Restart Career White Papers & Know How
Best practices and practical tips for professional and respectful separation processes
Separation processes – whether in restructuring projects or in individual cases – present all involved with significant challenges, both professionally and emotionally. Our experience, confirmed by quantitative studies, shows that a clear and respectful approach significantly eases these disruptive change processes, both for those affected and those remaining. It is important to us that both employers and employees emerge stronger from separation processes. We support this with our services – and with practical know-how in our guidelines.
+++ Upcoming Webinars | September 8, 11 a.m. - Legal Pitfalls in Job Reductions | Register here +++
Practical Handbook: Leadership in Transformation
Dr. Sabrina Zeplin
Release date: June 8, 2026
Downsizing is the toughest test for any organization and for the people in charge. This practical handbook shows how restructuring can succeed without destroying the soul of a company. Dr. Sabrina Zeplin combines sound insights from organizational psychology and change management with data from a large-scale benchmark study and years of consulting experience. She makes tangible what executives and HR managers really need to know: from strategic planning and fair termination discussions to effective voluntary redundancy programs and severance packages that foster acceptance.
This book unflinchingly examines how survivor syndrome paralyzes those who remain, why employee retention is crucial for future viability, especially during a crisis, and what role the works council can play as a partner. Concrete tools for building resilience and fostering a positive corporate culture make the difference between an organization that recovers and one that gradually erodes. Economic necessity and human responsibility are the keys to sustainable transformation.
The statements by Restart Career Managing Director Dr. Sabrina Zeplin are supplemented by experienced guest authors from the field:
Burkhard Fabritius, Lawyer & Partner, GÖRG Partnership of Lawyers mbB
Jens Jahn, Managing Director and Partner, The Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
Felicitas von Kyaw, Advisor and former CRHO Vodafone & Coca-Cola Europacific Partners
Benchmark study on restructuring
The pressure to transform the German economy is high. Companies are increasingly faced with the challenge of implementing restructuring and separation processes professionally, fairly, and effectively – often under considerable time and cost pressures and with few reliable benchmarks. At the same time, there is still a lack of open, well-founded insights into what actually works in practice.
This is precisely where the benchmark study "Restructuring 2026" by Restart Career, DGFP and BCG comes in: It makes success factors visible, shows proven procedures and provides companies with concrete guidance for future restructuring projects.
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Podcasts
OMHR - In an interview
Restart founder and restructuring expert Dr. Sabrina Zeplin talks to Marvin Behrens about success factors in job cuts.
HR unvarnished
Dr. Sabrina Zeplin talks to Annika in der Beek and Anjuli Mauer about professional separation culture – and how HR can make a difference in this sensitive situation.
Level up HR
Dr. Sabrina Zeplin talks to Johannes Füß about why Newplacement is the new Outplacement, and how it makes the crucial difference in separation processes.
HRM Hacks
Dr. Sabrina Zeplin talks to Alexander Petsch about successful separation management and gives many practical tips.
Harvard Business Manager
Dr. Sabrina Zeplin talks to Antonia Götsch about the phenomenon of "rebound jobs" and many very specific tips for career reorientation.
NEW WORK NOW
Dr. Sabrina Zeplin speaks with Kira Marie Cremer at the HR trade fair Zukunft Personal about how to turn a professional crisis into a great personal opportunity.
SEED
Dr. Sabrina Zeplin talks to Gero Hesse about her book "Leadership in Transformation" - and about how job cuts can be managed with attitude and responsibility.
Courage for the future
Dr. Sabrina Zeplin talks to career coach Juliane Rosier about why she founded Restart Career and how good newplacement helps after an involuntary separation.
Known from
Advice articles
HURRAY, I GOT FIRED!
How do you turn a job loss into the opportunity of a lifetime?
LABOR MARKET STUDY
After being laid off, long-term employees are more than twice as likely to choose the wrong follow-up job.
