Outsourcing Part 5. Strategy

STRATEGY.

A key word as companies work their way out of the recession and through what, unfortunately for many, was disaster.

Organizations throughout the country currently face the critical issue of how to implement strategies to protect against identical mistakes and similar losses in the future. The Great Recession forced a good number of companies to contribute to the staggering unemployment rate throughout most regions of the United States. Subsequently, these organizations have had to operate using skeleton crews, creating internal discord among those stretched to capacity while former coworkers face time off with a big paycheck. These cutbacks also cost billions of dollars in severance awards.

A strategy is necessary to ensure this does not happen again, as neither big companies nor the economy can handle repeated blows. A strategy designed to protect against such costs and losses in the future would require consideration from internal teams including workforce management and finance. A solution to these issues which has proven to be a successful tool in managing current separation benefits and building a plan for those required in the future. Strategy: a SUB Plan.

Moving forward, the best recovery and ongoing management strategy is one that is clear-cut, one that is easily manageable and addresses a business process always a part of doing business. A SUB Plan offers a company a huge strategic advantage as it easily addresses the issues of employee morale and company cost. Example. Rather than severing 100 people and overspending on severance, a company can choose to reduce that number, and by utilizing a SUB Plan to integrate funding from other sources, use savings to retain more employees and maintain operating efficiencies. A strategically outsourced SUB Plan will reduce the administrative burdens involved with designing the necessary separation benefits program while a vendor's infrastructure offers regulatory guidance to ensure ongoing adherence to often changing unemployment law.

The disastrous effects of the recession are still affecting many organizations, and many have finally opted to reexamine separation benefits packages, a practice too often left unexamined until after billions of dollars are unnecessarily spent. Examining a SUB Plan is something all companies should do. Leaving a fairly obvious strategy unexamined is senseless. If companies choose to pay traditional severance, however, perhaps that may be a reason why so many failed miserably over the past three years.