Outplacement for underserved women workers

Conclusions The outplacement program ended with a short written evaluation of the value of the program to participants. Their comments indicated a high level of satisfaction; and all responded yes to the question, Overall, do you think the outplacement program has been beneficial to you? It appears that one of the main factors contributing to the program's success was having program goals that recognized the needs of hourly women workers. Before the outplacement program, they had no hope of obtaining better jobs than that of telephone operator. It was an exceptional women whose eyes were focused on moving up. The vast majority were resigned to take what they could get, clearly reducing their expectations and encouraging downward rather than upward movement. The true test will be to see what these participants do with their work lives in the future, but responses following the program indicate initially that they are now aiming much higher than the most basic level of employment.Suzanne C. Freeman is a Doctoral student and Marilyn Haring-Hidore is Associate Professor of Counselor Education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Address requests for reprints to Ms. Freeman.