Outplacement counseling from the client's perspective.

Fifteen individuals who received outplacement counseling (OPC) were interviewed to determine which services were helpful or hindering and whether there were services they would like to have received but did not. The critical incident technique (J. Flanagan, 1954) was used to analyze the data around 16 emergent categories. Results support previous research on client satisfaction with OPC and extend the knowledge by providing insight into 6 new categories of services individual clients would find helpful.

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The increased use of outplacement counseling (OPC) in the last decade has been driven largely by corporate downsizing and restructuring, resulting in layoffs of people at all organizational levels. OPC is a specialized form of career counseling that is offered by employers to terminated employees. Outplacement services are designed to minimize corporate disruptions by facilitating a smooth transition process, reducing lawsuits and grievances, increasing the morale of remaining employees, and maintaining both productivity and the organization's public image. OPC is also intended to aid the displaced worker in rebuilding a sense of self-worth, reestablishing a relevant career path, and securing meaningful employment (Burdett, 1988; Herr, Cramer, & Niles, 2004; Mirabile, 1985; Pickman, 1994).

OPC services for displaced individuals vary widely, but typically include career planning, resume writing, interview training, assessment, identification of transferable skills, values exploration, marketing training, net-working, and image development (Kirk, 1994; Zunker, 2002). In addition to these task-related consulting services, some OPC firms also offer counseling services (Davenport, 1984; Herr et al., 2004).

In light of the rapid growth and anticipated ongoing need for OPC services (Anonymous, 2001; Axmith, 1997; Bridges, 1994; Lee Hecht Harrison, 1998; Murray Axmith & Associates, 2000), it is surprising that little empirical evidence is available about OPC's effectiveness (Wooten, 1996). According to Wooten, Timmerman, and Folger (1999), "virtually no published research is available relative to assessment processes and outplacement outcomes" (p. 85). Only Wooten attempted to predict client satisfaction in executive outplacement and examine the implications for service delivery. Wooten examined client satisfaction with 11 OPC service components offered by an outplacement firm and found that outplacement content components (job search training, preparation) and process components (consultant relationship, clarity of expectation, assistance in maintaining focus) were better predictors of client satisfaction than were contextual components (library, software, administrative support).

The current research study was designed to advance the knowledge of the extent to which OPC programs meet the needs of their individual clients (terminated workers) by asking these clients which OPC services they found helpful, which services were not helpful, and whether there were services they would like to have received but did not. Because OPC services are provided to individuals at a time of high vulnerability and emotional shock due to their unexpected job loss, it is important to know whether the services are helping or hindering individual clients in their career/employment planning.

Method

Given the aim of this study, a qualitative method was deemed most appropriate in that we sought to "explore a social or human problem" (Creswell, 1998, p. 15) that was not well understood. Qualitative methods are considered when researchers are attempting to build "a complex, holistic picture" (Creswell, 1998, p. 15) of a phenomenon and when detailed participant interviews conducted in a natural setting appear to be appropriate for eliciting this information. Within this context, the critical incident technique was selected as being most appropriate because of its capacity to explore specific events and its utility as a foundational/exploratory tool in the early stages of research (Flanagan, 1954; Woolsey, 1986).

Participants

Participants were 8 women and 7 men who ranged in age from 29 to 63 years (M = 47.33 years). One participant (7%) was African Canadian; the other 14 (93%) were Caucasian. Eight participants (53%) were middle managers at the time of their job loss; 3 (20%) were senior managers; 2 (13%) held administrative jobs; and 2 (13%) were first-level managers. Nine participants (60%) were terminated for a variety of reasons that can be grouped under the broad heading of "poor organizational fit" (e.g., their style or type of skills was no longer required by the organization), and 6 participants (40%) were terminated due to downsizing or plant closures. Regarding education level, 5 participants (33%) had graduated from high school and had some university or college/technical school training but no diploma, 6 (40%) had college or technical school diplomas, 3 (20%) had undergraduate degrees, and 1 (7%) had a master's degree. Nine participants (60%) were married or living common-law, 5 (33%) were divorced or separated, and 1 (7%) was single. At the time that they were interviewed, 8 (53%) participants were working full-time, 5 (33%) were unemployed, and 2 (13%) were working part-time. After their job loss, the average length of unemployment was 5 months.

Procedure

The current study used the critical incident technique (Flanagan, 1954). A volunteer sample of 15 adults from the Greater Vancouver and Vancouver Island areas of British Columbia who had received OPC services within the past 5 years were interviewed for this study. According to the critical incident technique, interviewing ceases when redundancy is reached in terms of information gathered. On the basis of our experience with other studies using the critical incident technique, we estimated redundancy would occur after 10 to 15 interviews.

Participants were contacted twice, first to conduct the critical incident interview related to their experience of receiving outplacement services and second to check how accurately we had summarized and categorized their stories. The first interview followed an open-ended interview and critical incident format (Flanagan, 1954; Woolsey, 1986) consisting of four broad questions: (a) Tell me about your experience with the outplacement services you received. (b) What services did you receive that you found helpful? (c) What services did you receive that you did not find helpful? and (d) Were there any services you would like to have received that the outplacement firm did not offer (i.e., wish list items)? Participants were asked to provide specific examples of helpful, not helpful, and wish list incidents or items. Demographic questions were asked at the end of the interview. Participants were given code numbers, and their interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim.

Data Analysis

Critical incidents and wish list items were extracted from the interviews and grouped into categories (Flanagan, 1954). Seven tests for trustworthiness and comprehensiveness of the data were conducted (Alfonso, 1997; Andersson & Nilsson, 1964; Butterfield, Borgen, Amundson, & Maglio, in press; Maxwell, 1992): (a) extraction of critical incidents by another person (93% agreement rate); (b) placement of incidents into the helpful, hindering, and wish list categories by another person (98%, 96%, and 92% agreement rates, respectively); (c) exhaustiveness (no new categories emerged after the fifth interview); (d) participation rate (the percentage of participants who cited incidents in each category was evaluated in light of criteria set out by Borgen & Amundson, 1984); (e) expert opinion (two experts reviewed the categories, finding them to be relevant and useful); (f) participant cross-checking (13 of the 15 participants reviewed the categories and made no changes); and (g) theoretical agreement (all 16 categories were supported in the relevant scholarly literature). On the basis of the outcomes of these tests, we concluded that the data were sound.

Results

Critical Incidents and Wish List Items

The interviews produced 712 critical incidents that reflected what participants said they found helpful and not helpful about the outplacement services they received and the wish list items they reported. This information is summarized by category in Table 1.

There were 339 helpful incidents, 179 not-helpful incidents, and 194 wish list items. As a result of analyzing the data and conducting the seven tests for trustworthiness and comprehensiveness, the critical incidents and wish list items were best represented by 16 categories. Five categories contained helpful, hindering, and wish list incidents/items; 3 categories contained only helpful and hindering incidents; 1 category contained only helpful incidents; 1 category contained helpful incidents and wish list items; and 6 categories contained only wish list items. These results suggest that participants varied considerably in which program elements they found useful or not useful and which program elements they would like to have seen included. With this in mind, we decided to focus on discussing the categories that were mentioned most often by participants. This includes the top 5 helping and hindering categories and the top 4 wish list categories, all of which were mentioned by at least 40% of participants. Each heading below includes the category name and the participation rates (i.e., percentage of participants who mentioned critical incidents that fit into the category as being helpful, hindering, or wish list items for that category).

Categories

OPC representatives' activities/actions (87% helpful, 73% not helpful, 53% wish list). The OPC representatives' activities or actions included the actual tasks and services provided by the OPC representative. The positive outcomes of these activities included a sense of someone taking care of clients' interests, going above and beyond the call of duty to help them find new employment, and imbuing them with a sense of confidence and direction. The negative outcomes included a sense of feeling unimportant or not heard and of feeling frustrated, controlled, intimidated, and pressured to find a new job. Following are examples of a helpful and hindering response:

     The one that I found really helpful as well, and I can't say this
     enough, is the reference guidelines. My counselor worked with my HR
     [human resource] person to ensure they had a mutual understanding
     and agreement on the reference guidelines. (Participant 10)

     The OPC representative had a whole schedule of meetings set up and
     showed a complete disregard for my state of emotions. He pushed me
     around emotionally ... I felt abused. The OPC representative put
     pressure on me to get another job. (Participant 4)

The wish list items in this category suggested participants would have liked more active help and collaboration from the OPC representative to ensure that their needs were being met.

Job search skills training (87% helpful, 47% not helpful, and 13% wish list). This category included training provided by the OPC firm that was directly related to the client's job search, such as how to network, market, write resumes and cover letters, conduct informational interviews, prepare for job interviews, negotiate job offers, and so on. The positive impact on participants was a sense of gaining control and confidence as they began to learn the ropes in the current competitive job market. The negative incidents resulted in participants experiencing a sense of frustration at the superficial way the topics were covered. This superficiality left them without the skill level required to effectively use the training. Following are two examples of participants' experiences in this category:

     They taught you how to sell yourself and how to bring the best
     parts in what you were trying to sell and taught you that you had a
     product to sell and the product was you. (Participant 7)

     One of the services they had was computer training, for instance
     how to use the Internet ... I didn't find that useful personally
     just because I was an experienced computer user and have been on
     the Internet for a long time. (Participant 12)

The wish list items in this category included receiving more in-depth and targeted job search training to enhance participants' competitiveness and confidence when applying for work.

OPC program elements and design (73% helpful, 80% not helpful, 67% wish list). Participants suggested that specific characteristics of the OPC program design or specific elements of the program were helpful, not helpful, or lacking in some way. Positive elements and design provided a sense of inclusion, structure, peer support, and control. Negative elements and design caused feelings of being put through a cookie-cutter program rather than being treated as individuals with specific needs. Participants found many of the program elements to be rigid and intrusive, which led to anger, frustration, and a decision to opt out of some elements. Two examples of comments by participants are given here:

     The other thing that they offered that was very helpful was a
     series of seminars where you could meet with a counselor and with
     five or six other people that were going through the same thing.
     (Participant 8)

     I felt a lot of what was in the core seminars was like a teaser and
     if you wanted more on it then you were going to have to pay more.
     (Participant 9)

The wish list items cited in this category were items that would facilitate clients' movement through the job loss and job search processes in several ways, such as rebuilding their contact networks.

Assessments (73% helpful, 33% not helpful). This category included activities that related to assessing the client's knowledge, skills, aptitudes, and interests. The benefits of these incidents were an opportunity for reflection, increased self-knowledge, and a chance to address areas requiring change. Participants used this increased insight to help them avoid failing or repeating the same mistakes. Hindering incidents left participants wanting more depth and analysis, but not receiving these. This led to feeling overwhelmed and frustrated at the superficiality of the assessments. In some cases these feelings translated into participants not completing the worksheets. Statements from participants that fell into the helpful and not-helpful categories follow:

     I definitely found the psychological testing very useful, very very
     useful ... understanding yourself, your strengths and weaknesses,
     it gives you some real concrete information about yourself.
     (Participant 6)

     The assessment was a couple dozen pages long anyway and it became
     more of a hindrance to fill the thing out than a help. I mean, it
     must have been 25 or 30 pages long. (Participant 7)

Reference materials (67% helpful, 67% not helpful, 27% wish list). This category refers to both reference materials given to clients for their own personal use and materials available for use only at the OPC firm's offices. The helpful side of having access to reference materials was a sense of having the tools to deal with job search mechanics and increased confidence in participants' ability to compete for jobs. Hindering aspects of the reference materials caused participants to feel overwhelmed by the volume of material, as well as feeling unimportant when no attempt was made to customize it to meet individual needs. The following are examples:

     The workbook ... included sections on personal assessments,
     interview skills, the second interview, the questions you can ask,
     resume writing, networking, so everything we went through in the
     course was in the book and it's about an inch thick and it was very
     helpful.(Participant 13)

     There was a lot of reading material. Some of it I felt didn't apply
     to me, contacts, develop personal contacts, negotiations. I didn't
     want to negotiate, boy that was another part that didn't apply to
     me. (Participant 5)

The wish list items confirmed the helpful themes already mentioned, namely having a tool kit available if needed again.

Tailored/flexible services (53% wish list only). This category reflects a stated desire for OPC services designed to fit the client's specific needs, whether they are related to age, career change, grief and loss, or any other area requiring targeted support and services. Participants suggested tailored OPC services would help them feel that they were respected, that their needs were being met, and as though they had some control over their OPC programs. As one participant stated,

     I needed help making a career shift. When I say help, it's really
     specialized services to target the specific change that I was
     trying to make. (Participant 3)

Structured/hands-on services (47% wish list only). This category refers to an expressed desire for a more formal framework in the OPC program and more active involvement by the OPC representative. More structured and active services would provide increased opportunities for feedback and critical evaluation by the OPC representatives regarding the clients' completion and level of understanding of the various components. As one participant stated,

     I just thought okay she [OPC consultant's name] should be caring
     what I'm doing, I'm expecting more feedback from her and more on
     handedness or,... hands on, I was expecting that from her but it's
     not there. (Participant 15)

Counseling skills/services (40% wish list only). This category refers to the desire for the OPC firm to provide counseling services to help clients deal with emotional and transition issues. Such services were seen as a way of attending to the depth of participants' emotional needs, as well as providing much-needed cohesion in the form of someone pulling all the pieces together to make meaning out of disparate pieces of information. As one participant stated,

     I might have felt more comfortable with someone who could allow me
     to let my guard down a little bit and get inside me a little bit.
     Not in a condescending way, and it wouldn't necessarily have had to
     be a woman, just somebody who is very adept at the skills they want
     to pass along to you but also has very very strong counseling
     skills and that's sometimes hard to mesh up. (Participant 2)

Group work (40% wish list only). This category refers to an expressed desire for more group work, because it was seen as a way to help clients feel less isolated by giving them opportunities to interact with and learn from others and to create a team environment. It would also have afforded them a forum for discussing their fears, anxieties, and other emotions. As one participant said,

     But one thing I'd like to add is that I think at that point in
     anybody's life, isolation is very bad. I think it really helps to
     be with a group that have been in the same situation. I think that
     I would have myself felt better meeting. What they could have
     integrated into the program, was having you meet with half a dozen
     other individuals, just sharing your experiences. (Participant 3)

Discussion

The results suggest that many individual recipients of OPC services received structured, task-focused programs that did not meet their emotional and transition needs. This view is supported by the emergence of the six wish list categories, which can be grouped under two general headings: (a) new services that clients would find helpful (i.e., counseling, technical skills assessment and upgrading, and closure or follow-up at the end of the OPC program) and (b) changes in the way OPC services are delivered that would make them more helpful to clients (i.e., structured/hands-on services, tailored/flexible services, and more group work). These categories reflected a wish by the participants to have their stories heard, to have someone empathize with them rather than focusing only on getting tasks completed, to have help dealing with their unfinished business (anger and a sense of loss being mentioned most often), and to have access to services that recognize individual career- and employment-related needs.

The wish list categories are consistent with the literature on emerging best practices in career counseling (e.g., Aquilanti & Leroux, 1999; Borgen, 1997; Davies, 1996; Mastie, 1996; Niles, 1996) but appear to have received limited application by the six OPC firms that provided services to the participants in this study. This may suggest a gap between the way current OPC services are delivered and both individual OPC clients' needs and the career counseling/outplacement literature.

Within the context of OPC services, the results of this study provide support for Wooten's (1996) findings. All 16 categories from this study can be allocated into Wooten's three types of components (content, process, and contextual). By doing this, we found that 262 (77%) of the helpful incidents, 131 (68%) of the not-helpful incidents, and 189 (97%) of the wish list items fell under Wooten's process and task component categories. These findings are also consistent with those of Borgen (1999), who found that both the task and process aspects of a group-based needs assessment program for unemployed people emerged as most relevant to the participants. In addition, through the emergence of the six wish list categories, this study extends Wooten's findings by providing information on the OPC services that individual clients would like to receive but did not. These are important messages both for OPC firms as they design their programs and for companies when choosing an OPC firm that best suits the needs of terminated employees.

In considering the results of this study, it is important to remember the context in which outplacement services are offered. As previously mentioned, OPC's original purpose was to protect the employer's interests and, thus, was imbued with the language and expectations of the business community. OPC services are, therefore, developed to meet the needs of the company terminating an individual's employment, with success generally measured by the speed of reemployment (Davenport, 1984). On the basis of results of this study, it appears that, in general, OPC firms offer services that the business community can relate to--office space, job search skills, resume preparation, and assessment as it relates to career and career choices. We found no evidence in our study that a needs analysis to identify and target appropriate guidance, counseling, skills acquisition, or other interventions that might have been helpful had been done for any of the 15 participants.

Two major implications arise for OPC practitioners and firms. First, OPC firms might want to reconsider the degree of counseling training that their OPC practitioners are required to have and review their hiring profiles. This underscores Pickman's (1994) contention that OPC professionals need to be proficient both as counselors and as business people. The 15 OPC professionals encountered by the participants in this study appeared to be experienced business people, but they did not have counseling skills. This was a lack cited by most of the participants, either directly in the wish list items or indirectly in the not-helpful critical incidents. The apparent emotional harm that some participants reported as a result of their outplacement experience could be a direct result of this skill deficiency.

The second major implication for OPC firms involves their current mix of core services and group/workshop/seminar protocols. Although these may be cost-effective for OPC firms that are operating in an increasingly competitive environment (McNerney, 1995; Pickman, 1997), they may not be meeting the needs of their individual clients, as evidenced by the emergence of the six new wish list categories in this study. What the wish list categories have in common is a desire among participants for more connection, individualized attention, and an opportunity to share their experiences with others in a meaningful way. This desire could likely be accomplished cost effectively if OPC firms eliminated services that no longer appear to be as useful as they were previously (such as office equipment and supplies, computer and Internet access, telephone answering services), given the advent of home offices with computers; increased their tailored, hands-on services; and introduced group counseling sessions to help individual clients deal with the transition and emotional issues they face immediately following job loss and throughout their job search.

This study raised a number of questions that would benefit from future research. First, participants' positive or negative experiences with OPC services did not appear to correspond to the OPC firm that was used or the program of services received; rather, the experiences were associated with the individual OPC representatives with whom the clients worked. Although this was not the focus of the current study, participants volunteered this information during the first interviews. In a future study, it would be interesting to follow up on the possible relationship between positive or negative OPC experiences and the individual's interpersonal relationship with his or her OPC representative.

Second, future research could help shed light on participants' expressed high emotion around certain hindering incidents, particularly those incidents associated with their relationship with the OPC representative and with the representative's actions, activities, traits, and characteristics. Additional information is needed in this area to help corporate clients decide which services they want to provide to their departing employees and to guide OPC firms in determining the mix of cost-effective, yet helpful, services for individual clients.

To conclude, we thank the participants in this study. Many relived difficult experiences in order to make a difference. They shared their pain, humor, and insight as gestures of generosity and goodwill toward those who follow in their footsteps--other individuals facing unexpected unemployment and an unwanted introduction to an OPC professional. By their actions, they either transformed a difficult experience into a learning opportunity to make things better for others or they shared what worked well so that more OPC firms might incorporate or increase the use of those elements in their programs. We appreciate their courage and candor.

TABLE 1 Critical Incident and Wish List Categories

                                 Helpful Critical Incidents
                                        (N = 339)
                                 Participants
                                 (N = 15)      Incidents
Category                         n   %            n

OPC rep activities/actions       13  87           83
Job search skills training       13  87           42
OPC program elements and         11  73           42
 design
Assessments                      11  73           34
Reference materials              10  67           23
OPC rep traits/characteristics    7  47           41
Access to offices, supplies,      7  47           11
 equipment
Secretarial/administrative        6  40           16
 services
Relationship with OPC rep         5  33           20
OPC office environment and        3  20           27
 location
Tailored/flexible services        0   0            0
Structured/hands-on services      0   0            0
Counseling skills/services        0   0            0
Group work                        0   0            0
Closure/follow-up at end of OPC   0   0            0
Technical skills assessment       0   0            0
 and upgrading

                                 Not-Helpful Critical Incidents
                                        (N = 179)
                                 Participants
                                 (N = 15)      Incidents
Category                         n   %            n

OPC rep activities/actions       11  73           36
Job search skills training        7  47           18
OPC program elements and         12  80           62
 design
Assessments                       5  33            6
Reference materials              10  67           22
OPC rep traits/characteristics    5  33            9
Access to offices, supplies,      8  53           20
 equipment
Secretarial/administrative        0   0            0
 services
Relationship with OPC rep         0   0            0
OPC office environment and        5  33            6
 location
Tailored/flexible services        0   0            0
Structured/hands-on services      0   0            0
Counseling skills/services        0   0            0
Group work                        0   0            0
Closure/follow-up at end of OPC   0   0            0
Technical skills assessment       0   0            0
 and upgrading

                                    Wish List Items
                                      (N = 194)
                                 Participants
                                 (N = 15)      Incidents
Category                         n   %            n

OPC rep activities/actions        8  53           23
Job search skills training        2  13            8
OPC program elements and         10  67           44
 design
Assessments                       0   0            0
Reference materials               4  27            5
OPC rep traits/characteristics    2  13            4
Access to offices, supplies,      0   0            0
 equipment
Secretarial/administrative        0   0            0
 services
Relationship with OPC rep         2  13            2
OPC office environment and        0   0            0
 location
Tailored/flexible services        8  53           27
Structured/hands-on services      7  47           10
Counseling skills/services        6  40           38
Group work                        6  40           12
Closure/follow-up at end of OPC   4  27           11
Technical skills assessment       3  20           10
 and upgrading

Note. OPC = outplacement counseling; OPC rep = outplacement counseling
representative.

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Lee D. Butterfield and William A. Borgen, Educational and Counselling Psychology and Special Education Department, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Lee D. Butterfield, Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Special Education, Faculty of Education, 2125 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4 (e-mail: [e-mail]).