Employee Retirement
LindaS
1,510 Posts
We have a long-term EE who, we believe, is planning on retiring in the very near future the problem is that he will NOT give us a specific date for his retirement. The problem goes back a couple of years when we had a RIF and laid off his direct supervisor. The EE feels that we should have given the supervisor some type of notice (he feels it should have been at least two weeks) and since we didn't, he feels that he doesn't owe this company any type of notice either.
The problem with this is that he has alot of knowledge in his job (he's been in his job 20+ years) and we want to get someone to begin training with him. Once we move someone into that position, we have to back fill the opening and these positions have a higher hourly rate and any addition to the P/R at this point makes things pretty tight and adds a position that may or may not be needed.
Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this situation? There is no incentive for him to give a notice as, according to statements he has made, he plans on using his remaining vacation and some day will just "not show up".
Thanks
The problem with this is that he has alot of knowledge in his job (he's been in his job 20+ years) and we want to get someone to begin training with him. Once we move someone into that position, we have to back fill the opening and these positions have a higher hourly rate and any addition to the P/R at this point makes things pretty tight and adds a position that may or may not be needed.
Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this situation? There is no incentive for him to give a notice as, according to statements he has made, he plans on using his remaining vacation and some day will just "not show up".
Thanks
Comments
That said, the only solution I can see is to pick a date for him. If you tell him, he'll probably start using his vacation X days/weeks (you have the number in your system and he knows what that number is) before so bring in a replacement however much time you need before that. I can't imagine that would go over very well with him, though.
Another solution could be to have current employees train on existing pieces of his job. You could try to split it up so that it wasn't too overwhelming on any one person, if it is possible. Most likely everyone is already overworked, but in our plant we have really made a push for cross-training so that the work doesn't stop if one person is gone. Of course, making a push doesn't equal immediate success in our case, but we are making headway.
Good luck with this, and I would appreciate hearing an update once you figure out what to do or once it goes into action. Feel free to e-mail me directly if you don't want to post it.
Do your ee's need to obtain approval for vacation useage???? That may be another angle that you can work....
As for the vacation, yes it has to be approved and some of it has been but like I said, his intent (at least as far as I'm told) is to just not return after vacation.
He has long sense lost his loyality with the company, therefore, the company does not owe him any loyality back in return.
PORK
Bite the bullet, as you should, for having done a piss poor job of enabling continuity and succession. There's no way getting around it, you're going to feel some pain from this.
Gene
We all agree give the task to the old timer and hold his feet to the fire with progression reports weekly and direct feed back from his student.
PORK
I suggest you have his supervisor speak with him about when he plans to retire and ask if he is willing to train his replacement. If he is open, you have no isuue. If he is not, then management needs to make the decision that is best for the company not for the soon to be retired EE.
The employee vaciliated between October and December about retiring. He would go around and tell other people that he would be "gone" by the end of the year.
Finally, I had to firmly ask the individual (twice) about a date for retirement. I also advised him that I had someone who was interested in the position and I needed to know an answer.
I knew what would happen. He'd wait until the last minute and then give his notice and I'd have to scramble around and try to find someone to replace him.
I also offered to let him work on an "as needed" basis to supplement his retirement and help get the new person oriented.
It wasn't pleasant and I am sure he felt "forced out", but we could not afford to let this candidate get away from us because someone could not make up his mind on a date.
We've had a situation where someone discussed retiring 6 years ago and is still here....
Sometimes outside factors have an impact on whether they are or aren't able to retire such as stock market taking a dip, new car to payoff, unexpected surgery, etc.
When he's on vacation, who fills in for him? Would this individual be a candidate for his position should he retire?
E Wart