Laid-off workers getting support, plus severance. (Special Report: Management & Employee Issues)

Continuing employer consolidation building resources for jobless

DOWNTOWN -- Corporate downsizing are spurring some shifts in the employer-employee relationship, as both sides try to ensure that workers are better prepared for the harsh realities of the new global marketplace.

Severance pay and assistance in finding a new job are, of course, still standard features of many lay-off benefit packages. But there is a strong focus at some firms on education and training benefits that allow employees to prepare for the future -- whether or not it's with their current employer, some analysts say.

Such benefits might include higher-education tuition reimbursements, special company-sponsored training courses or skill-based pay systems that reward employees for increasing their levels of experience and education.

"In the past, benefits have been built around career employment and many severance arrangements were intended to soften the landing and provide some transitional relief," said Michael Lee, manager of the Pittsburgh office of Hewitt Associates, a Lincolnshire, Ill.-based consulting firm. "But they really didn't do anything to retrain, refocus or re-energize the work force."

In addition, he said, layoffs have traditionally placed more of the responsibility for an employee's welfare on the employer rather than the employee.

"The new …