Would It Be Dumb To Tell My Manager My Plans?

[CardsFan]

I gave 4 YEARS notice. .....
Point is this, if you are mission critical and there is no one else who knows how to do what you do, I’d say you owe it to them (especially if you’ve been there a long time) to give them a longer notice. You may want to start the conversation carefully and gently...like “I’m getting older, now xx years old...when do you think I should start thinking about retirement?” Then take it slow and easy from there. Another consideration is if they plan to close your office, when might that happen, and how gold would your parachute be? Depending on the answer to that, I might just keep quiet and see what happens.

I think you proved the other point. You gave 4 years notice, and it still did not turn out well. Sounds like 3 months would have/could have had the same result.

 

[badatmath]

See if your HR policies provide a guide. We cannot give "official notice" more than 90 days out but many who want use PTO to ride to the end give more. Everyone else pretty much gives 2-3 weeks. The shortest i have seen given is 1 day LOL.

 

[MoneyChic]

+1 to wait and use the regular notice period.

If you want to be extra nice, use spare time to write a "manual" of your most important tasks and routines.

You could even frame it as a safety feature in case you get sick if someone wants to know what you are doing.

Control question: What would the company do to the employees if they could get out of the lease early?

Agreed! I worked at a company for 10 years, and the last 6 of those were in one department/position. I knew several months ahead of time that I was going to quit and go do something else. I was the only person who did many particular tasks. I used the time to create a very detailed instruction manual for my job. I also brought up the topic in a staff meeting after I had started on it as something we should all do since we were a small department and had one position with frequent turnover, and it took a lot of time to train newcomers because we would forget to cover certain things. I also pointed out how several of us had to be off for multiple-week medical leaves over the years, and these manuals would make it easier for those of us in the office along with fill-ins from other departments to make sure everything was taken care of.



When the time came, I gave 2 weeks notice. My boss tried to guilt me into staying longer, but I said I already had other plans. I pointed out that I had taken time and made the effort to have a full instruction manual for my position, with no detail left out, so a replacement should be able to hit the ground running with no problem. In effect, I trained my replacement even though they haven't even been identified yet.



I stuck to the 2-weeks. My boss still didn't want me to go, but I left on good terms.


I have been told multiple times from multiple people - never tell your boss or company that you plan to leave unless you are in a position for the day you tell them to be your last day of employment with them. Your boss may be a nice person, and your employer may seem to treat employees well. However, at the end of the day, you are expendable. We all are. Virtually no one is truly "irreplaceable" to an employer.

 

[Retired Expat]

The only reason I would consider telling them is if you wanted to structure a tapered withdrawal. Cut your work week to 4 days in a couple of months then 3 or if you are considering a big move upon retirement but need to take time off now to visit cities or fix up a place to move to. That is what I did anyway. Took fully 8 months to pull out but that allowed me enough time to fix up and sell my house and lack up to retire overseas.

In my case a very good plan..

 

[Brat]

2 weeks notice is adequate, one month if you are mission-critical.

Keep in mind that you may have a goal of retiring x-months in the future but your circumstances may change. Don't share your plan.

ps... I have 35 years in HR so know of what I write.

 

[OddGuy]

You might want to mention it around the second week of July, 2020.

Or later.

 

[Scuba]

I agree with everyone who is advising you to wait until 2-4 weeks out. No upside for you in doing otherwise, but lots of potential downside.

 

[wdberry62]

Retired 2 years ago at 56 and gave 120 days notice to be "considerate" to my employer. Worked out ok for me, but I wouldn't do it the same way again.



Looking back, there are many more downsides than upsides to a long notice period and I got lucky I didn't have any problems. I was something of a dead man walking and my last few months were not particularly productive or enjoyable - plus I was subjected to the jealous comments of co-workers about how "lucky" I was to be able to retire at 56 and the "you'll get bored - what will you do?" comments, etc.



If I had it to do over again, I would have given 30 days notice max. And - I can't disagree with those recommending only 2 weeks.

 

[Travis Bickle]

I am also planning FIRE next year, and my plan is to wait until the day my 2019 bonus is in my bank account, and then give them the min notice.

In our environment, annual bonus pools are spread across the team, so I don't want to give any excuse for my bonus to be lower than it should be based on my performance.

 

[mcbraemer]

I naively gave about a year notice of leaving my 20+ year career with a tech firm. Would NOT recommend anyone else make the same mistake. First time I ever got a 0.0 annual raise going into my last year, and a stingy mgmt bonus to boot.
The absence of loyalty and appreciation on the company's part was surprisingly absent. I learned this late in life.

 

[Tractor guy]

I'm going to pile on with the crowd who are recommending a short notice for lots of reasons. I don't see any upside for you and a lot of possible down side. On the company's side, practice in my megacorp was that management couldn't even start the paperwork to hire someone new or move someone into a new job until the opening actually existed. From that standpoint, you're probably not going to do your boss any favors by telling him early. He won't be able to do anything with this information.

 

[brett]

There is only downside for you here.

Keep you plans to yourself. Who knows, they could change.

Your relastionship with your manager may become important should the firm decide to downsize.

When I was working we had constant staff reductions. A few times I put people 'on the list' who I knew were going to retire early or leave for various reasons. They got a very nice parting gift, I got to keep someone else who I might otherwise had to lay off. Critical when there are transitions and hiring freezes.

Like others have said, there is no such thing as an employee who cannot be replaced. Don't misplace your loyalty. Loose lips sink ships!

 

[ponyboy]

I feel that people like to give a year notice more for themselves than for the employer. Its validation to yourself that your plans for retirement are official. Without telling the world, its almost like retiring isnt going to happen.

 

[aiken]

They need to know Nothing!...Nothing! Channel your inner Sergeant Schulz

 

[Starsky]

Regarding giving a lengthy notice, you could think of it as finding a better j*b. How much notice would you give your current employer if someone made you an offer you couldn't refuse? That happens every day, and business continues to function. Someone picks up the slack. That's the way it goes.

Your employer knows that they need to always be ready to replace anyone in the organization quickly. For them not to prepare for that eventuality is not your problem. What happens when you go on vacation? Does the office shut down? I doubt it. Nobody is irreplaceable.

 

[IrishMoss]

If your goal is to find yourself out of a job months before you actually intended to leave, then sure, go ahead and announce your plans to your manager. It's a surefire way to put a target on your own back.

 

[RxMan]

I am curious how long you think it would take them to train someone else to do what you do. But like most everyone else mentioned there’s a lot more downside risk with a longer notice.

 

[SoReadyToRetire]

I guess the consensus is not to say anything yet. I don't exactly work for a "megacorp"; they're TRYING to become one, but not yet. Growing fast through acquisitions/mergers, thus increasing the amount of red tape/bureaucracy/middle management/bulls**t by leaps and bounds, which is part of what's making working there unbearable now.

I haven't left yet due to OMY syndrome. Socking away a last $30K before I go ... but like I said, it wouldn't break my heart to get let go sooner.

I'm sure this next year will fly by, even though each individual day will drag ...

Thank you for weighing in, everyone. It's so interesting to hear all the different points of view!

 

[Rdub]

After nearly 20 years, I gave 6 months notice. I was a finance exec in a large company and had a great relationship with my boss and the exec team. It worked out well for all of us. However, with the acquisition, potential for re-orgs and potential closing of your office, I would hold out until you are closer to your date and if your office closes and packages are given, consider it a retirement bonus.

 

[rb460]

Absolutely only the corporate norm

Most companies have training standards for all positions. If they don't, You should silently begin training the person you expect would get your job. Give only two weeks notice.

Good Luck!

 

[SoReadyToRetire]

Funny you should mention that, Rdub, about the possibility of our office closing, and maybe getting a nice package out of it.

Corporate sent a big-wig up to our puny little office up here in VT just this week, to reassure us all that there are NO PLANS to close; that we're an IMPORTANT PART of the business; blah, blah, blah.

I honestly don't think they will close us down at least until the new lease we just signed a year ago when we moved into this location is up, which is over 3 years away. There's no way I can last through 3 more years of this!

Actually, today when I got to work, I was greeted with a dismissive comment about FOUR HOURS of work I'd done yesterday on a customer issue (I'm in Customer Support): extensive, detailed documentation of the issue; my observations during my testing; spreadsheets containing data I'd pulled out so nobody else would have to bother with it; etc etc etc.

After all that, I--no, wait, even better--my BOSS was told by a middle-manager who everybody detests that "there's no clear action item on this ticket, and Person X was tagged in it. Please have [me] refrain from contacting Person X. Review this ticket, and if it's really an issue, go through proper channels."

I was so mad I was shaking! First of all, why didn't that middle-manager just chat ME, instead of saying it to my boss? Second of all, I didn't "tag" anybody in the ticket--I just followed procedure and stuck it in the "bucket" for review by the uppity-ups. But are we no longer even allowed to SPEAK to people on other teams about issues? Is our job not to SOLVE customer problems? Or is it to turn an afternoon's worth of work into a WEEK's worth by going through 17 different layers of process and people, when a simple hallway chat is just as helpful?

Anyway, as you can see, my patience is running extremely thin.

So, right after that, I left the office for two hours to attend a funeral service. On the way back from the funeral, it occurred to me that I could very well just leave this place at the end of this calendar year! It will make everything easier for me to figure out, in terms of determining our income for ACA purposes next year, etc, if I'm done at year-end instead of waiting until my 62nd birthday.

So I'm about 75% certain at this point that I am OUTTA HERE as of 12/31/19. Can't begin to tell you the weight that was lifted off me as soon as that realization occurred!!

Thanks for reading. I just realized I'm basically just still venting over this morning's ridiculousness, ha ha!

 

[RunningBum]

Vent away! It's good for you, and entertaining for us.

 

[CardsFan]

Corporate sent a big-wig up to our puny little office up here in VT just this week, to reassure us all that there are NO PLANS to close; that we're an IMPORTANT PART of the business; blah, blah, blah.

.......

So I'm about 75% certain at this point that I am OUTTA HERE as of 12/31/19. Can't begin to tell you the weight that was lifted off me as soon as that realization occurred!!

The comment from the big wig is almost always followed by a decision to cut, or close. They just want you to leave when they decide, not you.

Looks to me like "I am OUTTA here" is the right decision, if you can afford it (and I am guessing you can if you planned to leave in August anyway).

FWIW, the feeling of leaving on YOUR terms, and not the Company's is very liberating. My former division of Megacorp is now for sale, 3.5 years after I left. Maybe some will get packages, but I got 3.5 years retired. Glad I did not wait for one.

 

[2177V]

So is it stupid to let my manager at work know *now* that I plan to retire in August 2020 (at the latest)?

I'm the only one on my team who does what I do, and it will be a hardship for them when I leave. My manager has been nothing but fair and honest with me, and extremely supportive, for all the years I've been with him.

I want to let him know that he'll need to plan to train someone else to do what I do so he won't be stuck when I leave.

I can't think of any way this can really hurt me. I'm not interested in promotions, I'm doing just what I need to do to get by at the job, and there are rumors our office will be closing at the end of our lease anyway (we were acquired, and a new company headquarters was built several states away).

Can anyone think of a reason I'll regret telling him now?

Yep. They may downsize next year and they may offer a $25,000 incentive to get people to retire.

If you tell them you are retiring, management may think "we can save $25,000 by not announcing the $25,000 incentive".

 

[aja8888]

Corporate sent a big-wig up to our puny little office up here in VT just this week, to reassure us all that there are NO PLANS to close; that we're an IMPORTANT PART of the business; blah, blah, blah.

The reason they pull his comedy act is so no one (key employees) will bail on them until THEY decide to close the doors. They need this time to work out an operational closure plan, get a sub lease in place and figure out the termination financials.

I used to do this stuff in a previous life.