CareerCurve™

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since my post about the 99ers and the video I watched.  There are so many facets to the discussion about extending unemployment and what can be done to help these people.  One area I am interested in getting feedback on is corporate social responsibility.  Does this come into play when an organization is preparing for a down-sizing?

Corporate social responsibility is defined as a form of self-regulation integrated into a business model.  The concept is that business embraces responsibility for the impact their decisions have on the environment, the community, the employees, the stakeholders and everyone else in the public sphere. 

Shouldn’t that mean there is a responsibility to the people they’ve let go?  And where does that responsibility end?  Should providing outplacement services and the coaching I discussed in that post be a social responsibility of the company?  There can’t be a much better example of how a business decision impacts communities, employees and people, than a down-sizing.

I wonder if the concept of social responsibility is ever discussed when it comes to layoffs.  Is it mentioned and disregarded as “not our problem” or “there is little we can do” or is it not even discussed at all?  And is it realistic to think you can be socially responsible and profitable at the same time?

There is a very interesting article on the case against social responsibility that says that more often than not, a company cannot do well by doing good and choices have to be made.  So what choices do you make?

What do you think?  Is any thought put into what will happen to the people who are let go?  Should there be?  How responsible is the company for what happens to their displaced employees?

Recently I had the unfortunate experience of watching this video, which will apparently be aired over and over again on PBS.  (Time for some humility here – I’m fortunate I only watched it and don’t have to live it, so I am NOT complaining.)  This made me question a lot of things.   I’m sure you’ll see this video recurring in future posts as I write about the different topics that crossed my mind.  I’m going to begin with the very first thing I wondered as I watched.

The subject matter is the 99ers, a term for those who have exhausted their 99 weeks of unemployment.  Being in the outplacement industry and having worked in operations where I have first-hand knowledge of our candidates’ experiences, the first question I had was to wonder how these laid off employees would have fared if they had access to our services?  (I do not intend for this to turn into a commercial, but I believe very passionately in what we do and it may sound like one at times.)

Losing a job is ranked only behind death of a spouse or a child or divorce in terms of life stressors.  When something stressful happens, what do you do?  You look for support.  If possible you seek support from knowledgeable sources.  I watched the interviewees work on trying to develop their own support system, but how would they have benefited from a personal coach?  This is someone who initially helps the candidate to manage their emotions – absorbing the shock, coping with the anger, fear and grief, and basically helping the displaced employee to accept the situation.  But then, the coach provides assistance in not only developing a strategy, but executing the strategy.  Our coaches arm them with tools and suggestions, and then stay with them to make sure they are doing what they are supposed to be doing.  Our coaches also recommend alternative efforts when what they are doing is not working.

I have seen the results and the mindset of those who choose to use our services.  Yes, we still help with resumes and interviewing skills, but more importantly, we are there for them emotionally and that is proving to be the defining feature of effective outplacement.  In fact, resume assistance used to be ranked highest as the most valued service by our job seekers.  Coaching as the most valued service has increased from 24% in 2008, to 46% in 2009, to 55% today.  And this trend will continue as long as there are just under 5 unemployed workers for each job opening.

People who are laid off need emotional support.  The majority of them suffer from situational depression.  But if this type of depression is not managed, it becomes clinical depression which is a serious and lifelong problem.  The best treatment is support and assistance in coping.  Recognizing this, we stopped offering coaching support for only one year and made this service available for the duration of the search, no matter how long it takes. 

Unfortunately, this will not help everyone.   Because the desire to do just that is what I’m left with, I am going to offer some resources I’ve put together to try to reach those that we don’t.  If you know of anyone in this situation that could use them, please pass them on.  If you have any you could add, please do so in the comments.

 Advice for Managing Emotions

 Another with information on Managing Emotions

10 Effective Job Search Strategies 

TONS of resources that deal with emotions, strategies, suggestions and search advice.

Coping with long term unemployment.

A great document with suggestions for using and maximizing coupons.  Be sure to check out near the end where there is a great library of additional long term unemployment resources.