run group workshops on how individuals can best market themselves, prepare for interviews and build meaningful contact networks. We can also provide tailored personal search campaign plans where necessary. The offer of such services to an employee who is having to leave the business goes a very long way in making that experience more palatable. It can also help the organisation maintain a reputation for being caring even when tough commercial decisions have had to be made.

Link to Outplacement/Career Counselling Case Study

Downsizing - Support for the Survivors

So, you’ve implemented the redundancy programme. Individuals have left the organisation and you have achieved the right size and shape for the future. Now you can relax and look forward. Or can you?

The manner in which an organisation realigns its workforce after a redundancy programme can have immense implications for the remaining employees. Neglecting those who have made it through a reorganisation poses its own risks. Although they still have their jobs, those who are left may experience greater pressures owing to changes in their work. Morale will have dipped, if not plummeted and they will have lost some good colleagues. “Survivor Syndrome” will probably have kicked in.

In 2008, according to the Health and Safety Executive, 13.8 million working days were lost to work-related stress, depression and anxiety. It is widely accepted that work-related stress can be triggered by change and the HSE lists it as a key factor. A redundancy process is one of the most obvious examples of large-scale workplace change and failure to manage employees’ workloads or work patterns post-redundancy can cause them to suffer high levels of stress.

Employers have a statutory duty to assess the risk to their employees of stress-related ill health arising from work and to take measures to control that risk. They can be exposed to a range of possibly stress-related claims if they fail to manage the aftermath of a redundancy or change process properly.

A recent study by the University of Cambridge found that job insecurity, rather than redundancy itself, took a far greater toll on the mental health of both men and women. Interestingly, although men put on a brave face in times of uncertainty, they recorded higher measures than women of depression and anxiety. This was assessed against the standard clinical measure which records symptoms such as insomnia, poor concentration and unexplained sadness.

Employers need to be aware of the issues and repercussions that organisational change poses, not only to their bottom line, but also to the employees affected by such change. Maintaining the psychological contract between surviving employees and the organisation, through the continuous involvement of all employees at various stages of the downsizing process, helps employees to perceive themselves as active stakeholders with a future.

Team Insight can assist organisations to effectively counteract this negativity by providing Support for the Survivors. Such a gesture shows the remaining employees that their employer cares about them, recognises their responsibilities towards them and sees them as key partners to future success.

Bespoke support can be supplied on a one-to-one or group basis to assist in many areas including the following:

Implementing a “survivors’ strategy” by providing a timely, accurate and thorough communication process
Training managers to look for signs of stress and ensure they have the skills to manage the remaining employees in a supportive manner throughout the reorganisation period
Advising on regularly focusing on the risk of staff developing stress-related illnesses as a result of their work
Encouraging the monitoring of absences closely and working with occupational health professionals
Warning that some employees will be carrying out a new job and may require a transition period before they become fully effective
Considering what retraining needs employees require after a reorganisation
Advising line management to have regular discussions with staff to ensure they feel supported in their new roles or new reporting structures.

Team Insight have a team of consultants who have personally delivered a wide range of Outplacement Services for different levels of employee, including one-to-one sessions and group workshops. They are all highly qualified, experienced individuals who have been providing advice to a wide spectrum of organisations for many years.