AGRO must continuously ensure a gradual generational succession

What happens when an elderly employee with many years of experience takes early retirement or retires with a pension? Will there be a gaping hole, which cannot be filled, or is it what we need to create innovation in the department? The answer to this question depends on how we handle the generational succession in the department. 

In her leading article in Biweekly on 19 September 2016 Sonja Graugaard raised this subject. As it turned out, she hit a raw nerve. Her leading article was read by twice as many employees as normally read the leading articles in Biweekly, and the subject was discussed at the coffee tables and at the LSU meeting. Some employees felt stung, and several had firm opinions on how we should handle the situation. 

When the baton is passed on

Head of section Mogens Nicolaisen, PATENT, is one of the employees in AGRO who has taken up the baton after a veteran head of section when he succeeded Steen Lykke Nielsen as head of section in PATENT in January 2015. 

- As the person who takes over in a generational succession you must for a start find out how to do things technically, for instance regarding budgets, but as regards research we do not need to worry that much. Admittedly, your predecessor’s professional knowledge disappears, but we often end up developing in another direction, Mogens Nicolaisen says. 

An obvious example, also from Flakkebjerg, is the appointment of Peter Hartvig to a new position as head of trials with pesticides and growth regulators in minor crops. This was in February 2016 on the occasion of Klaus Paaske’s retirement (Read the article “New head of research unit regarding minor use pesticides”). Instead of following exactly the same track as before, AGRO took the opportunity to strengthen and increase our efforts within minor crops. 

We do not want clones

In order to prevent holes from appearing in our common knowledge as a result of experienced employees retiring, Mogens Nicolaisen suggests that there should always be more than one person connected with the most important areas. 

- In order to avoid that all our knowledge within a specific area disappears with this person we must ensure that there are somewhat larger groups in the individual areas and not just one person. Otherwise we may have problems as regards for instance public sector consultancy. We face a greater challenge compared with other universities because our research groups are small. He adds that the profiles should not overlap too much when new appointments are made.  

- You should not try and employ one who does exactly the same thing.

This view is shared by administrative case officer, JORD, and vice-chairman of LSU Karina Rysholt Christensen.

- We should not just replace a retiring employee with a young clone but think of where we want to go with a view to the future and how we intend to solve future tasks. Of course, some competences disappear, but are they the ones we need in the future? We must think strategically and look ahead, she says.

An even age distribution is the best

That there should be a gradual transition is not the same as saying that all old employees should be replaced by young ones. It is merely a question of preparing for the future. One way of doing this is to ensure that there is an even age distribution between old, young and those in between.

- If VIP and TAP are of the same age, a gap may occur when the VIP and the TAP retire at the same time. A solution for this is having more postdocs. The aim in AGRO is to have at least one postdoc and one PhD for each VIP, and the age distribution in the TAP group must be fairly similar, that is a good distribution of experienced and young talents, Karina Rysholt Christensen says.

Laboratory technician Ellen Jørgensen, PATENT, agrees.

- A problem may arise if the VIP is about the same age as her/his TAP because it means that they will stop at the same time. Then we risk losing the entire area. Replacements are rare because we stay here so long. This means that our staff has much experience – but we risk losing this knowledge if both VIP and TAP leave at the same time. There should be a larger age difference between VIP and TAP, and it would be a good thing if there were an overlap of at least one month between the departing and the newly appointed employee, Ellen Jørgensen says. 

What does age matter?

The question is also whether employees necessarily have to retire at a certain age. In her leading article Sonja Graugaard argues that a certain percentage of AGRO’s employees will retire within the next 17 years, at definite ages of retirement and early retirement. Associate professor, Inge Fomsgaard, PATENT, thinks that this is wrong.

- I think that it is unfortunate to work with this premise. After all, there is no obligatory age of retirement. Developments in society strongly tend towards changing from a numerical concept of age to a functional concept of age, she says.

Sonja Graugaard agrees entirely with Inge Fomsgaard’s views that a functional concept of age is the future.

- In my leading article I took my starting point in some employees taking early retirement at the age of 62 and others retiring with a pension at the age of 67, knowing full well that some will continue their active professional career well into their seventies. The numerical concept of age was used to visualise the urgent problem of the generational succession; that would not be possible using the numerical concept of age, she says and continues:

- The fact that my leading article is the one most read clearly shows that the generational succession in AGRO occupies the thoughts of many employees. I am pleased that my leading article had the intended effect, which was being a wake-up call.

Head of department Erik Steen Kristensen agrees with Sonja Graugaard:

- It is indeed a wake-up call, and I would like to thank Sonja for bringing it. I am pleased that her leading article has stimulated a discussion concerning this subject, he says.