The Hindu Business Line : MNCs seeking HR firms’ help to ‘outplace’ employees

New Delhi/Chennai, Aug. 17 IT companies are now roping in HR firms for ‘outplacement services’ to help workers, who have been asked to leave, to find new jobs.

Outplacement is gathering momentum with the US slowdown casting a cloud on hiring, and delay in client decisions forcing companies to cull jobs and weed out non-performers from the rolls, “Outplacement service is a global practice, but in recent times we have seen MNCs adopting it in India.

The demand for such services has picked up steam since the beginning of 2008 and we have offered ‘outplacement assistance’ to three MNCs for almost 250 employees,” Mr Kris Lakshmikanth, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Head Hunters India, said.

He said that his firm offers resume and interview assistance, career counselling and placement services to candidates affected by lay-offs.

Likewise, Ms Saundarya Rajesh, CEO of Chennai-based Avtar Career Creators, pointed out that company is seeing a rise in requests from IT and BPO companies to ‘outplace’ employees.

“We have received profiles of between 1,000 and 1,200 employees in the last three months, and this has been initiated by the HR departments of companies in the IT and BPO space,” she added. These profiles have come from about three-four companies to Avtar.

Different ways

Ms Rajesh adds, “After specifically communicating to employees that the company cannot retain them anymore, HR chiefs typically contact recruitment firms for help.” In these cases, employees can take leave and continue to get paid as they hunt for other jobs.

Interestingly, in certain cases, HR departments circulate the resumes in the market without necessarily communicating that to the employees and quietly welcome departures resulting from the move.

At times, the company that has given the mandate to the outplacement firm pays the latter for its services (in addition, the recruitment firm also charges the new employer for the placement).

“However, that is not an industry norm as yet, and in most instances, the recruitment firm gets paid by the new employer after the candidate is successfully placed,” says Mr Rishi Das, CEO of CareerNet Consulting, a company which has taken up six ‘outplacement assignments’ since August 2007, involving nearly 400 employees.

However, Mr Das feels that it is not as if IT and BPO companies are ‘downsizing’.

‘It’s right sizing’

“IT companies were hiring aggressively earlier but given the brisk pace of business, they were unable to let go of the bottom 10 per cent workforce despite the fact that such employees did not pass the performance muster.

That is changing now — with the US slowdown affecting new projects, companies are taking stock, weeding out non-performers and then recruiting afresh to bridge the shortfall,” he said.

Also in some cases, mergers and acquisitions are leading to duplication of processes and functions, prompting companies to hand out pink slips.

Layoffs are also coming from start-ups who were operating on a limited number of projects, he said, adding that his company had offered assistance to three such companies.

Related Stories:
‘HR leaders should be up to managing diverse workforces’
Employee referrals dispel hiring blues

More Stories on : Information Technology | Human Resources

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Farm debt waiver: PSBs seek interest

‘What we are doing in India is about the next quarter century’

The inflation debate

Private sector investments in key sectors sharply down

MNCs seeking HR firms’ help to ‘outplace’ employees

Nuclear Power short-lists 4 suppliers for reactors

Day Trading Guide

Gold loses glitter; may decline further

Federal Bank (Rs 215.10): Sell

Dalal Street stays tuned into global cues