Knowledge capture on exit

Aberdeen City Council has a high proportion of employees who are close to retirement and have worked in the organisation for many years. The council needs to ensure that as much of this accumulated experience as possible is retained within the organisation before these employees leave. As a result, the existing managing leavers policy and procedure (MLPP) has been adapted to incorporate knowledge capture on exit.

Key learnings for other councils

• Involve human resources (HR) when appropriate.
• Ensure this process is part of a policy that aims to capture knowledge throughout an employee’s career in the organisation.
• Avoid jargon and aim to focus on practical aspects of the role.
• Remember that the online aspect only captures information about the employee’s knowledge – a face-to-face leavers debrief should capture additional tacit knowledge.
• Ensure those involved with the departure of employees, including staffing teams and so on, are aware of the process and their role within it.

Background

Home to a population of 202,370, Aberdeen is a thriving port in the northeast of Scotland. The council employs more than 12,000 people.

The managing leavers policy and procedure (MLPP), introduced in March 2006, had not been implemented consistently throughout the council. Research indicated there was a need for a more structured approach.

In addition, at a time of major rationalisation it was vital that the council did not lose valuable knowledge and experience as employees left the organisation.

Who was involved?

The project team consisted of two HR advisors and the internal knowledge management (IKM) officer, whereby the roles were clearly defined. As the policy was a HR document, the HR advisors took responsibility for reviewing and amending the policy and procedure. Meanwhile, the IKM officer focused on the development of the online knowledge capture questionnaire and the leavers debrief.

As staffing personnel would be key players in the introduction and operation of the process, staffing teams from each service were brought together prior to implementation. This provided the team with essential feedback and also clearly outlined the full process to those involved.

The problems and how we tackled them

The main problem that knowledge capture aimed to address was the departure of long-serving employees with vast knowledge and experience. In addition, the council was going through a period of rationalisation and cost cutting. Employees were invited to apply for voluntary severance or early retirement. This exacerbated the problem of knowledgeable employees with many years of experience leaving the council.

Because it was introduced at a time of uncertainty and major rationalisation, the team encountered resistance to change. The timing of implementation coincided with the introduction of the voluntary severance and early retirement scheme. As such, many employees felt vulnerable and the concept of ‘knowledge is power’ was particularly prevalent.

In addition, the council was progressing with its job evaluation scheme. The strong HR influence meant that the questionnaire was adjusted to take account of this sensitive process. As a result, it is felt that knowledge capture aspect was compromised at that time. However it is anticipated that this may be reviewed once the new structure is in place and job evaluation is completed.

In addition, while the council has its own intranet called ‘The Zone’ only 4,000 out of approximately 12,000 have access to it. This meant that only a small minority of employees leaving the council would be able to complete the online questionnaire. As a result, a paper process was also introduced.

The staffing team was still required to set up an online questionnaire, however, they were also expected to send a paper copy to leavers. The leaver would complete the questionnaire and the leavers debrief. They would then return a copy to staffing who would then be responsible for transferring this information to the online record.

While it is difficult to capture all tacit knowledge, it is hoped that the introduction of knowledge capture to the council has helped to capture knowledge that otherwise would have ‘walked out the door’.

Colleagues now have a resource to consult if a role has remained vacant for some time. This reduces the need to ‘reinvent the wheel’ and as result reduces the time required to find and accumulate knowledge that already exists. In addition, new starts also have a resource which helps them to ‘hit the ground running’ which reduces time required to settle into a role.

The leavers debrief was introduced to supplement the online knowledge capture questionnaire. To ensure a positive experience for departing employees it was decided that the leavers debrief should be a mandatory part of the leavers’ process. In addition, it is an opportunity for the council to show its commitment to its wider Knowledge Capture strategy.

The aim of the leavers debrief is to capture as much tacit and explicit knowledge as possible from an employee prior to leaving the organisation. It provides the employee with an opportunity to elaborate on the information captured during the online questionnaire stage. It also allows them to summarise progress on current and outstanding tasks, specifying the knowledge, skills, contacts and resources their job requires.

Outcomes and impact

The production of knowledge capture records provides new staff with appropriate information and knowledge to facilitate a smooth transition into their new role. The record is also useful as a reference tool for colleagues temporarily carrying out the role until a successor is appointed. It is hoped that this will encourage new starters to think about knowledge sharing and the importance of their tacit knowledge.

One line manager found knowledge capture and in particular the leavers debrief “most useful”. He went on to state that:

“It was a good opportunity to chat about things and indeed the departing employee had raised several issues that I was not aware of.”

In addition, he believes that being made aware of these issues will help him as a line manager to change things for the better.

What could have been done better?

The timing of implementation was a disadvantage. Several issues were having a negative impact on employees and staff morale was low. As such, many were suspicious of the knowledge capture process. This was exacerbated by the fact the process was introduced hurriedly in order to capture the knowledge from those leaving on the voluntary severance, early retirement scheme. This meant final refinements to the process and the online system were not possible. However, it did mean that the voluntary severance, early retirement scheme was seen as a pilot and provided opportunities for feedback and suggestions.

With hindsight, it would have been better if the process had been more transparent and had been introduced once the new corporate structure was in place. However, this would have meant failing to retain the knowledge from participants of the voluntary severance, early retirement scheme.

Next steps

Since the introduction of the knowledge capture on exit process, a knowledge retention policy has been developed. As well as knowledge capture on exit, it consists of capturing best practice from new starts and ‘harvesting’ knowledge from experts. This has yet to be introduced in the council. But it is hoped that the more knowledge captured through an employee’s ‘employment cycle’ the less will be needed to be captured on exit. As a result, knowledge capture records will already be in place. Thus the leavers debrief and online questionnaire will become more of a verification and or validation process.

Further information

Ann Irvine, Chief Administration Officer
Aberdeen City Council
telephone: 01224 523247
email: airvine@aberdeencity.gov.uk

Page published October 2009.