There's a lot of planning that goes into successfully transitioning to retirement and as a manager, it's important to create an environment that encourages employees to prepare. By communicating resources and helping with this transition, you'll set up your team and your agency for success. Below are some useful tips to support employees planning for retirement:
Pre-Retirement Seminar
When it comes to employee concerns like financial security, health, and wellbeing, managers can help by educating employees and providing resources on budgeting, social security, Medicare, and retirement accounts. INSPD offers a one-day workshop, held twice per year, to help employees learn more on these topics. This Pre-Retirement Seminar includes presentations and information on the following subjects:
- Indiana Public Employees’ Retirement System (INPRS)
- Indiana Long-Term Care Insurance Program (ILTCIP)
- Social Security Administration benefits and processes
- Insurance, both life and health insurance
- Additional benefits through Social Security and Medicare
- Hoosier START, Indiana’s employer-sponsored Deferred Compensation and Matching Incentive Plan
- Indiana State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP)
Attending this workshop can help employees feel more prepared as they exit the workforce, especially because they have the opportunity to ask the presenters live questions.
Information to Share with Employees
When preparing an employee for retirement, remind them of important timelines. Employees should submit their retirement application to INPRS no later than 90 days before their retirement date. Visit the INSPD Retirement webpage for a list of deadlines and find other helpful forms on the INPRS website. Contact INPRS at (844) 464-6777 with questions.
The Indiana Public Retirement System also provides retirement resources such as workshops, consultations, and educational videos and webinars about budgeting, enrolling and utilizing benefits, completing a retirement application, and navigating continued employment. Managers of retirement-age employees might not have all of the information employees need, but they do have access to the resources to help their employees find the answers. Ensuring that employees receive thorough, accurate information can help alleviate concerns they have with taking this next step.
Transfer of Knowledge
When an employee decides to retire and leave their agency, managers must ensure a knowledge transfer from the retiring employee to the new hire filling their role. This process ensures a smooth transition, educating the new employee on:
- Explicit knowledge —written procedures, documents, manuals
- Intra-organizational knowledge —information between individuals and teams
- Tacit knowledge —personal interactions and experiences
- Inter-organizational knowledge —information about collaborations
After identifying the information that needs to be transferred like daily tasks of the role being filled, company norms, procedures, and team norms, it’s important to consider how the new hire should receive this information. Shadowing, mentoring, documentation, or other training resources can all be helpful. A structured approach involving timelines, tasks, checklists, and clear communication between the manager and new hire will also help ensure a successful knowledge transfer. Make sure to offer the new hire support along the way and evaluate their performance to identify the strengths and areas for improvement. Throughout this process, document changes, value the retiring employee’s knowledge and skills, and encourage them through the process of transferring their knowledge to a new employee.