The East Midlands Business organization faced making 155 employees redundant due to public sector spending cuts. Their Learning and Development Manager, Julie Harper, was tasked with sourcing an outplacement program to support these employees. She worked with Awbery Management Centre to create the "Springboard" program, which provided workshops, coaching, and training to help the employees find new jobs or start their own businesses. Over 90% of the employees participated in Springboard. Feedback was very positive, with employees reporting they felt more supported and gained new skills and confidence in their job searches from the program. Both Julie Harper and Awbery Management Center expressed that the program was a success in assisting the talented employees during a difficult time.

1. “Springboard”: an outplacement programme that delivered results.
When public sector spending cuts made their presence felt, the senior management team
at East Midlands Business, the organisation behind Business Link in the East Midlands,
was faced with placing 155 employees at risk of redundancy. The task of supporting these
individuals through the potential redundancy process was given to EMB’s Learning and
Development Manager, Julie Harper.
Julie was committed to sourcing an impactful and high quality outplacement programme
that would support EMB’s ‘at-risk’ employees as they faced re-entering the employment
market. With such a talented pool of individuals, it was also clear that a number of people
would be considering setting up their own enterprises or becoming freelancers.
Realising that an off-the-shelf outplacement package would be neither cost-effective nor
tailored to the unique needs of the EMB staff, Julie turned immediately to the specialist HR
team at Awbery Management Centre for advice and support.
Working closely with Julie, the Awbery Management Centre team of Jane Rawden and
Simone Greasley created ‘Springboard’, a high-value outplacement solution that would
support EMB’s staff with an insightful and energetic mix of employment market updates,
interview training, CV coaching, personal branding and life coaching. Awbery invited
marketing specialists V Formation Ltd to deliver the session on how to harness the power
of Linkedin when seeking new employment or contract opportunities. V Formation also
gave valuable advice on how to ‘stay safe online’.
Employees were invited to book in for a one-day Springboard workshop followed by a
one-to-one CV Coaching or Life Coaching session. The one-day workshops ran with
between six and ten delegates and were interactive and supportive in their style.
The first Springboard days were delivered in March 2011, with 20 delegates taking part. A
further 120 ‘at-risk’ employees joined Springboard during July, August and September,
meaning that over 90% of staff took part in the sessions. Feedback from the sessions was
excellent, with early delegates encouraging their colleagues to book in for subsequent
sessions.
Commenting on the Springboard programme, Julie Harper said:
‘The proactive, tailored and intuitive approach taken by Awbery Management Centre
ensured our people felt supported and helped at what has been a very difficult time for
both them and the organisation as a whole. From out-of-hours coaching through to even
delivering one life coaching session to a delegate at their home on a Sunday, the Awbery
Management Centre team ensured that EMB’s staff remained at the heart of the
outplacement programme throughout its duration.
‘We have had universally good feedback on the Springboard programme and it’s
rewarding to see that our people are approaching the employment market with new skills
and confidence and finding some excellent opportunities.’

2. Awbery Management Centre’s Head of HR Services, Jane Rawden commented:
‘It was a pleasure to work with Julie Harper and her team. Julie’s deep understanding of
learning and development enabled her to put together an outplacement programme that
delivered a huge amount of content and support for a very reasonable budget. We were
glad to be able to support the talented EMB team through this difficult process and wish
them all well in their new roles in the future.’
The Springboard programme ran in March 2011 and again from July to October 2011. All
EMB ‘at risk’ employees were eligible for the outplacement support and 140 delegates
took up the option of the workshop plus CV Coaching and/or Life Coaching.
Comments from delegates
‘The workshop also offered a rare opportunity to reflect on my aspirations and interests in
life and how they might shape the development of my career – all in all a thought-provoking
day.’
‘The one-to-one CV coaching session has really helped to focus my mind on developing a plan
to achieve future career goals. Simone packed a lot of invaluable tips, advice and leads to
pursue into the session, and I was impressed by how the discussion was tailored to my
personal objectives and circumstances. I left the session with new found confidence, energy
and a sense of direction.’
‘Please pass on my appreciation to all involved in setting up and delivering the programme.
Very well done.’
‘I thought it only fair to email and give some very positive feedback to the workshop and one
to one sessions we have had with Awbery Management. As a team we all agreed that the
level of training was of the highest standard and very beneficial to us all.’
‘Thank you for the Springboard Workshop last week. I found it very useful and
inspirational.’
‘I would like to thank you for your Springboard workshop on the 26th July, which I found
excellent and have been selling to others how good it was.’
‘Thanks again for the invaluable tips and advice that you shared with us. I’ll get cracking on my
action plan this weekend!’
‘It was a pleasure meeting you at the Springboard Outplacement Workshop last week. I
found it a very useful workshop, both in terms of presentation and content.’
‘May I thank you for a fantastic workshop yesterday I found it very useful.’