Laura Fredricks is the HR Director at a 500-employee hospital and has been assessing their workforce needs. One piece of data concerned her in that, in the next five years, 50% of their supervisory management staff would be eligible for early retirement.

This was a shock as they had a lot of sections to manage and plenty of challenges at the best of times. She and her small staff were sometimes hard pressed to keep up with the staffing/posting process. They worked well with the local union but had to carefully follow the staffing process to the letter, as selection grievances were not uncommon.

In addition, with 500 employees, issues such as ongoing tardiness and absenteeism were continuing problems that also absorbed time of the HR team. Most employees were dependable, but a small percentage caused most of the issues.

She discussed the retirement situation with the director of Nursing, who didn't feel too many would retire early, but Laura remained concerned. Early retirement was becoming increasingly popular. In addition, she believed other hospitals were in the same situation. Staffing the positions was one issue, but she also felt that it took about a year for a new manager to properly learn the job.

Getting new managers up to speed on proper interpretation of the collective agreement was a problem. Her Payroll clerk often complained that rather than learn the collective agreement, managers would call her as a quick reference source, rather than look up the appropriate section themselves. Also, if they interpreted the collective agreement incorrectly, not only would a time-consuming grievance result, but their carefully built credibility with the union would suffer.

The posting process was straightforward, but seniority, while only one of the factors, was still viewed by many employees as a priority. It was a very traditional hospital almost 100 years old, plus most supervisory positions (Nurses 2 and 3) were unionized.

In advance of the expected tsunami of retirements, however, two very senior Nursing Managers (Nurse 4's) were due to retire in the next year. Laura became aware of a process that had been previously used in other organizations and offered a hopeful path.

When a series of similar staffing actions was expected, employers sometimes would hold one standard selection competition to establish an "eligible list" of candidates qualified for the position being staffed. For example, if a Ward Supervisor (Nurse 3) vacancy was being staffed, and there was likelihood of a second such opportunity soon arising, they could also establish an eligible list of two or three qualified candidates to appoint to similar vacancies arising in the next six months.

This was preferable to running the same group of candidates through similar selection processes every few months. The union was familiar with the process as long as certain safeguards were in place, such as:

1. The standard posting process was to be followed. (All positions Nurse 1-3 were unionized).
2. Eligibility lists would be valid for only six months, to allow other interested candidates to apply.

Laura and her team planned carefully to prevent any potential problems. For example, normally postings were up for a 2-3-week period, but they ensure this process was well publicized over at least four weeks, to ensure that staff on vacation would not likely miss it.

To address some of the supervisory issues, they also consulted extensively with the current position incumbents in establishing selection criteria for the job.

Address the three questions below (base your answers on course material AND on your personal experiences and sensibilities about workplaces):

1. What other actions could Laura and her team take to plan a smooth transition through the expected wave of retirements?
2. What possible concerns or risks might they face?
3. What strategies might you take to deal with the increasing rate of retirement and semi-retirement?