HDA

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HDA OVERVIEW
HDA Case Studies

Career Transition / Outplacement Provision - Hi Tech (Defence)

 

The Background

Technological advancements and a shift in the nature of international threats to peace (lone terrorists home and abroad, IEDs in the field and terrorist cells at home, rather than rogue states with true strategic attack capability) mean that the military response requirement changes.

Current Government doctrine is that a smaller, higher quality, more potent response is better; both in terms of our current budget deficit realities and military potency.  

The defence sector has pre-empted this doctrinal change by adopting an active future proofing strategy focused on narrowing the sector’s response to anticipated shifts by western governments, as western governments actively review strategic defence programmes. Quality vs quantity in the post 9:11 / post recession defence world.    

HDA won a competitive bid vs a provider of long standing to provide UK-wide outplacement support to a large multi-site defence multinational in July 2010.

The organisation operates from a number of locations across the UK; including high security locations in remote locations across the UK, and employs international experts in a range of defence and related technologies. Security of access to client locations was a key consideration.

The organisation had been through a significant period of change, and anticipated a large number of redundancies, delivered in scheduled phases over 2010 / 2011; following various 2010 policy adjustments.

HDA had met the organisation early in 2010 and had discussed HDA’s innovative approaches to the provision of outplacement support; particularly HDA’s innovative vocational support offering which we provide at a number of programme levels which provide access for HDA outplacement clients to over 200 vocational training programmes and qualifications via our strategic partnership with Hemsley Fraser.

Approach

Given budget considerations, and HDA’s commitment to achieving economies of scale during a period of significant headcount reduction spend by the organisation, HDA was able to offer a base level of support per person; subject to the following categories:

• Voluntary leavers (limited number of employees anticipated)
• Compulsory leavers without compromise agreements (up to 400 employees anticipated)
• Compulsory leavers with compromise agreements (limited number of employees anticipated)

Given a fluid environment; particularly the anticipation of regular changes within the client’s HR team, HDA sought:

• to establish senior stakeholder contact(s) / HR ownership;
• to ensure that multiple communication channels were in place to communicate the service to staff at all levels, and to strongly represent the employer’s commitment to supporting staff during transition, albeit with a limited budget;
• to agree regular progress reviews;
• to discuss how we could obtain quality information about leavers in good time.

Major HDA Deliverables

• HDA ran complimentary service overviews for the majority of staff leaving at agreed periods, and on an ad hoc basis for later leavers, eg. those coming to the end of specific key defence projects;
• HDA collaborated with a range of agencies to identify local employment and support opportunities to complement the core HDA support;
• HDA ran complimentary Understanding Change and Managing Personal Change events for staff and managers at agreed locations;  
• HDA set up 2 customised online resource centres for the client; one for HR and the other for directly impacted staff.  
• HDA delivered a core ‘1 career coaching meeting / 1 elective workshop’ programme for compulsorily redundant staff, supported by unlimited access to HDA’s telephone helpline and access to HDA’s Online Career Transition Planner, during the period of support, including our interactive assessment (Strengthscope) and CV building tools and job search facilities; and HDA encouraged staff to exercise personal choice despite the limited nature of the programme.
• HDA delivered a range of support programmes for voluntarily redundant staff and staff on compromise agreements; ranging from the base core 1 career coaching meeting / 1 elective workshop programme to HDA’s 3 month Flexible Access programme; including access to vocational training via Hemsley Fraser.

Outcomes

A total of approximately 375 people have ultimately been referred to HDA at the time of writing, and HDA has already either provided career leverage support or in cases settled approximately 200 staff and managers at all levels into new roles with new organisations, into interim and contract roles, into retirement, etc, whilst we anticipate continuing to support those contacting us as they complete current projects and / or return from summer breaks.

Whilst per-person budgets are limited, HDA’s innovative online and unlimited telephone resources provide significant value and personal flexibility for hi-tech specialists. Quality vs quantity.   

Comment from an individual client:

The sessions were relevant and focused to my needs and gave me a sense of belief in myself.

Click here for more information on our Career Transition Service

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For further information: call 08452 60 95 40 or email info@hda.co.uk

To discuss potential HDA contributions, please contact us at email: info@hda.co.uk