Helping employees help themselves - NOVA Corp's Employment Transition & Continuity program - includes related article on audit results of the program

HR Magazine, August, 1997 by Arnold H. Wensky, Susan M. Galer

In a time of uncertainty, NOVA Chemical's Employment Transition & Continuity program provides a welcome safety net for employees.

Rapid change has made lifetime employment in one company a relic of the past. So if the unexpected can, and probably will, happen next week or tomorrow, why should a company offer programs that help employees cope with the inevitable career upheavals?

Because they are good for business, as demonstrated by NOVA Corp. The Canadian-based worldwide natural gas services and petrochemical company implemented its Employment Transition & Continuity program (ET&C) three years ago to provide strategic career support services for 6,000 employees in North America. The ET&C program is not just a quick fix geared up for downsizing efforts, but an ongoing program to support continuity in the corporation and in employees' lives. Employees in business units targeted for reductions can explore a range of alternatives - within and beyond company walls - designed to smooth impending staff transitions and ease work flow interruptions.

The ET&C program's philosophy and design are based on NOVA's guiding principles, which hold employees accountable for performance through continuous learning, and mandate the equitable treatment of everyone in the workplace. Since the program's inception in 1993, about 1,000 employees have participated in this multifaceted process, which encompasses training and education, business and volunteer opportunities, reassignments within the company, and retirements.

As of last October, 419 employees had received financial grants of up to $25,000 toward starting new businesses through the program's Entrepreneurial Ventures option. Another 125 employees have taken advantage of the program's Relocation, Community Support and Education Option components to embark on new careers.

Though the program's emphasis is on helping employees develop marketable skills and explore new career opportunities, not all employees facing cutbacks walk out the door. Since 1993, 272 employees whose jobs were eliminated found other internal positions during the three-month search period allowed under the ET&C program.

Even if employees find another job within the company or retire, they remain eligible to use the ET&C program's career development resources, including counseling and workshops, for a specified period depending on their circumstances. That option has benefited 231 workers who've accepted retirement packages from the company during the past three years.

PROFITABLE OUTCOMES

The benefits of the ET&C program are hardly one-sided. Senior-level managers at NOVA believe that as rapidly changing markets transform the business, it makes sense to have a permanent safety net that enables employees to make their own career transitions.

For example, impending workforce reductions typically lower morale and productivity. According to a recent independent audit, however, 84 percent of employees who have participated in NOVA's ET&C program say they were treated fairly and with respect (see box).

Another important benefit of the program is its ability to provide strategic support for employees whose jobs have ended because of rapid changes in the company.

Michael Lee, vice president of people for the NOVA Chemical Division, emphasizes that, "in today's workplace, most employees' first career choices won't be their last. The ET&C program assists people in gaining the skills they need to take control of the transition process."

REAL OPTIONS

Eligible full-time and part-time nonunion employees in North America can develop individual career action plans with the ET&C program's three main components.

An entrepreneurial venture. Roberta Surro, an administrative assistant in the sales department at NOVA Corp. in Leominster, Mass., realized her ambition to own a business when her position was eliminated from her work group in 1995. The Entrepreneurial Ventures option, which awards up to $25,000 toward start-up costs of a new business, gave her the opportunity to take the risk to embark on a career that matched her lifelong interests as a coffee connoisseur.

In fall 1996, after conducting market research and submitting a business plan that was approved by the company, Surro and a partner opened Java Hut, a 50-seat coffeehouse in Worcester, Mass. While the $25,000 grant helped defray estimated start-up costs of well over $100,000, she says, the company's initial and ongoing business support was equally important.

Explains Surro, "I was one of the first people to submit a business plan and use company resources to make it viable. The company provided the time and tools - while I was still working at my regular job - to revise my plan and obtain feedback from business experts."

Surro credits part of her success to the company's business planning software and the personalized advice that she continues to access. "I can call the company at any time for assistance and run plans by them," she says. "NOVA is such a people-oriented company that you just don't leave. They gave me the courage I needed to get started, and I don't feel as if I've ever really left."