Hyderabad : UK’s 46 years old market leader Penna Plc and Husys Consulting, a decade old Indian HR Outsourcing company with offices in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore ink a pact to extend Outplacement services in India.

Outplacement is primarily offered to individuals who work for international corporations, a significant number of Penna’s current client base have operations in India. This new partnership allows Penna to support the needs of their clients on a broader international scale and diversify the range of services they can offer to clients with operations based in India.

Mr. Owen Morgan, Director – Operations of Penna is in city to formally announce the pact as well as to address some top HR professionals in the city.

Ms. Bev White, Managing Director at Penna said “We are delighted to be partnering with Husys. They are an established and highly skilled organization that shares our values, and high standards, and our desire to provide the best solutions to clients. India is a fast growing economy with lots of change and we are really excited about this opportunity to develop the outplacement market with Husys in this region.”

Outplacement is a service which an employer extends to its laid-off employees. It is a third party service extended to help laid-off employees to have smooth transition to a new job. Some of these assistances include Coping with the change, career counseling and analysis, professional resume writing, re skilling, interview practice, salary-negotiation advice and resume distribution etc.

It is a strategic imperative for many organizations to extend Outplacement support to the effected individuals. The world economy is always uncertain and unstable. Organizations continue to restructure, downsize or cut employment in a bid to remain competitive.

Losing one’s job is so much so stressful that it is ranked third behind death and divorce, says G.R.Reddy, whether you’re fired or laid-off, joining the ranks of the unemployed is not exactly a feel-good event. According to an article in Time magazine, it could be a blow to the health too.

Satyam Computers, Canadian Phone maker Blackberry, British banking major RBS Bank and Chip maker Texas Instruments (TI), Target India, the technology unit that supports Minneapolis-based retailer Target Corporation; Software major Sapient, Walmart, Bloomberg TV India, Barclays all were in the news in the recent past for lay-offs or job cuts.

It is reported that RBS will be laying-off some of its 1,000 employees as it winds down retail and commercial business in the country. Similarly Chip maker Texas Instruments (TI) will cut close to 200-300 jobs in India.  Some of these job cuts are part of a restructuring move.

Business and HR leaders who may not be experienced in outplacement inevitably find themselves unprepared to deal with the challenges that lie ahead. Outplacement, though ten years old, is still a new concept in India. But, there is a huge potential, adds GR Reddy.

India has a working population of 40 million of which 15 per cent workforce moves jobs for various reasons every year, which means nearly six million people in India are potential for Outplacement / Career Transition services.

 

While Outplacement is still a relatively new concept in India, it is being taken up by most of the large global organizations, since it is a smoother way of layoffs, observed GR Reddy. According to some surveys about 13 per cent of employers require Outplacement Services. Over the last couple of years Outplacement in India increased by 35 per cent. We have one of the high attrition rates in the world as 1 out of 4 employees in the organised sector switch job. With Knowledge Based economy and with increasing young workforce the employee turnover in our country is predicted to be 26.9% in 2013 and 27.5% in 2014, GR Reddy informed.

Though legally not required, 68 per cent of companies believed to be providing outplacement services according to a survey conducted in about 19 countries. Sixty per cent of companies prefer Outplacement over monetary benefits and 35 per cent offer cash in lieu of outplacement.