This document summarizes key topics related to employment transitions, including career planning and paths, retirement, voluntary and involuntary turnover, employment-at-will policies, discipline and termination procedures, and managing layoffs and retrenchment. Specific areas discussed are different types of career paths, factors influencing voluntary employee turnover, limitations to employment-at-will, legal constraints on mass layoffs, and the importance of communication and outplacement assistance during workforce reductions.

1. Chapter Sixteen
Employment
Transitions

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Chapter Outline
• Career Paths and Career Planning
• Retirement
• Voluntary Turnover
• Involuntary Turnover
• Employment-at-Will
• Discipline and Termination for Cause
• Retrenchment and Layoff

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Figure 16.1(a) Linear Career Paths

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Alternate Career Paths
• Expert or Professional Career Ladders
– Junior engineer, Engineer, Senior Engineer
• Transitory Career Paths
– Many shifts across organizations, may
include self employed periods and
consulting
• Spiral Career Paths between functions
to develop additional skills

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Figure 16.1(b) Spiral Career Paths

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Career Planning
• Self assessment of interests and skills
• Exploration of job alternatives inside
and outside the organization
• Formulation of career goals and plans
• Action and periodic review and updating

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Figure 16.2 Aligning Needs and Offers
Source: Mike Broscio and Joe McClenna, Scherer Schneider Paulik, Chicago, “Taking Charge: Charting Your Way To Career Success, HEALTH
CARE EXECUTIVE, Nov/Dec. 2000, pp. 18-22. Copyright Scherer Schneider Paulick 2001.

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Retirement
• No mandatory retirement age
• Retirement - full or partial?
– Bridge jobs
– Phased retirement
• The Impact of Retirement on
Organizations

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Factors Affecting Voluntary Turnover
• External Factors
– Unemployment rate
– Alternative jobs available
• Internal Factors
– Job satisfaction and organizational commitment
– Fairness, growth opportunities
• Embeddedness
– Number of links between employee and firm,
locality, family, etc.

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Figure 16.3 A Traditional Model of
Quitting

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Figure 16.4 The Optimal Turnover
Rate
Source: Adapted from Michael A. Abelson and Barry D. Baysinger, “Optimal and Dysfunctional Turnover: Toward an Organizational Level Model,”
Academy of Management Review, Vol. 9, 1984, p. 333. Reprinted by permission.

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Figure 16.5 Performance
Replaceability Strategy Matrix
Source: D.C. Martin and K.M. Bartol, “Managing Turnover Strategically,” Reprinted with permission from the November 1985 issue of Personnel
Administrator, copyright 1985, The American Society of Personnel Administration.

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Retention Management
• Find out what drives employees away (exit
interviews and organizational surveys) and fix
it
• Benchmark and set goals for retention, hold
managers accountable for results
• Maximise opportunities for employees’ growth
• Use rewards and recognition fairly and
effectively
• Be flexible and family-friendly
• Plan for knowledge retention before
employees leave

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Employment-at-Will
• Most employees can be terminated at
any time and for any reason
• Limitations on right to terminate at will:
– Civil Rights Legislation
– Union Contracts
– Lawsuit claiming wrongful discharge

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Bases for Wrongful Discharge Claim
• Violations of Public Policy
• Whistleblowing
• Expressed or Implied Guarantee of
Continued Employment
• Good Faith and Fair Dealing
• Tortious Conduct by Employer

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Preventing Employment-at-Will
Problems
• Make explicit statements that
employment is at-will
• Write contracts specifying termination
procedures
• Carefully document performance or
behavior problems that may lead to
discharge

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Discipline Systems
• Positive Discipline Without Punishment
– Warning, then suspension with pay, followed by
pledge to mend ways or voluntary resignation
• Progressive Discipline Systems
– Escalating penalties for repeated offences
– Warnings, then suspensions, then discharge
– Immediate discharge for very serious offenses

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Managing Termination for Cause
• Investigate offences carefully and
tactfully
• Document everything
• Have decision reviewed by a higher
level

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Retrenchment and Layoff
• Layoffs don’t always solve an organization’s
problems
• They must be carefully planned to focus on
productivity improvement not just cost cutting
• Wide involvement in planning is desirable
• Communication is important
• Laid off employees need outplacement
assistance
• Survivors need care too

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Legal Constraints on Layoffs
• Worker Adjustment and Retraining
Notification Act (WARN)
– Requires 60 days notice of mass layoffs or
plant closings affecting over 500
employees, or 1/3 of the workforce.

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Review
• Career Paths and Career Planning
• Retirement
• Voluntary Turnover
• Involuntary Turnover
• Employment-at-Will
• Discipline and Termination for Cause
• Retrenchment and Layoff