Supporting employees following redundancy (2): Defining the scope of assistance

Author: Dr Amelia Wise

Contributing author: Caroline Green

Overview

In our series of four guides on supporting employees following redundancy, we discuss providing assistance to employees who have been given notice of dismissal by reason of redundancy, including to whom assistance should be given, how it should be given and what kind of assistance is appropriate.

In this guide, we look at the scope of assistance that you can offer exiting employees. We also look at how to ensure the type of support you offer is of most value to the employees at hand. This is the second guide in our series on supporting employees following redundancy:

• In Supporting employees following redundancy (1): Why assist exiting employees?, we look at the importance of providing assistance to exiting employees.
• In Supporting employees following redundancy (3): Selecting an outplacement provider, we look at the factors to consider when selecting an outplacement provider.
• In Supporting employees following redundancy (4): Alternatives to outplacement support, we explore alternative sources of assistance where outplacement is not affordable and additional assistance that you may be able to offer exiting employees.

Summary

• There are a number of guidelines that employers can follow to help minimise the cost of assistance and obtain value for money when outsourcing assistance. (See The cost of assistance)
• Some employees require more assistance than others and the appropriate support for employees of different seniority, skills and experience will vary. (See The recipients of assistance)
• Some assistance is suited to in-house provision, while other forms of assistance are more suited to contracting out. (See Providing assistance in-house or contracting out)