In 1998, 34% of federal employees were at the age of 50 (OPM, 1998), and with the growing population aging keeps producing negative impacts on the quality of workforce. In this situation, organizations in private and public sectors face numerous HR issues. Very often, companies do not have enough talented people to replace those, who leave their jobs. Sometimes, organizations appear negligent or inattentive toward the way talented employees promote their successes. As a result, many of them are simply unprepared to tackle with the growing HR challenges. That is why succession planning has come to signify the current organizational concern with regard to the future of business in America.
Succession Planning
In 1998, 34% of federal employees were at the age of 50 (OPM, 1998), and with the growing population aging keeps producing negative impacts on the quality of workforce. In this situation, organizations in private and public sectors face numerous HR issues. Very often, companies do not have enough talented people to replace those, who leave their jobs. Sometimes, organizations appear negligent or inattentive toward the way talented employees promote their successes. As a result, many of them are simply unprepared to tackle with the growing HR challenges. That is why succession planning has come to signify the current organizational concern with regard to the future of business in America. “Succession planning ensures that there are highly qualified people in all positions, not just today, but tomorrow, next year, and give years from now” (OPM, 1998). In other words, succession planning works to hire prospective employees, to educate and teach them, and to prepare them to continuous career advancement for the benefit of the overall organizational growth.
In my company, succession planning initiatives are developed and implemented through a whole set of retention mechanisms. After several of our best employees retired or were transferred, the company has realized the valuable potential of HR: satisfying employee developmental needs has become one of the top organizational priorities. It is difficult to deny that for an employee to become successful means to be able to integrate his (her) knowledge with the main organizational objectives; that is why succession planning is a two-fold process. On the one hand, employees should be able to learn and understand organizational goals; on the other hand, employers should be able to meet employees’ career demands. Unfortunately, downsizing has significantly reduced company opportunities in choosing the most promising candidates. Furthermore, our organization has limited its succession planning strategies to several leadership positions. Given the fast speed of the current technological advancement, organizations are not always able to catch up with the changing competencies and workplace obligations, and new employees may not always be well prepared to take a new responsible position. Despite these problems, succession planning should become an essential component of organizational learning and development. Organizations should finally learn to look further into the future, without being seduced by the deceptive attractiveness of short-term goals and profits.
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