What a company should measure in an Outplacement programme

The question we hear most from a People manager before buying a programme is how much it costs. The one we hear least is what will be measured. Yet the second decides whether the programme was a good decision: a cheap programme that does not place people costs more than a well-designed one, in reputation, in internal climate and in the time the team spends managing a process that should have ended.

1. Time to the next role

Measured from the start of the programme to the signature of the new contract or the start of independent activity, reported by level and by sector, because a general manager in mining and a head of area in consumer goods do not land at the same pace. The provider should give the distribution, not only the average: how many participants landed in the first third of the programme, how many in the second, and how many were still searching at close.

2. Quality of placement

A fast placement into a lesser role is not a success. We compare the new role with the previous one in level, scope, total pay and type of organisation, and record whether the person sees it as a step forward, a lateral move or a consciously accepted step back. Modality counts too: employment, consulting, board work or entrepreneurship are legitimate outcomes when they were the participant's choice.

3. Programme use

A programme the participant does not use cannot work. We measure sessions held against planned, deliverables completed (positioning thesis, materials, network plan) and market activity (meetings, interviews, offers). This data allows intervention in time when someone stalls, instead of finding out at close.

4. Experience of the participant and the leaders

We ask the participant at the start, midway and at close, and the leaders who held the exit conversation. What we look for is not a satisfaction score but concrete signals: whether the person would recommend the programme, whether the company felt prepared for the announcement, and whether those who stayed perceived the process as respectful.

5. Cost avoided

Finance needs a number. The programme avoids costs that are rarely budgeted: litigation and additional settlements, turnover among teams who watch how leavers are treated, employer-brand damage measurable in later hiring processes, and executive time spent managing conflict. We do not propose inventing that number; we propose agreeing with each client which costs matter in its context and tracking them.

How to ask the provider

Before signing, agree the dashboard: what is measured, how often it is reported and who receives it. A monthly report per participant (without confidential information) and a close-out per programme are enough. If the provider cannot commit to it, what it offers is access to resources, not a placement programme.