Ask ‘what if?’
If your organisation relies on intellectual capital or a strong well-motivated workforce, then you need to have a good succession plan. Think about the type of people you employ. Do you have staff with specialist skills or capabilities? What would happen if only one of those people left? What are the scenarios you should be planning for? Sickness, or worse? Are there roles which, if left vacant, would cause business difficulties or even failure?

Quantify costs
Reports differ on replacement costs, so do your own calculations. Include time to recruit, costs of advertising, interviewers’ time, psychometric testing, induction time and on-the-job learning. You can also estimate how effective someone will be in the initial learning period. Someone who is 50 per cent effective in the first month and then improves by 10 per cent each month will take six months to reach full capacity.