In the past, it was mainly top executives in Denmark’s largest companies who received economic help from their employers to help them find new jobs.
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Today, a broad range of Danish companies pay for so-called outplacement programmes, designed to help both leaders and regular employees find new jobs when they are made redundant.
Outplacement is being offered by both employees’ and employers’ organisations and by a range of private companies. One of the providers is Lederne Kompetencecenter. Lars Krogh is their commercial director.
He has worked with outplacement for nearly 25 years and has seen the Danish market for outsourcing go from “immature” to “mature”, he says.
“Many Danish leaders have the right to outplacement written into their contracts, or they are offered it by the company.
“It has become normal practice when leaders on nearly all levels are made redundant, and it is also being offered to many employees who are not in management. It’s now normal to offer outplacement during larger redundancy rounds,” says Lars Krogh.
Outplacement as a business has existed for more than 25 years. It used to be called “redeployment” and applied mainly to executives who were helped to move on through a so-called “golden handshake” – a lump sum equivalent to several months of additional executive salary.
A development journey
Lederne Kompetencecenter is owned by Lederne, a trade union for leaders and specialists. The Kompetencecenter provides individually tailored outplacement programmes for all leaders, regardless of whether they are Lederne members.
The programme is usually paid for by the company that has made the leader redundant.
Personal coaching is one of the basic elements in the outplacement programmes offered by Lederne Kompetencecenter. The leader is assigned an advisor, and the two start by mapping the leader’s skills, goals and values, successes and passions.
For some leaders, being made redundant is a chance to reconsider their career path, explains Lars Krogh.
“When a leader is made redundant, they often start on a personal development journey. The leader often revisits their identity as a leader, and we help them ask themselves which career goals are the most important going forward.
“Some dismissed leaders also ask themselves whether they want to carry on being in a leadership position.”
CV, job interviews and courses
A main element in most outplacement programmes is helping the leader write job applications, update their CV, map their network and coach them for job interviews.
Some leaders change jobs relatively often, but because many appointments are made via professional networks, some might be inexperienced when it comes to applying for jobs. The leader will learn about the latest trends in job seeking and be given useful tools through the outplacement programme.
Some leaders also choose to build new skills through courses as part of the outplacement programme. Nine in ten leaders find a job after attending one of the outplacement programmes offered by Lederne Kompetencecenter, says Lars Krogh.
Coaching gave peace of mind
When Martin Olesen was made redundant from his leadership job in early 2025, it took him seven months to find the one he has now, as a project leader at a consulting engineering firm.
(Photo: privat)
As part of his redundancy package, he got an outplacement programme with Lederne Kompetencecenter. This was the second time he had been made redundant and got enrolled in an outplacement programme. Both times it helped him find his next leadership job, he explains.
“I didn’t need help to process the redundancy itself. That did not come as a shock because I myself was actively part of the organisational changes that led to me having to move on.
“But I got to dust off my job-seeking tools and had good coaching from my advisor during the application process, which sometimes felt a bit long-winded.”
As a leader, Martin Olesen is used to making plans and executing them. But looking for a job does not have the same predictability.
“Because I didn’t know whether I would secure a job after four or 17 interviews, my mood was a bit up and down. So I had a talk with my advisor and got some mental support to help me believe I would get a job.
“It was nice to talk to an impartial person, and as I no longer had a job, I didn’t have an HR department or colleagues to talk to,” he says.
Reputation and decency
Martin Olesen has 25 years of experience as a leader at various companies in the utilities sector, and has been part of restructuring processes and the shutting down of production units several times, where coworkers were offered redeployment or an outplacement programme.
“For me, outplacement is about decency. Employers and employees in the Danish and Nordic labour market treat each other properly, also when redundancies become necessary. It is part of the Nordic model.
Advice for young jobseekers
Martin Olesen offers the following advice to young jobseekers:
Create a network: Networks often lead to jobs, so create a professional network through things like internships and professional fora.
Jump right in: You are unlikely to be in the same job in ten years’ time, and definitely not in 25. Do not be afraid of trying out something you might not see yourself doing throughout your entire working life.
Follow your passion: Apply for jobs and get yourself invited to coffee with an employer you would like to work for. Go for something you find exciting. Passion is an important driver.
“When a company takes the time to show respect during redundancy processes, it benefits its reputation and opportunity to recruit people in the future,” says Martin Olesen.
“Redundancies are very rarely caused by an employee having done something wrong. It is about adjustments, and the company cannot know when it will need to hire the same people again.”
By saying a “proper goodbye”, a company also ensures that dismissed employees do not scatter in 17 different directions but stay at the workplace and help ensure a good handover.
At his previous workplace, Martin Olesen himself was involved in instructing the employees who were going to take over tasks.
