Your Other ‘Succession Plan’

Now that Baby Boomers are signing up for Social Security benefits and beginning to retire, succession plans are more important than ever.  Succession plans typically focus on the leadership of the company.  However, these plans tend to ignore the supervisors and managers, along with the rest of your near- retirement workforce, who contribute daily to the success of the organization.  Do you have a plan for them?

For the purpose of this article, our focus will be on the “A” performers—you know—the people who are always there and just get the job done.  Who is going to replace them?  Many companies tend to overlook this issue, often waiting until the last minute to address it.

Consider these three basic steps:

IDENTIFY:  Establish your criteria for valued employees and then select those within the company who fall into that category.  Ideally, you will want to identify those who are at least a year (or more) from retirement.  Those closer should be given priority.

SPECIFY:  Update the job descriptions for all those affected.  What they’ve been doing has probably changed over the years.  In addition, what you really want to focus on is this question:  How do we extract the amount of company history, proprietary information, and those skills and abilities they have implemented and mastered that allow them to make their contributions look so effortless?  It will be important to not just replace these people, but to transition a new employee into the position to learn both the day-to-day procedures and also how the company has grown and evolved.

COMMUNICATE:  Talk with them.  You want to learn their plans for retirement.  This needs to be done in a cordial and non-threatening manner in a spirit of recognition and appreciation for their contributions.  These long-time employees have a loyalty to the company that will make it easier for you to explain why an effective transition plan is important.  They will likely help you to manage this transition process.

There are two likely scenarios.

Scenario One:  Yes, they are going to retire, and they have a definite date in mind, as well as a definite plan.

Once you have noted that date, you then subtract the amount of time you determined would be necessary for the effective transition.  Ask if they have any ideas on how this transition should go.  Next, identify the person who will be taking their place.  An internal candidate would be ideal; however, if a search for a person is involved, you need to also allow time for that process.

The end plan is to be able to have the replacement person identified and in place, allowing the required time for an effective transition.  The techniques used in the actual transition are similar to a traditional succession plan, such as job shadowing, job sharing, and mentoring, but with the additional focus on getting as much information from the near-retirement employee as possible before they leave.

Scenario Two:  The employee is unsure of their plans.  This is a productive employee, and you would ideally like to keep them on in some capacity.  Suggest that should they choose to retire, they might consider consulting with the company or even working part time.  This will ease their mind and allow them to firm up their actual plans for retirement.  It also provides the company with additional time to identify their replacement and gradually transition that person into the position.

Whatever you do in either of these scenarios or the ones you may encounter, don’t wait until the last minute to act.  Whatever costs you perceive should be considered as investments and training money saved.

(As always, we value your input regarding the content for our newsletter.  If you have any ideas or suggestions for future topics, be sure to contact us at melinda@thepittmangroup.com We look forward to hearing from you.)