Case Study: Outplacement and redeployment support in Hong Kong

At the end of Q1, a client in the manufacturing industry initially planned to lay-off around 30 staff in Hong Kong and China due to office relocation. They approached Gemini for outplacement support for the impacted workforce. The client faced the challenge of managing wholesale layoffs which would involve hefty compensation packages, additional recruitment, on-boarding and training costs for replacement staff. The situation also posed risks to staff morale and workforce agility.

After several in-depth consultations, Gemini worked with the client to assess the background of their workforce and identified that 40% of them had the potential, aligned with appropriate training, to be redeployed to another position within the group. Gemini proposed a combination of both outplacement and redeployment services. They ran individual assessments against specified competencies for each staff member identified for redeployment, holding workshops and training sessions. For staff that were unfortunately made redundant, they provided individual outplacement support, offering expert advice, rebuilding their confidence, and working on their profiles to better position them for re-entering the job market.

8 employees (27% of total affected workforce, including both front line workers and office supporting staff) were successfully reassigned to new positions within their group, proving more economical than wholesale layoffs and improving workforce agility while reducing potential damage to staff morale. For the staff that were made redundant, many were already interviewing for new positions and some had already landed new roles through the outplacement support provided. The client avoided hefty compensation packages and additional recruitment, on-boarding and training costs that would have been required with complete layoffs.