Have you ever been “outplaced”?
It seems like businesses are forever coming up with new ways to say things so that they are less personal. I think they do this to dehumanize the fact that their employees are people, and this of course makes it easier to treat them like objects instead of people.
But when you’re talking about shifting someone from one job to another within the same company – as is the case with the term “outplacement” – it doesn’t seem to make sense.
Until you consider that shifting a person from one position within a company to another is almost always a step down – in status, rank, power and/or pay.
