I have experienced a phenomenon I find odd: Keeping employees’ pending retirements secret. In some cases, these coming retirements are even kept secret from those working directly under the retiring employees.
I read that this secrecy is to prevent a loss of morale among remaining employees, or to stop employees from following their retiring colleague out of the company.
I question the intelligence of this approach. I would feel a loss of morale much more keenly if a colleague or boss suddenly just disappeared. And I would feel blindsided and resentful if the retirement were announced to me just days before it was scheduled to happen.
I found this post on the Website of Insperity, which provides tips for managing employee retirements. The tips underscore to me the importance of not keeping retirements a secret.
Making Time for Knowledge Transfer
When an employee leaves on good terms with the company, it’s about more than the next phase of their lives; it’s about making sure their accumulated knowledge doesn’t walk out the door with them.
“Knowledge transfer takes time and effort, so don’t wait until a week before the retirement party to start the process. Either through mentorship, job sharing, job shadowing, or other techniques, have your retiring workers share the whys behind what they do and the way they do it,” the Insperity staff points out.
If you announce the retirement when the employee first informs their manager and Human Resources about it, you have time for an orderly transfer of knowledge.
First, you can ask the outgoing employee for their recommendation on which employee(s) might be best suited to assume their work responsibilities. Once those employees are identified, the retiring employee and their boss can sit down with each of the employees identified to ask if they would be willing to take on the additional responsibilities, and to come up with a way for them to do it.
Ask Employees Left Behind What They Need
The retiring employee may have provided support to those working alongside, or under, them. In some cases, it isn’t about asking what the remaining employees can do to assume the retiring employees’ responsibilities; it’s about asking those left behind what they will need.
Were there specific things the retiring employee did for others in their work group? If so, will they have to start doing those things for themselves, or will someone else take over those duties?
These questions sometimes can be answered by determining who will take over the responsibilities of the retiring employee, but you still need to ask the employees left behind how the retiring employee supported them. There may be unofficial duties the retiring employee took on that supported colleagues.
For example, at trade shows, the retiring employee may have served the role of “wingperson” to colleagues. They accompanied them to booths to meet and negotiate with vendors and potential business partners. They also may have gone with their colleagues to industry cocktail parts and other informal events to help make connections, easing the conversation.
Who’s going to help with the schmoozing now?
Get Remaining Employees on Board with the Succession Plan
As the company plans to distribute the workload and informal support provided by the retiring employee, it also has to make sure the succession plan is workable. That means finding out whether those affected by the plan are on board with it.
Let’s say the plan calls for a new position to be created above an employee, so they will be pushed down in the corporate hierarchy, and may even have some of their autonomy taken away. You’re going to want to make sure the affected employee is OK with that. You certainly want to make sure the change in corporate hierarchy doesn’t come as a surprise to them.
Give Colleagues Time to Say Goodbye
When you have worked with a colleague for years, or even decades, it’s only natural to want to say goodbye. In many cases, you may never see this person again. It’s important to have a farewell event. These events can range from a cake in a conference room in the office to after-work drinks, a work group or departmental dinner at a nice restaurant, or even a lavish party in a rented space.
The important thing is to do something and make it inclusive. You don’t want only a small group of executives to toast the retiring employee. You want to give everyone whose work life they touched the chance to say thank you and goodbye.
Organizing a digital page or “card” where colleagues, both above and under the retiring employee, can offer reflections and well wishes can provide closure.
The person responsible for filling the retiring employee’s job role or dividing up their responsibilities also may find such a card enlightening. It’s an easy way to see the many qualities that made this employee so special—and potentially so hard to replace.
How do you manage retirements in your organization? Do you have a policy of keeping retirements secret until the last minute? How do you ensure colleagues don’t feel blindsided and the outgoing employees’ responsibilities are covered after they leave?