Safety Culture & Virtue 8: Celebrate Retirement

When I interviewed, I didn’t ask how retirement was celebrated – but in the years to come I would witness a variety of approaches to the topic. Some included stale cookies and watery punch with a quick mention at the last meeting they attended. Others were lavish, with platters of sushi and shrimp to testify how a quiet servant leader could make a lasting impact on thousands. 

Until I attended a retirement party, I had never considered whether I wanted to be an employee who inspired others to do great work.

That is why an organization’s approach to retirement is a critical sign of virtue and safety culture: The retirement of one seemingly innocuous individual reveals whether their work is valued and whether the people who do it are valuable in the eyes of leadership. 

If employees are not valuable, then certainly the strangers in the sickbed are not valued either. And if the hidden message is derisive or derogatory, or if it sounds like leadership is thrilled to get rid of “the old guard” and replace those senior members with fresh, new blood, then every employee in the organization is going to feel like they are quickly replaceable, that their work is without meaning, and that they will never be appreciated – even if they give 30 years to the hospital, no one will notice.

When observed with dignity, retirement can help employees shift their perspective from an achievement-oriented, career-building, self-focus to a service-oriented, legacy-building, others-focus to their work.

Today, if your retirement practices are stale and watery, I would encourage you to begin tracking years of employment. Just start there. Begin to absorb the level of commitment and retention at your organization and consider what it says about your culture. Today, a lot of organizations do nothing to mark an employee’s years of service after so many budget cuts, but the report is certainly available from Human Resources and it doesn’t hurt to ask.

Next, begin thinking about retirement the way we view graduation – it’s a chance to appreciate all the hard work completed and then launch someone to the next stage of life surrounded by people they care about. It can be a bewildering step to leave a routine that was engrained over decades of service, so a kind word about the future means a lot.

Then think about what you could afford to celebrate retirement in a more meaningful way. Ask the people at the ground floor to share some ideas and gather personal reflections before a retirement day. Even if you can’t afford sushi, it means a great deal to gather words of appreciation. Every kindness bestowed on a retiring employee is a balm to the current worker who now believes that one day, perhaps they will hear some appreciation for their work. Maybe they will find out that they changed someone else’s life for the better. Perhaps the CEO will come. Maybe their work is important after all. Maybe they’ll serve sushi. Because every retiree that is honored is a breath of hope to the ones left behind to carry the load. Everyone wants to hear “well done” at the end of their career, even if they haven’t realized that it matters yet.

Does your organization honor retirement? If so, give yourself 1 point for the ten-point assessment. Or does your organization speak derisively of retiring employees? If so, give yourself a 0 for this item and consider how you can affect change. One day, it will be your retirement day, and unless you love watery punch, there’s no better day than today to begin preparing for your last day of work. And that is why retirement celebrations are part of my safety culture assessment.