In every organization, some employees leave. Departure is a natural process. However, there are periods in an organization's life when mass departures occur. This could be a stable organization established 40 years ago, with its founders now approaching retirement age; it could be an organization undergoing restructuring accompanied by a voluntary retirement plan; it could be the general situation facing the American industry, where the Baby Boomer generation is nearing retirement; or it could be many other organizational scenarios. What they all have in common is a significant change in the workforce and a justified concern about the loss of knowledge and performance as a result.
Regular knowledge management programs are responsible for sharing knowledge and turning it into an organizational asset. If we have five years to plan for employee departures, preserving knowledge through documentation and sharing might be the central solution. For knowledge sharing to be the central solution, an additional condition is required: the importance of the knowledge to a large group of users who can share it. In reality, these two conditions rarely coexist. Therefore, another type of solution is needed—"role transfer." Role transfer is a tool that is also useful for organizations hiring a large number of employees. Still, we will focus on it as part of a knowledge retention plan during employee departures.
Preparing for Employee Departures Involves Four Key Stages
Infrastructure Preparation Stage: Developing a comprehensive work plan and creating the accompanying tools (forms, reports, and a dedicated website) that enable the management of the entire process.
Planning the "What" Stage: One of the main challenges in any role transfer is defining what knowledge to transfer. In theory, everything should be transferred. In practice, however, it is impossible to transfer all knowledge, or even most of it. Often, even after conducting a handover, significant gaps remain. The "What" planning stage outlines the core knowledge that needs to be transferred (the technique for analyzing this knowledge will be discussed in a separate article). The challenging part of this stage is prioritization: determining what knowledge will be transferred and, equally important, what topics/subtopics will not be transferred. Various considerations can help make these decisions: knowledge that is easy to acquire externally or independently; knowledge that is important but primarily relevant to the past rather than the future; and more. To perform this prioritization, a time estimate for transferring each knowledge topic is required, significantly aiding in understanding the challenges of a comprehensive transfer. Unit managers are responsible for this stage. A managerial perspective is essential for effective prioritization. While the departing employee can assist in compiling the complete list, prioritization is the manager's responsibility.
Planning the "How" Stage: This stage details a specific work plan for each knowledge recipient. It is important to remember that not every departing employee will have a designated replacement in mass departures. Therefore, work plans should be structured on two levels: one level related to the knowledge providers (the departing employees), detailing what is being transferred to whom; and a second level pertaining to the knowledge recipients (remaining/new employees), specifying what knowledge they need to receive, from whom, and in what order.
Execution, Management, and Monitoring Stage: The main challenge during the execution phase is monitoring progress. It is difficult to ensure that the entire process is moving forward and that knowledge is being transferred at an appropriate pace. To ensure progress, regular reporting is required (our recommendation is weekly to monthly, depending on the overall timeline of the process). Progress reports should be completed by the knowledge recipients and shared with managers and the central unit overseeing the entire process. The central unit will compile summary progress reports focusing on changes from the previous report (details will be discussed in a separate article). This approach allows for managing units that are not progressing sufficiently, employees leaving and putting knowledge at risk, and more. Of course, it also highlights top performers and may lead to joint decisions on adding additional knowledge topics for transfer. This is a classic managerial process, but it must be managed quantitatively rather than just qualitatively to effectively monitor progress.
What Else Is Important?
Several foundational assumptions/working principles should guide the planning of the entire process. Of course, we will take into account the expected level of resistance to sharing knowledge (depending on the circumstances of the process); we will consider that the knowledge recipient is likely more motivated than the knowledge provider; we will remember that a learning cycle requires the recipient to internalize the knowledge, and more.
Mass employee departures are not a "happy" process for organizations. We form bonds with the people we work with and often feel anxiety about organizational change and uncertainty about the future. Nevertheless, ensuring a structured, rational, and well-managed process for preserving knowledge in preparation for employee departures is crucial. Such a process can make all the difference between an organization that struggles and one that seizes the opportunity, leverages its strengths, and succeeds in facing the future.
Good luck.
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