In The Black's Dossier: Goodbye boss and who cares?
When the bosses start to pack up their office and hand back the car keys is there much staff sympathy?
Australia's CEO Institute thinks it's time they were acknowledged and has embarked on a program to help out-of-work executives access the support mechanisms that can set them on the road to career recovery.
And, it would appear, the more they might have earned can mean the more they have to suffer in terms of financial damage.
The Institute's program, CEOs On The Move, offers monthly meetings on sharing past experience and current job-seeking initiatives, as well as invitations to networking events and CV postings on The CEO Institute web site.
"In many cases they are being hit harder than most," says The CEO Institute's Chairman & CEO, Ken Gunn. "With higher than average mortgages, private school fees, car leases and so on, the loss of a high income can have a greater toll than that being faced by a less senior worker."
Since the program was introduced in May, Barry Westhorpe from the Institute's Victorian office says they've received a huge response. As the Australian economy deals with the financial downturn, many companies have ditched leaders who can't provide strategies during tougher times.
Westhorpe notes that many expatriates are finding themselves back home after their contracts weren't renewed.
He also notes that the program has received strong interest from recruitment agencies, who are now working closely with the Institute to get these executives back into the workplace.
The Institute's sympathetic response, however, may not be a rising trend just yet ...
An extract from CPA Australia's "In The Black" magazine's Dossier column, September 2009. Click here to download copy of the column