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Loss of key staff – how vulnerable are you?

26 February 2009

The reaction to the news last month that Apple CEO Steve Jobs would be taking 6 months off due to his continued illness should make you think about your organisations dependence on a key staff member. On the day of the announcement Apple shares fell sharply. Questions were asked about the timing of the announcement of Jobs sick leave and where it leaves one of the most recognised brands in consumer electronics. There is a feeling that stakeholders and investors have been kept guessing and that this has made a difficult situation worse. The health of the Chief Executive is important to all organisations, so how would your organisation handle this situation? Would your business continuity management system leave you any better prepared? What succession plans have you in place? What communication plans support this?

In evaluating how vulnerable you are to losing a key person, ask yourself these questions:
(i) who are the most valuable employees?
(ii) What would happen if I never see them again?
(iii) What would I need to do to return to business as usual without them?
Adequately answering these questions is the basis for developing your plan.

The answer to the first question should be obvious, but it will be unique to your organisation. You know who these people are. Your list might include more than the CEO. Developing the plan to answer questions (ii) and (iii) might have many levels, as loss of key employees can occur in many ways. They can resign, they can retire, they can get sick and they can die. If they resign or retire, you will normally have the luxury of a transition period. Its the situation where there is no transition time that causes the most damage.

Lets look at ways to mitigate that damage: if you have up-to-date written job descriptions then you can at least start the search for a replacement immediately. If you have cross-trained your staff there should be someone able to deputise for the short term. If you have detailed and up-to-date operations manuals then someone should be able to cover important functions until a replacement can be found. Overall though the best plan will be to have a succession plan for all senior staff which involves you knowing ahead of time who you are grooming for each role.

In those instances where you do have some transition time all of the above techniques will help and may even result in some overlap when the out-going and in-coming employees get to work together to provide a seamless transition (well thats the plan!).

If key employees are resigning regularly it may be because they are unhappy with your organisation; you need to find out why they are leaving and what you can do to make your organisation a better place to work in. In todays competitive environment how do you keep staff motivated and stimulated, provide job satisfaction, a career path and an element of security?

When someone decides to move on it is rarely just about the money. The reasons can often be filed under two headings:

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Most of these concerns are understandable but may not be resolvable. All too often problems arise purely through lack of communication. Particularly during periods of change or instability it is crucial to keep employees on side and to do that you have to be prepared to communicate. If employees feel involved then many of these problems are less acute. However, if some of these reasons arise regularly then a more detailed management strategy for dealing with the issues may be necessary.