Colleagues turn counsellors in BBC's pioneering program : CareerLink Plus supports employees threatened with redundancy

Purpose – This article describes how, when the BBC announced a round of 2,000 redundancies in late 2004, it decided to train a large number of its own employees – both within the HR department and outside it – to support their own colleagues during the period of upheaval. Design/methodology/approach – Details the author's experiences as he trained BBC managers how to guide employees through the process of redundancy and finding new jobs. Findings – Reveals that, by bringing career support in‐house, as opposed to using external outplacement, the BBC devised a cost‐effective solution that delivered considerable return on investment and helped to preserve the reputation of the organization at a time of difficulty. Practical implications – Demonstrates that, by employing outside consultants to train BBC employees to become internal career coaches to work with people leaving the organization, it used the wide array of talent available within the corporation. Originality/value – Describes an unusual method of boosting HR resources when an organization makes a large number of people redundant.