Case Study: Outplacement in the Retail Industry
Business Issue
Right Management has been the outplacement partner to a major North American retail client with more than 350,000 employees for over 11 years. Although the majority of its offices are located in the United States, Canada and Mexico, it also has procurement offices in China and India. Over the years, Right Management has been called upon to support the client through multiple downsizings, including three large downsizing events – 5,000 in the U.S., 1,000 in China and 500+ in the U.S. and Canada.
Solution
To support these downsizings, Right Management provided Notifier Training, Notification Support and Outplacement Programs. The team provided training to the leaders and managers (notifiers), who would deliver the notification message to affected employees. This assured our client that the notifiers were aware of potential challenges they might face and how to avoid/manage them through best practices.
By providing Human Resources, manager notifiers and affected employees with support of Right Management’s notification consultants, the client has been able to mitigate legal risk. Notification consultants are also able to advise Human Resources and manager notifiers of best practices in the moment and help affected employees begin to think beyond the moment to the next steps.
By setting up an efficient outplacement program structured by band level, Right Management has mitigated the risks associated downsizing ensured an optimal level of support to former employees. First line employees and managers are provided with robust programs and executives are offered an expanded set of options.
Results
The longevity of Right Management’s partnership with this client is a testament of the client’s satisfaction with and confidence in our outplacement services. These services have mitigated risk and positively impacted former employees. The following statistics highlight results from 2012 to 2017:
- 94 percent of the client’s former employees report being satisfied with our services.
- 72 percent of the client’s former employees have a positive perception of their previous employer.
- The client’s former employees’ preparedness to job search went from 41 percent prior to receiving our services to 90 percent after.
- On average, the client’s former employees have reached their next career opportunity in less than 12 weeks.