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When I announced my retirement (after 41+ years working there) the director tried to convince me to volunteer 1-2 days a week, doing some of what I had been doing for pay. Ha! What was he thinking???
Although they may talk succession planning and bench strength, most companies are very incompetent when it comes to transition planning regarding retiring employees. They wait until way too late in the game (the retiree needs to start the transfer activities at least 6 months and ideally a year prior to the big day). There is also pathetic implementation of knowledge management, which is an ongoing process. There are many things we can learn from the way things were done in the guilds, nearly 1000 years ago. Those ways of doing things were the basis for early corporations, 500 years ago. But we seem to have lost the recipe in our sad latter day.
Yes, there needs to be a long transition time...but would you let your company know a year ahead of time that you're retiring and be a lame duck for that entire period? At my company it is 90 days to put in your notice to HR but I don't think you / they tell your boss that far ahead...I guess it's all about trust.
If you retire, stay retired. If you need additional money, look for a new job.
The skill and experience of the current workers at your former employer is of no concern to you.
I think the OP was a co-worker of someone retiring. Meaning that the OP was still in the workplace, so I would imagine the skill and experience of the currently in the workforce there, including the employee replacing the retiree, would be of utmost concern to him. In his shoes, I would be concerned too.
There will always be idiot, short sighted, self serving managers, as well as good, smart, forward thinking ones. When it becomes a game of departmental conquest and empire building,mthe loser is always the company and the conquered employees, and the victor, the poor manager. Its a case of personal greed over company success, and the manager above the idiot is just as guilty. In my company, normally, that kinf of short sighted thinking is discouraged and short circuited, but it still happens. My division is govt reg driven, and reliability is paramount so much is often defined. We are a typical utility monopoly, guaranteed a min profit, but limited to max profit for that privilege. So if part time after retirement is the most cost effective method, it gets used. I dont blame,mand in fact, encourage new employees to look for more lucrative positions once they gain enough experience. It asures my ability to have future employment if I want, and should raise salaries to retain talent over time.
I think the OP was a co-worker of someone retiring. Meaning that the OP was still in the workplace, so I would imagine the skill and experience of the currently in the workforce there, including the employee replacing the retiree, would be of utmost concern to him. In his shoes, I would be concerned too.
Absolutely. When the people around you or even the people in the next department can't do their job because of reorganization due to retirement, especially forced retirement, where the person is not adequately replaced your job can be on the line as well. It could result in a kind of a domino effect in which business is lost and layoffs ensue. The example I gave regarding my former company resulted in this happening. A million dollar loss is going to effect a lot of people whether or not they are directly involved.
I had to switch careers as my first company downsized and I got caught in it. So I took some classes so I could do another type of work, one that would pay better than the usual jobs available at that time. So I worked for about 14 years in "new" job, had to learn a lot on the job, took notes, did cross referencing, etc. And I feel that I was doing a pretty good job. In May a few years back, I received the most valuable employee award for that month.
One month later I was told I wasn't doing good work anymore and had to take either a termination or retirement. I was 63 so I took retirement.
I have the same type of story except they "changed the mission" so many positions were eliminated. I was able to get temp work until the car accident. I then had to live with family until, after 3 years the Dr's did an MRI, I had an operation & was finally declared disabled.
I forgot to add that most of those let go were 55 or older.
I retired last year from a Social Work career of 33 years, all of which was in some form of child welfare. I have a Master's Degree and have been a supervisor for most of that time, and retired at age 56 from a very good county job. The ten years prior were all about new missions, new training, moving people all over the city in the name of restructuring and "serving the community," and being led around with a nose ring by some director's pet manager who had never spent time with an abused child ever. The last three managers I had were an attorney, a CPA, and a Bachelor's level Sociology major. They had no clue about how to manage people who were responsible for child safety. They had no clue about how to manage anything. They just got lucky on hiring day. My last office was in the center of town where clients could not get to us, and if they did, they had to be escorted to a reception area by a security guard. We had to race downtown, punch time clocks, and then get out to our home visits, and then answer as to why we were less efficient. Then programs were combined and we actually had two jobs. We were in office cubes where there was no privacy to make phone calls or interview clients. As supervisors we had to show management that we were in control by writing up staff for the most menial reasons. I was humiliated, belittled, and embarrassed in front of my staff to the point my health suffered and I demoted myself. Experienced and professionally qualified staff left, and the professional drain shows. Our replacements could be anyone with any degree, ie, IT, Marketing. Dog Catcher. I had enough time in to retire with 24 years and have never looked back. It was not only a frustration for staff who dared to care, but Kids. Still. Died. Now I am retired with our house paid off, and an MSW, in my late 50's. You bet I have never looked back, but it is crazy to think of the foolishness of this agency that is responsible for child safety and good staff were repelled out. I have a lot to offer but not at that price.
I worked for the county for 3 years, until my son went to Sacramento for college. I then followed my dream of living in San Francisco (my brother was a professor at the college & had room for me). At the time, in my mid to late 30's, midwestern people were valued for their work ethics so it did not take long to find a job. Then, after 3 years, the company re-organized & the new management was awful.
I took it for a few months, I quit. It was good timing actually because my mom needed help after an operation & I went home to help out. Got back to SF one time after that, to help my brother move back to MN, but it was not the same. Glad I had those 3 years though. A lot of good memories.
Sorry, got caught up in memories. When I worked for the county it was in a demo project to get welfare recipients on health plans as opposed to just having a card which allowed them to go to any doctor. What was not taken into consideration were the immigrants who went to doctors from their country or pregnant moms who were addicted to drugs. There was a special program that helped them stop, even to having a halfway house for those that needed it.
This was all changed when the program became fact. The new program did not include either the doctors who were out of system for the immigrants or were not in the clients network and the pregnant moms with problems were left to solve their own problems. Many of those babies were born addicted.
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