‘People don’t forget how they were treated’: academic explains why outplacement programs should reflect diversity of employee needs, and not just be about resume clinics
During Meta’s latest announcement of sweeping layoffs, the company promised to “support impacted employees and help them find new opportunities, within Meta or beyond.”
Such broad commitments have become common in large-scale workforce reductions, but experts say the details matter – and that Canadian employers have both legal and moral obligations to get outplacement right.
“Losing one’s job, potentially one’s career, can be a really, really devastating professional and personal experience,” says Christian Cook, professor of human resources at Mount Royal University.
“It’s a horrific thing for people to go through. There’s a legal obligation, but I think there’s also a moral obligation to try and help these people to resettle elsewhere.
Legal obligations with laid-off workers
Cook emphasizes that legal requirements vary; in Canada, employment standards legislation and collective agreements often set minimum requirements for notice, severance, and outplacement support.
“It is going to be different depending on what legislative jurisdiction you’re in, if you’re provincially regulated or if you’re federally regulated, and it’s also going to matter if you’re in a unionized or a non-unionized environment,” she says.
“In some cases, there will be provisions set out in the collective agreement that identify what employees are guaranteed … it’s the floor, not the ceiling. What employees are guaranteed in the case that that this happens.”
Personalized outplacement for diverse workforce
HR’s responsibility to laid-off employees should go beyond basics, says Cook, and while many organizations offer outplacement services, the most effective programs are those that recognize the diversity of employee needs.
“I think that there should be diversity and some choice within what outplacement looks like,” she adds.
“Even if there’s 14,000 people that are being laid off … each one of those people is probably having a really, really different professional career life experience at the same time.”
Cook cautions against a one-size-fits-all approach, explaining that narrow offers such as resume-writing clinics or interview tips just aren’t realistically useful for everyone; a uniform approach, while administratively simple, may not address the unique circumstances of each employee.
For this reason, she recommends a more choose-your-own-adventure type of outplacement program approach: “A lot of outplacement services now will have things that are a little bit more cafeteria style, so they'll try and create for employees … a dollar amount or an hours amount, for support.”
'Treat people well’
Mishandling communications can have lasting negative effects, Cook adds, including reputational damage and loss of trust among both departing and remaining employees. Poorly managed announcements can lead to confusion, fear, and rumours, undermining morale and productivity: “Trust and transparency in all communications is just table stakes.”
The way organizations handle layoffs can have a profound impact not only on those losing their jobs, but also on the reputation and future talent pipeline of the employer. She advises employers treat all impacted employees with dignity and respect, not only for ethical reasons but also for long-term organizational health.
“People don’t forget how they were treated … the organization should want to treat these people well, but they need to, because there’s a reputational risk in not doing that,” she explains.
“It could be the case, in four years, you actually really, really want to hire that person back, and if they’ve had a horrible experience, and if you didn’t treat them with dignity and respect when you had to make that difficult choice to release them, they’re not coming back.”
