The myth about employees who retire out of the blue
“One of the things we often miss in succession planning is that it should be gradual and thoughtful, with lots of sharing of information and knowledge and perspective, so that it's almost a non-event when it happens.”
Anne M. Mulcahy
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I’m annoyed by leaders who are surprised by their suddenly retiring employees. This is a part of the employee lifecycle which occurs on a regular basis in business life.
Speaking for Germany, it is more or less predictable at which point in time someone might be eligible for retirement. Of course, there can be exceptions where individuals decide to leave early or change personal plans. That’s not what I mean. I want to focus on the standard employee in her mid-sixties. I don’t even care about one year more or less. It’s about a leader’s general approach to retiring employees and succession planning.
If you are a people manager and you have direct reports in their sixties, you should automatically think about them leaving your team at some point in time.
If you now think, that’s normal, then let me tell you that there are too many managers out there who either don’t think about succession planning or who decide not to act on time.
Who don’t want to face and deal with the challenges of replacement or knowledge transfer.
Who try to avoid the uncomfortable change.
Who believe that there is enough time left to deal with it.
Whatever the reasons (I for sure don’t know them all) - they don’t take the responsibility of handling the situation and wait for someone else (e.g. management or HR) to tell them what to do.
What is succession planning?
As the word already indicates, it is the part where a person or a group of people discuss and decide who will or might follow, if a position becomes vacant. This is not limited to retirement. Especially for key positions, each organization should have a plan of who could follow and search or develop talents where needed.
Depending on the organization’s size, a software could be helpful to document potential successors and keep the overview. However, succession planning does not depend on a software and can be managed with any document type. You can even start on a piece of paper. There is no need to overcomplicate the topic.
Which aspects to consider in succession planning?
First of all, a leader should be aware of the fact that it is impossible to clone a retiring employee. Some wish to have the same employee, just twenty or thirty years younger. Don’t laugh! If you knew how many hiring managers limit the available options because of a fixed picture on their mind.
Focus on the most important skills and characteristics of the position.
Think about what you want to avoid at all cost.
And then - go for it! Start searching or develop an internal candidate.
How to approach succession planning?
1. Depending on the labor market and average retirement age in your country, filter your employees by age and focus on those above 60.
2. Assuming that you talk with them on a regular basis anyhow, choose one of your meetings (where you don’t feel pressured) and start the conversation.
Explain to your direct report that you value her contribution to the company and that you want to make sure that you are well prepared for the time when she will be retiring from her business life.
Ask her about her plans.
When does she want to leave?
How does she envision the years until retirement?
What are her thoughts about a potential succession?
3. When the change is approaching and depending on the complexity of the role, set up an official knowledge transfer plan. This document will help you as a manager, your retiring employee, and the successor to ensure that all important topics have been covered and transferred. By doing so, the risk of forgetting about a key topic decreases immensely.
4. Work with time buffers: It might take time until you receive internal approval for going into internal or external search. And it might take longer than expected to find the right successor.
Ideally, there will be a limited period of time (one week to several months) during onboarding for a personal knowledge transfer and training.
How to deal with a retiring employee?
Last but not least, don’t miss the chance to organize a nice farewell for your retiring employee. Especially if she had been with the company for a longer period of time, the farewell will be a psychologically and emotionally important act in her life. No matter her level of performance, it is important to let go and to celebrate this change.
Depending on your company’s standards, you might organize a small or big party. She might choose whom to invite. You as her direct supervisor would prepare a positive farewell speech and hand over a gift.
Don’t forget that this is your last chance to create a positive memory and connection with your organization and brand. Someone leaving and talking well about your company in the outside world is one of the keys in effective marketing and employer branding.
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