HR Checklist: The Last 18 Months

When a long-tenured employee retires, the work starts 18 months before the cake. This checklist puts the pieces in order: the conversation, the announcement, the handover, the exit. Each item links to the page that explains the how.

18 to 12 months out

• Have the plans conversation. Ask about plans and projects. Never “when are you leaving?” The framing that works: The Retirement Announcement.
• Identify the successor candidate, or name the gap in writing.
• List what only he can do. That list is your project plan for the next year.
• If tool or system gaps block the handover, set up Reverse Mentoring now, quietly.

12 to 6 months out

• Announcement handled: he keeps real deliverables until the final month. Dropped-from-meetings is the failure mode to watch.
• Start the Succession Handover Plan. Three lines first: successor, end date, after-role.
• Schedule knowledge-transfer interviews. One process per session, weekly.
• Agree in writing what he owns until the end.

6 to 3 months out

• Authority transfer checkpoints from the handover plan: what did the successor decide alone this month?
• He introduces the successor to key clients, suppliers, and contacts personally. Relationships do not transfer by email.
• Capture the history: why the rules exist, what the audits changed, which incidents shaped the process. The man for this: The Story Keeper.

Final 3 months

• Fixed availability replaces “ask me anytime”. Two hours a week, shrinking.
• The farewell names specifics. What he built, what still runs. Generic praise lands as nothing: Acknowledging Past Contributions.
• After-role signed: advisory contract with an end date, or a clean exit. Open-ended “we’ll stay in touch” arrangements decay into unpaid dependency.
• Access, accounts, and ownership entries transferred on a named date.

After the exit

• Month 3 review: where did the successor need him anyway? Those are your documentation gaps. Close them while he still answers the phone.
• The retirement itself is a transition for him, not an event. What that looks like: Supporting Retirement Transitions.

Warning signs, any phase

• The handover drags and decisions still route through him: Succession Handover.
• Nothing gets written down: Documentation Resistance.
• He goes quiet after the announcement and disengages: Need for Relevance is unmet. Give him real work, not farewell tasks.

See also: Succession Handover Plan