Another Government restructure? Here’s five ways to help.
Across all levels of Government these days, I’m seeing restructures and departmental reviews becoming part and parcel of everyday life. With revenues in decline and costs rising, it’s a sad but almost inevitable consequence of adjusting to the world around us and a key challenge for HR managers and their teams.
Public sector organisations traditionally enjoyed lower annual turnover of staff than most, with many employees racking up ten or more years of loyal service. As a result, unfortunately, the effect of redundancy can be far more serious than in the private sector and it’s critical that HR teams are able to provide support for those employees who lose their jobs.
The Gov Com Group has recently entered into a partnership with one of Australia’s leading employment and coaching organisations and is currently producing a range of public sector focused support services including coaching and mentoring guides to assist public sector managers to provie the best support in these situations. As part of our discussions recently, they shared their tips on the five ways that HR teams can help.
Use exit interviews to personalise outplacement plans
For organisations used to common templates and standardised approaches, it’s easy to understand the cost efficiencies in having a standard outplacement plan template. Unfortunately it’s both impersonal and unlikely to work.
It’s simply impossible to come up with a one size fits all template for such a personal experience. Some staff may need interview coaching, others may need help with networking or resumes, while some may just need to access what they need quickly so they can move on. The best starting point for assisting any job hunter is their exit interview.
Exit interviews are standard across the public service but our experience is that they are not conducted anything like as often as they should be, especially during busy times. This is a critical oversight.
Handled well, the exit interview will highlight the best outplacement plan for each employee. It provides an opportunity to outline what you can help with, including job search management tools, career assessments, referrals to financial advisors, retraining strategies, social networking advice, etc. and together with the employee to agree a clear personalised plan. .
Provide simple information that is easy to access
This process can be highly stressful. It’s possible that with so many things to consider, staff may not be able to remember all they were told in their exit interview. It’s really important therefore to make sure that every single piece of information about the services you provide is available at the touch of a button for them to access, ideally through a dedicated online portal.
The process is also highly personal and we advise strongly against producing posters and generic handouts. Much better to make all your information available for the employee to consider in their own time. It’s also worth producing some information that outlines the benefits of the various outplacement services you offer. For many this may be the first time they have been in this situation and nothing should be taken for granted.
Help with job searching and networking
Again, where staff have been in similar roles for a long time, they may not have a particularly wide network of useful contacts. This situation is often most pronounced in the public sector where there are often fewer opportunities to network outside the workplace.
Whether it’s through explanation of how to register for online jobs boards or developing a social media presence, progressive employers nowadays can offer bespoke training in job hunting and networking. A very effective solution is hosting or partnering with a networking event to connect displaced employees with potential new employers, as well as assisting in setting up social networking profiles and solutions.
Facilitate access to technology and systems
Organisations will often offer cash incentives to help people with outplacement services however we recommend that offering access to job seeking tools may also be of real value. For people who are not technologically experienced or may not have access to a modern PC or fast internet, you should consider creating a space where they can access those tools, perhaps extending to lending smartphones or tablets to assist with people’s job search
Offer access to career counselling and job search coaching
It’s great that HR teams offer help with preparing CV’s and interview coaching but at the same time, providing these services well internally requires a significant commitment in terms of time and effort. And during a restructure time is always precious.
Over the last few months, prior to developing our partnership with the Job Search Coach, I’ve observed firsthand the value that an external third party company can provide. Their events, many of which are free of charge are by their very nature a networking opportunity and apart from arming people with the skills to prepare competitive resumes and to develop string interview skills, there’s so much benefit from networking with people who find themselves in the same situation.
Having spoken to a number of colleagues in the HR space recently, I heard a number of people share their surprise at the interest in outplacement services. Another recurrent theme was the specialist needs of people with long public service careers in terms of drafting resumes that captured the weight and value of their work.
It’s with all that in mind that I’m launching The Public Sector Job Search Coach in the next few weeks. The title is a bit of a mouthful, but nobody can be in any doubt what we are trying to do.
Our first event is in Sydney next week. Come along!
