Understanding Outplacement Engagement Rates and Why They Matter

All successful companies use measurement as a strategic priority to gain visibility of the business and drive positive change. It’s no different with outplacement programs, but how can you measure their success? Enter outplacement engagement rates.

This article will elaborate on what outplacement engagement rates are, their relevance, and how to keep them high in order to make the best of your investment. As a bonus, we’ll tell you about the difference that Careerminds makes for its clients and participants and how we can help you to improve your outplacement engagement rates.

Outplacement engagement rates measure the level of involvement and participation of laid-off workers using the outplacement program made available to them. Those numbers are crucial to determine how effectively the outplacement provider is connecting with its clients’ participating employees and ensuring they receive the best support possible.

In short, the higher the engagement rate, the greater the percentage of departing employees actively using the outplacement services offered by the company. Those can include career coaching, resume improvement, job search support, assistance with tech tools, and more.

Companies and employees can benefit from outplacement in many ways, which is why engagement rates are such an important metric. For individuals, outplacement services are effective in not only helping them land their next job more quickly but also in developing their careers and providing emotional support. For clients, outplacement programs have the potential to boost productivity and retention, preserve reputation, and diffuse internal tension after a layoff.

So, engagement rates give companies visibility of how their outplacement program is working for participants and, as a consequence, if their investment is paying off. After all, if the end users don’t benefit from this service, the company won’t benefit either and all this effort will be in vain.

There are some common reasons why outplacement engagement rates won’t go up. One of the most frequent is because participants find a job before even using the services – which often happens because the employer takes too long to direct their outbound employees to the service. Also, participants may be hesitant to use outplacement because they don’t understand what it is, mainly as a result of HR not explaining the services and the benefits they can bring.

Other challenges can impact rates negatively too, like participants deciding to retire early after being laid off, for example, or going back to school. Whatever the factor, HR specialists must educate all impacted employees on outplacement to ensure everyone understands the services available equally, regardless of their position, career level, or industry. Moreover, since most people don’t have a job lined up, it’s essential to get them started with outplacement as soon as possible.

As we’ve seen, informing participants about outplacement and setting them up with the service from the get-go are two key elements in increasing your engagement rates. Another crucial aspect that will improve your numbers is having a partner who understands participants and addresses their main issues and concerns in the most human, personalized way possible.

Millennials, for example, hold the biggest share of the working-age population in Canada, having specific needs and interests that might impact your engagement rates. For many of them, the job they’re leaving is the only one they’ve had since college, so improving resumes and developing career paths could be the first services they’d leverage in the program.

It’s also essential to consider the company brand and culture. In the case of millennials, the vast majority prioritize finding the right culture which, in most cases, means working for companies that provide a healthy work-life balance and address climate change, for example. So, your outplacement provider should consider those elements when offering their services.

If you think those concerns are superfluous, think of how websites like Glassdoor and LinkedIn can damage a company’s reputation with job seekers. When laid-off employees feel unsupported during outplacement, they can post bad reviews about your company, putting off potential new hires, discouraging current employees, and hurting your engagement rates.

Careerminds maintains an outplacement engagement rate of 80%, an impressive figure which results from our unique approach toward clients and participants. First, our clients learn from our program demo that we aren’t the typical outplacement provider. All participants have a coaching program tailored to their personal and professional needs, proving our people-first mentality.

We also ensure this tailor-made human touch is paired with the latest, most advanced technology in the job market. Our virtual resources make our personalized career coaching and training more accessible, being available to individuals wherever and whenever they need them.

All this translates into results. Our participants land new, improved jobs within less than 12 weeks – 40% faster than Canada’s national average. Additionally, we have a 95% placement rate and 99% participant satisfaction rate. This is mainly because we work with individuals until they secure their next job, with no time limit, in what we call our “until placement” promise. Those numbers make the Careerminds experience unrivalled, delivering results for both companies and employees.

In this article, we’ve seen how the connection between outplacement providers and participants generates high engagement rates. In short, no cookie-cutter outplacement solution will give you the same level of engagement and commitment from your departed employees as a human, tailored service. People need information and empathy to start using all available resources confidently. When they do it, they’ll be on the road to success – just as your company is.

At Careerminds, we continually adjust our approach and services according to the job market dynamics and industry trends, to ensure success. If you want to learn more about Careerminds and our services, click below to speak with one of our experts!

Rafael Spuldar

Rafael is a content writer, editor, and strategist with over 20 years of experience working with digital media, marketing agencies, and Tech companies. He started his career as a journalist: his past jobs included some of the world's most renowned media organizations, such as the BBC and Thomson Reuters. After shifting into content marketing, he specialized in B2B content, mainly in the Tech and SaaS industries. In this field, Rafael could leverage his previously acquired skills (as an interviewer, fact-checker, and copy editor) to create compelling, valuable, and performing content pieces for various companies. Rafael is into cinema, music, literature, food, wine, and sports (mainly soccer, tennis, and NBA).