Challenge:
When Emeritus Senior Living and Brookdale Senior Living announced an agreement to merge, creating a combined entity with more than 1,100 senior living communities in 47 states and a workforce of more than 80,000, a smooth integration immediately became the company’s top priority. Brookdales’s name and headquarters footprint would be retained, resulting in the closure of Emeritus’ Seattle headquarters. There was much work to be done, and maintaining operations through the closure was critical.
Emeritus/Brookdale enlisted Waldron’s support in planning for the closure and supporting the career transition needs of all impacted employees in a way that aligned with organization culture and values. Over 300 people’s jobs were impacted by the closure, representing multiple functions, levels, and locations. Employee notification and termination timelines varied significantly based on the need to maintain certain functions through the transition process. It was critical to provide the right levels and timing of support to the groups and individuals impacted, minimizing disruption to operations post transaction announcement.
Solution:
Initial collaborative planning meetings between Waldron and Emeritus/Brookdale leadership yielded agreement on a core project design principle. While delivering some services in group format would decrease costs, services were structured to have as much 1:1 employee coaching as possible in order to maximize the impact and value for the transitioning employees. Emeritus/Brookdale’s intention was for each employee to know from the beginning that, no matter when they departed, they would have the outplacement support they needed to strategically and successfully pursue the job market. Each impacted employee at any level would have the opportunity to be deliberate and well-prepared for their search, and could confidently envision the next chapter in their career. Retention was enhanced as employees didn’t feel the need get to market earlier than the company planned.
Waldron CPI supported the planning and implementation in several key ways:
Results:
As a result of the collaboration with Waldron CPI, Brookdale was able to successfully maintain operations during the site closure, with planned retention of over 94 percent and minimal disruption, while honoring Emeritus employees’ contributions to combined enterprise value. Brookdale/Emeritus upheld their brand promise as a responsible and compassionate employer by supporting separated employees with strategically-designed and effectively implemented high-quality, personalized career transition support services.
"Waldron CPI's role in this process was critical to our ability to honor the commitment of so many long tenured and loyal employees, by providing support that was tailored to the needs of each individual." — Liberty Stansberry, SVP of HR, Brookdale Senior Living
Visit Waldron's Outplacement page to learn more about our career transitions services and methodology.