For CHROs and People leaders managing workforce transitions
Your outplacement partner is ready.
Your people may not be.
In the first days after a restructure, people do not need another link to a programme. They need a private place to make sense of what changed, what they want to protect, and what they need from their next conversation.
A private readiness layer before outplacement. Not a replacement for human coaching.
If you are planning a transition and wondering whether employees will know how to use the support you are offering…
What the data shows
77%
of HR leaders say they offer targeted redeployment and mobility programmes.
19%
of employees say they experience or recognise those programmes.
A programme can exist without being experienced as accessible or useful. The gap is not the provider — it is that an employee whose role has just disappeared may not yet know what kind of help they need, or how to ask for it.
1 in 4
employees lost trust in leadership because of how they saw layoffs handled.
63%
of HR leaders are concerned that layoff conversations may be recorded or shared publicly — a downstream consequence of an experience people do not find respectful or supported.
Source: LHH, 2026 Career Redeployment and Outplacement Trends Report, published 21 April 2026; survey of 3,000 HR leaders and 8,000+ employees across the US, Canada, Switzerland, UK, France, Brazil and Australia.
What changes before the first coaching session
The work before career planning. The individual reflection belongs to the employee. What shifts is their capacity to use the support already in place.
| For the employee | For the HR / People team |
|---|---|
| —A confidential space to pause after a disruptive announcement | —A clear, respectful first step that sits alongside existing outplacement support |
| —Language for what has changed, what matters and what they want to explore | —Better conditions for the support already commissioned to be understood and used |
| —Three plausible directions to test — not a generic list of next jobs | —A consistent rollout experience without access to personal reflections |
| —Clearer questions to bring to a human coach | —Optional de-identified programme themes only where the privacy threshold is met |
The aim is not to force a positive story out of a difficult exit. It is to give people enough private room to regain their footing and make their next decision with more agency.
From shock to a more useful first conversation
Employees receive a private access link, go at their own pace, and arrive at human outplacement support able to say: “Here is what I need to work through.”
Private reflection
About 10 minutes
Employees name what they have built, what still gives them energy, and what they need to protect. No HR access to their individual answers.
Plausible directions
Grounded in their experience
They see three directions to interrogate — rather than being asked to invent a future while their old job title is still the only one they can see and they are carrying the shock of the news.
Structured guided conversation
Before human coaching
A bounded, structured guided reflection — informed by ICF coaching principles — that helps them test assumptions, surface what matters and identify what they want to explore next. Even if they have never experienced coaching, this is a gentle entry point.
See whether this private first step could sit alongside the outplacement or coaching support you already have.
Privacy, boundaries and security
What it means to be private.
For employees to engage honestly, they need to trust the boundary completely. These are the actual controls — not aspirational language.
Individual responses
Never visible to the employer, the manager or any third party. What an employee writes belongs to them.
HR reporting
De-identified aggregate signals only, and only when the cohort meets a minimum threshold. No programme insights below that threshold.
AI training
Employee responses are not used to train any AI model, including those that power Unscript IKIGAI®.
Data retention
Individual assessment data is automatically deleted after 90 days. Earlier deletion is available on request.
Data encryption
All responses are encrypted at rest and in transit. Access is role-controlled and audited.
What it is not
Not scoring, not talent selection, not therapy, not legal advice and not a replacement for human coaching or an outplacement provider's own services.
Full details available in our Privacy Policy. We are happy to share additional security documentation with procurement reviewers on request.
What deployment looks like
Unscript IKIGAI® is designed to sit alongside your existing outplacement or coaching provision — not replace it. No technical integration is required to get started.
Cohort access by email
Departing employees receive a private access link by email, usually sent as part of your existing transition communications. No SSO or IT integration required.
Timing: a typical starting point
We usually introduce Unscript after the initial notification, before the first formal coaching appointment — giving employees some space to process the news before asking them to plan what comes next.
HR communications support
We provide draft language for how to introduce the tool to employees, including what it is, what it is not, and who can see what.
Integration with existing outplacement providers
Employees carry their reflection output into their first coaching session with your chosen provider. Unscript is designed to complement, not compete with, human coaching.
Named support contact
A named contact is available throughout the rollout for HR queries. Not a chatbot.
Note
Unscript IKIGAI® is primarily designed for employees who are leaving during a restructure. If you are looking to support internal redeployment — employees moving to new roles within the organisation — the same tool can apply. Get in touch to discuss the right approach for your programme design.
Talk through your cohort, timing and the privacy boundary that would make sense for your organisation.
Frequently asked questions
I built Unscript IKIGAI® after going through retrenchment myself. What struck me was not the absence of support — there was plenty — but the absence of a private space to work out what I needed before I was ready to talk to anyone.
Outplacement can fail before the first session — not because the provider is wrong, but because the employee has not yet had room to work out what they need.
— Natalia Polyakova, Founder, Unscript IKIGAI® Why IKIGAI? →
Let’s talk about your programme.
If the gap before the first coaching conversation is familiar, Natalia would be glad to hear what you are designing.