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Published on Nov 29
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The end of the year is a popular time for many retirees to exit or begin planning their exit from the workforce. When an employee who has been with your company for an extended time decides to retire, it can be a scary time for both the employee and your company. Taking steps to help your employee prepare for and transition into retirement can help them feel more secure in their decision and leave your company on better footing for continued success after their departure. Here are a few tips to smooth the retirement transition for your employee and your company.
Avoid knowledge drains
Long-time employees have often formed relationships across the company, giving them a deeper understanding of how their job impacts someone else’s work in another area. If your company’s policies or procedures don’t actively encourage knowledge-sharing across departments, silos can result. Without a broader appreciation for other departmental roles, younger, less experienced employees may unwittingly sow chaos, causing delays or costly mistakes.
To avoid such silos, encourage managers to have experienced employees share their knowledge in monthly meetings, especially if they’ve made their intentions to retire known.
Cross-training
Cross-training is another antidote to the brain-drain inherent when long-time employees leave. A three- to six-month assignment in another department allows younger or newer workers to gain hands-on experience in areas of the company unfamiliar to them.
Cross-training can also build your operational team and prevent information silos. To prevent older workers from feeling threatened, be sure to communicate that the purpose of cross-training is to build company-wide knowledge, not to push senior staff out the door.
Create transition
Don’t make retirement an open or shut door. Create the opportunity for employees to gradually move toward retirement by allowing them to transition from full-time to part-time or take on a consulting role that doesn’t require their full-time daily presence in the office.
These transitions can ease the financial stress on your employee, allowing them to get used to living on less income over time. For your company, the opportunity for mentoring and knowledge sharing is greatly increased by keeping retiring employees on in some capacity.
Let the Sheakley team help
In conjunction with retirement plan benefits to help your employees save for retirement, having a smooth retirement transition is in the best interest of your employees and your company. Your employees can feel more comfortable in their decision to retire and your company can avoid losing the valuable knowledge of an experienced employee. Sheakley Retirement experts can help you select the right retirement plans and help develop retirement transition plans for your employees and your business. Remember, by electing to provide retirement benefits and easing employees’ moves into retirement, you are ensuring the comfortable future of both your employees and yourself.
Schedule your free consultation with Sheakley Retirement professionals today. Stay up-to-date on all things Sheakley by subscribing to our blog and following us on social media. Join in the discussion by commenting below.
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