When Mohan, working as a team leader with an IT firm, was told he had to cut the size of his team he was distraught. He was “feeling terrible” and felt like “having lost his own job”. He was numbed by the thought of telling his friends, rather than colleagues, that they have to “leave”.
There is a ‘soft’ and ‘friendly’ way to let go of the people, instead of outrightly asking them to find another job. Outplacement, a trend that has been prevalent in the West for at least two decades, is now being thought of as a way out of the ‘morass’ Mohan was in. Outplacement, a term used to describe the efforts of a downsizing company to help its redundant employees through the redundancy transition, has been found to be a “lesser evil”. This is emerging in a very small way, but not significant enough to make a dent.
But, cultural issues may be holding back many of the would-be beneficiaries of outplacement. “Candidates, mostly the older employees of a firm, have reservations about going through the process. It’s only the younger generation that is more open to this as they have seen it happening in the West,” said P Thiruvangadam, senior director, Deloitte. Many opt out even when the firms may provide the outplacement. “Most people are uncomfortable with it.”
When the year 2008 ended, many an IT/ITeS firm saw their existing contracts end, and till then the slowdown was not as prominent. But, then came January and with very few new contracts forthcoming, many firms were in the doldrums. But, for managers having to let go of their excess staff has been extremely difficult and painful to say the least.
With the economy still not in a good shape, consolidations are expected to be dime a dozen in the days to come. With a possible rise in the number of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and, a rationalisation of manpower, there would be many redundancies and lay-offs. But, letting go of their staff in a humane way is a challenge for many a firm.
The managers in the West are said to have faced a very similar situation about 20 years ago. This situation was more pronounced in the IT and ITeS sectors. It was then that outplacement came into prominence. Speaking to Business Standard, Melvin Scales, senior vice president, Global Solutions, Right Management (RM), USA said, “Outplacement is set to catch on in India. The changing social attitudes could make it more acceptable.”
Right Management, a global outplacement firm is part of the $25-billion Manpower Inc. and sees about 50 per cent of its revenues from the Americas. Right now, RM has some 1,500 personnel either in the process of being outplaced or who have been outplaced in India. While many are those having 15-20 years of experience, most people the firm has been working with are mostly from the entry level and mid-level. The firms pay RM to outplace their staff. RM claims to specialise in organisational transition planning and implementation.
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But, putting paid to these efforts is the condition of the global economy with the earlier hopes of a sharp revival having been belied with not much happening.
Adecco, the staffing solutions firm, had earlier launched its outplacement brand Lee Hecht Harrison (LHH), the world’s second largest, in India. Sudhakar Balakrishnan, managing director and CEO, Adecco India told Business Standard that the need of the hour is to have experts handling such awkward situations for employees. “It is difficult for someone to face up to the fact that in a day or two he or she will have no job. We step in on behalf of the employer and counsel the staff to ensure a smooth career transition and mitigate the emotional trauma of the employee,” he added.
LHH, a brand of Adecco SA from the stables of world’s largest HR services company, has outplaced around 3,000 personnel in India during past 10 months.