With her case, it was a simple matter of waiting till the last minute. That was the primary reason she said no. They had months to have her train someone and they waited 2 weeks before she left.
Yeah 2 weeks would definitely not be enough, and again even 3 months might not have been enough either if they did ask her then depending on how complex her job was. I don't know how "sudden" her retirement was in her organization, but a big thing with HR is you have be able predict turnover rates and plan for them accordingly.
It's going to be the same problem with my mom's company too, her boss loves her a lot and hates the idea of her retiring so she's been trying to train a replacement. The problem is that said replacement also works in another department so it's hard to dedicate some training for her specifically, and even then she would only be able to do the Quality Assurance Management job my mom does. She's also in charge of Production and for the past few years she's been making programs too, along with the fact that she does pay roll which I honestly have no idea how it works compared to the others.
I know that they need to outsource for a Programmer so my mom can train them to maintain and add on to the programs she's making, and her company excels in outside source recruiting, though I honestly don't know what they would do for Production Management since that's not something I'm familiar with compared to Quality Assurance management.
It's honestly interesting to think about even though I still have a lot to learn as I said.
My dad decided that regular salaries were for dorks, so now he does freelance for multiple publications at once just to keep his head above water.
And I heard a ruckus in my room and found that Mabel had climbed into a bag.
Was he not happy with his job, or was this your dad being your dad?