The first quarter of the year is when many people begin to plan out their goals and New Year’s resolutions of what they hope to accomplish the rest of the year.
This requires them to reflect on their personal and professional goals, which leads to determining what their priorities are for the next calendar year.
The process of reflection for the new year commonly leads to some people planning for their retirement, especially on teams with more seasoned employees.
Without the proper team preparation, employee retirement can bring a lot of questions and concerns on behalf of the business as a whole.
When employees reach the final few months of their career, it means that the organization will have some big shoes to fill, which can be overwhelming.
Though losing employees can seem stressful, it does not have to be. You can’t plan for everything, but you can help set your team up for success in the event that the unexpected occurs.
A company that sincerely cares for their employees is one that also promotes educational resources for their entire team.
These resources for retirement planning include proper training and classes that cover how to plan for the future of one’s life from a career perspective.
Retirement should be something that your team members look forward to, but without the proper resources to plan for it, some may end up dreading the idea of leaving the workplace because the transition can be difficult.
To prevent this from occurring, your team should offer retirement planning training to your employees.
Giving them training earlier on in their career gives them the advantage of knowledge when preparing for the end of their fulltime work life.
Preparation for retirement is necessary for employees at all types of companies, including those who work primarily in financial services.
Keep in mind that not all team members will have the same knowledge of personal financial planning, so it is important to offer training to both those ready to retire, and those who have just begun their career.
Even if your team consists of employees who still have a long way to go before they are retiring, you should still offer training for the team as it will help them begin planning both mentally and financially for their future.
There are a variety of different retirement-related trainings you can offer to your team based on what they would benefit the most from.
These training sessions could include classes on investing in 401ks, investment strategies, or other financial techniques that cover future budgeting using their current income statements.
For employees who are specifically focused on investing their savings, having a session about participating in 401ks will be extremely beneficial.
In fact, the American Benefits Council reports that 92% of workers with 401k plans in the United States say that having an automatic retirement investment taken out of their paycheck assists them in saving money.
You could additionally offer classes about the importance of creating fallback plans and having alternatives to use in case a significant life event occurs in the early stages of their retired life.
With an increasing amount of educational resources becoming available, the options for educating your employees are nearly endless.
This means that you can customize your approach to retirement planning training in a way that will benefit all of your employees and meet their needs. It also never hurts to communicate with your team and simply survey what they want to know more about with the retirement process.
For some employees, retirement may have a negative connotation as it could potentially be seen like an abrupt end to their career.
By having opportunities such as mentorship or part-time projects, you can allow them to phase out of their full-time position, paving the way for a smooth transition to retirement.
Options like these will open the door to different ways employees can still be involved with the team even as they begin their post-professional life.
The Key to Success:
In addition to briefing your team members on the importance of retirement planning, succession planning is a key part of preparing for your company’s future.
This includes checking in with your employees to understand their career visions and goals prior to retirement, as well as finding out when they plan to retire.
Having an approximate estimate of what employees will be leaving the company and when can help you plan for your team’s future.
The best way to go about succession planning is to start in advance, because the last thing you want to be concerned about when a employee announces their retirement.
Having a set system of what employees will be offered higher roles will allow your team to focus on celebrating the retiree’s accomplishments with the company, rather than panicking about how you will cover their role.
