Empowering employees during a plant closure inspires engagement and leads to mutual success.
The Challenge
Following an unexpected announcement of a plant closing, senior management of an electronics industry leader desired to develop a career transition plan that would meet the employment needs of over 500 employees while continuing to meet production and quality targets. Management worried that they would face hostile employees, vandalism and corporate sabotage. Concerned that unhappy workers would prevent the plant from meeting their production schedule, the company turned to Career Partners International for assistance.
The Career Partners International Solution
After touring the facility to understand how workers’ existing skills could be transferred to other industries, Career Partners International developed a unique strategy to meet the specific needs of manufacturing employees working in 24/7 shifts.
The main objective of the solution was to empower workers in their career transitions while they continued their work at the facility. This included:
- Specialized workshops focused on finding “hidden” jobs, communicating with potential employers and developing a personal marketing strategy to focus the job search.
- One-on-one coaching to improve resumes, practice interview techniques and develop job search plans.
- Marketing campaign to target local industries, agencies and schools culminating with a job fair directed to the specific skills of the employees.
The Results
One of the greatest successes of the program was reducing the anxiety and anger of the displaced workers so they could focus on their work and on their career transitions. Assisting workers in identifying and effectively communicating their value and transferable skills enabled employees to successfully market themselves to potential employers. The program also realized a number of quantitative successes for both the company and the employees:
- Final production achieved three weeks ahead of schedule.
- Earned $20M over projected revenue.
- 0 worker’s compensation claims.
- 50% decrease in medical leave.
- 89% of participants located a new position or enrolled full-time in college.
