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I’m sorry your position with CoStar Group has been eliminated. That is a bad break and many of us have been there and know how difficult that is. CoStar Group purchased Apartment Finder to be able to unite two of the leading apartment listing websites and make a better network that meets the needs of both clients and consumers. In any acquisition, the purchasing company has to examine the existing businesses in the company and evaluate what should be retained to meet the intended direction, and often there are some roles that have to be eliminated. It is not easy to make these decisions knowing that they affect people’s lives. However, the decision to close two of the Apartment Finder products was necessary to insure the future of the Apartment Finder business. Andy Florance, CoStar’s CEO, announced these decisions quickly and in person. In addition, Andy committed to and is following through on his promise to make jobs available in the Atlanta area for as many Apartment Finder employees as possible. In addition to a number of positions that were open and available in Atlanta at the close of the acquisition, CoStar has moved 20 Research Associate positions to Phipps Plaza in Atlanta from other CoStar offices and is planning to move multiple Community Caller positions to Norcross from Terminus.
Having made the difficult decision to eliminate two product offerings, CoStar Group has taken particular care to provide as much support as possible to the employees being laid off. All affected employees received at least 60 days’ notice and an enhanced severance package. Employees were able to attend an open house to learn about available CoStar positions, and following interviews and selections, offers are actively going out to employees to fill those roles. In addition, two recruiters have been designated as “Workforce Managers” for employees whose positions have been eliminated to help them easily explore and be considered for positions within the company. As of this writing, there have been 18 offers extended to laid-off employees.
All impacted employees also have access to outplacement services, which include sessions on job hunting and resume writing and one-on-one counseling as well as access to online resources to help prepare for external searching.
In support of integrating Apartment Finder, we have moved an integration project leader to the area to better facilitate the transition and ensure that Apartment Finder integrates into CoStar Group successfully. In addition, our Regional Human Resources Manager for the Southeast spends at least one day per week at the Norcross office, and executive leadership from a variety of departments including Product Development, Product Management, Finance and Research make weekly visits.
We want everyone to succeed, and while we unfortunately can’t keep every role, we want to do everything we can to help employees move toward the next chapter in their career as seamlessly as possible. Please work with the workforce managers – they are there to help for this very reason.
