Informing Management of Decision to FIRE

[RoccoPacco]

How did you share with your management that you were retiring early? What kind of lead time did you give? How did you share your decision? What was the reaction? I'm interested in all experiences, but particularly from those under 48 who have FIRED... I'm about 85% positive that I will give about 4 months notice (federal agency) in the next few weeks.... Thx you in advance.

 

[W2R]

I retired at age 61. I was a federal employee and I am now a FERS retiree.

My supervisor informally knew when I planned to retire for several years beforehand. For many years we worked closely together and were friends, and shared confidences like that. Then two years before I retired she became my supervisor.

I filed my paperwork with the agency HR people six months beforehand. It turned out that at our agency, HR customarily doesn't forward the paperwork anywhere (such as OPM) until the day after one's last day. The reason for that is that someone might change their mind. Nobody had told me any of this. Anyway, they smiled and took my paperwork and without telling me, sat on it for six months. Apparently I could have changed my mind the day before my last day and there would have been no consequences.

I liked having given notice officially anyway, because it allowed my supervisor and me to make plans and take steps towards a very smooth transition of my job duties. I think OPM recommends at least 30 days' notice somewhere on their website but maybe you can look there and find out if I am right about that.

After filing the paperwork, I immediately went into my supervisor's office, reminded her of my long time plans to retire, and told her I had filed the paperwork. Her reaction was, "I can sure understand why! I wish I could afford to retire. But what will we do without you? What can I do to persuade you to stay?" Then she began musing about incentives for me to stay. Like I said, she is my friend and we had a great working relationship.

I would suggest going down and talking to HR about it. Just be aware that it is possible that HR could informally inform your supervisor that you were down there talking to them. The rumor at our agency was that HR always did that.

 

[kumquat]

There are many ways. Mine is here

 

[dex]

How did you share with your management that you were retiring early? What kind of lead time did you give? How did you share your decision? What was the reaction? I'm interested in all experiences, but particularly from those under 48 who have FIRED... I'm about 85% positive that I will give about 4 months notice (federal agency) in the next few weeks.... Thx you in advance.

I would recommend you do not put anything in writing until the usual 2 weeks prior to your final day. You never know what will happen - I broke my collar bone the day before I was to write my resignation memo. Also, leading up to your leaving you should be getting every medical test your Dr. can think of giving you. A medical issue may influence your timing and options, e.g. medical leave of absence.

You can give your manager a tentative date - no writing - so he can plan for your replacement. You might also be thinking about what you would do if you manager asked you to stay awhile to train your replacement.

How did you arrive at a 4 months (written?) notice?

 

[harley]

In my case I was working to get included in a Reduction in Force package in order to get a nice additional chunk of change as I walked away. So I had to start the process a few months before my last day. Took a bit of strong-arming, since I was highly rated and they didn't want me to go. But through having a good relationship with my manager and pointing out that I would be (temporarily as it turned out) saving someone else's job, I got it done.

If I hadn't gone for the RiF, I'd still probably have given a couple months notice, since I liked my boss. If I had been working for my previous management group I'd have given 2 weeks, then taken it all as vacation.

 

[LOL!]

I wrote about cutting my hours in this thread: http://www.early-retirement.org/for...mance-review-truth-or-consequences-29707.html The lead time was months.

I am still working part-time. Everybody is now used to it. One fun thing is that most folks are very apologetic if they ask me to attend a meeting. "LOL!, are you going to be in on Tuesday afternoon? I really wanted your opinion about this thing we are working on. Maybe I can reschedule the meeting for a time you will be in?"

 

[scrabbler1]

I gave my bosses a month's notice. I was working only 2 days a week, so it translated to 9 more working days. I wrote a short note, signed it, and gave it to my two immediate bosses. I wanted to give it to my divisionhead (their boss) but he was still away from his desk and it was about 3 in the afternoon and I wanted to get this done with.

The note itself did not say very much other than I was leaving and what my last day would be. My divisionhead came to my desk after he returned from his meeting and asked me if it was for medical reasons. It was not. It was pretty well known that I was not happy working there and had been uhnappy there for several years.

I had some complicated paperwork to complete so I could have my 401(k) and ESOP proceeds handled properly. This included a special stamp and signature from my bank as well as a notary stamp elsewhere on the 10 page form. I also wrote special instructions to the 401(k) administrator. I showed this to the benefits specialist in HR. She looked it over and all was good.

I had an exit interview which lasted about an hour. It gave me a chance to vent, but I tried to balance the positives with the negatives. The commute was the biggest reason for my leaving.

I finished the one large project I was working on about 45 minutes before I left for good on my last day. Earlier that day, I faxed the completed 10-page instructions to the 401(k) administrator. All my instructions were followed to the letter and without a hitch. I had no real help for the transition of ongoing projects to others. I just emailed imporant emails and files to a few other people. I did some documentation of important programs I wrote and maintained and gave that to my successor in advance of my leaving but he did not come back to me with any questions or comments.

There was no grand sendoff on my final day (just a quick gathering to give me a card and some other small gifts). After exitting the turnstiles into the lobby of the building, I gave the security agent my ID card, left the building, and never looked back.

 

[donheff]

How did you share with your management that you were retiring early?... I'm about 85% positive that I will give about 4 months notice (federal agency) in the next few weeks.

I was older - 56 - also a long term Fed. I gave about 3 1/2 months notice. I told my boss and fellow office heads first and then each of my direct reports. I talked to them all individually in one afternoon. I went to those lengths because my departure was a major surprise to them. I had never telegraphed my interest in retiring. I explained that it was a bit of an epiphany for me. I had planned to work a few more years but the portfolio numbers were good and when I hit retirement eligibility my head just said "time to go."

 

[Nords]

It's been a while since I've had this thought, but perhaps this subject should have its various threads gathered up in an addition to the FAQ Archives.

 

[aldo]

The Federal agency I worked for had an ugly Reduction in Force in 1995. I survived that RIF, just barely. I began to count down the days to my 55th birthday in 2009, when I would be eligible to retire under CSRS. Mind you my number at the time was over 5,000. I would greet people by mentioning my countdown number every day, driving them nuts. I don't know of anyone who's given as much "notice" as I did--about 14 years. I celebrated Independence Day one day early last year when I retired on July 3, 2009.

Managers were sorry to see me go but knew that they couldn't do a thing to change my mind. I was born to be retired.

 

[Onward]

I was born to be retired.

We must be related?

Not sure if this is different in your 50's or later, but in my 40's I've found, time and time again, that peers get bitterly jealous when they learn someone has gained a leg up on them in the rat race. For that reason I haven't announced to anyone, except on this board, that I'm retired. At work I simply resigned, citing long-festering conditions as the cause. I gave a month's notice, because the necessary brain dumps couldn't be done in less time.

My friends just think I'm taking a break from work. Quite a long break, as they will come to find out.

 

[CyclingInvestor]

I was financially ready to retire at 46 from programming, but kept working because everything was going so smoothly. When management decided to switch to XtremeProgramming 2 years later (multiple meetings per day instead of 1 per week, low-walled bullpen instead of private offices, etc) I knew my time had come. I took home all my personal stuff, then went in to talk to my boss. I agreed to stay 2 months half-time (filling in with vacation days) to heavily document my code and bring another guy up to speed on all my stuff. He took it well, and everything stayed cool.

 

[kcowan]

I gave three month's written notice. When they found out, they came back to me and asked me to stay 6 months longer. After several discussions, we agreed on 6 months total. By the time I left, I felt that everything that needed to be done for a seamless transition had been done. I figuratively left the pail of water with nary a ripple!

 

[CoolChange]

It's been a while since I've had this thought, but perhaps this subject should have its various threads gathered up in an addition to the FAQ Archives.

For what it's worth, I definitely think this is a good idea.

 

[easysurfer]

If my memory serves me correctly, I only gave about 10 days notice. In my case, I actually didn't know I was able to FIRE until around 12 days before I left as the final piece of the puzzle was whether I'd have individual health insurance. I had to go through the application process for health insurance on my own and just played it cool and didn't tell any co-w*rkers while the application was going on.

It all went down like this. Megacorp had a conference call and then I got an email saying, "guess what, you are now outsourced". When I did my homework and saw that I could FIRE, I said, "guess what? I decided to call it a career"

 

[Bimmerbill]

Reminds me of a federal employee I used to work with. Very quiet and private guy. He goes to HRO and puts in his retirement paperwork. Never bothered to tell his boss. A couple weeks go by, and the guy doesn't show up for work. Boss calls HRO and it hits the fan!

Haha, I still laugh about it. The guy was a mechanic, so pretty low on the totem pole.

 

[easysurfer]

One guy that my last boss supervised had already worked about 30 years, which meant he had lots of vacation days built in. One day, I get an email from my boss, pretty much saying.."Help!". Apparently, the guy who w*rked 30 years one day just decided to fill in his retirement papers and take his vacation days. In otherwords, he just left. My boss and I had to retrieve his email along with the software on the system he was working on, etc.

When I FIRE'd, my boss asked if I could create a turn-over document and I did, telling where all my work was store, the passwords, where to find instructions, etc. to leave on a good (or I should say, professional) terms as they were shocked and disappointed to see me leave.

 

[chinaco]

I will give the obligatory official notice (nothing more). But my boss knows my plans.

 

[Life_is_Good]

I actually had a difficult time informing my boss that I was retiring (at 44). I was his "right hand man" and basically ran his region (and people) for him. I was in a mid-mgmt role and was involved with many projects which spanned across our firm.

After my boss had gone against the advice of others about hiring me, we developed a close working relationship for over 11 years. I think my announcement hit him like a ton of bricks... he wasn't expecting it. I had a lot of emotions that day. I was elated to begin my retirement and at the same time, sad that I will miss this gang of people.

I gave him about 4 months notice so we could transition as smoothly as possible. It all worked out

 

[travelover]

I left when I got an early retirement offer as part of a huge downsizing at my company. My boss found out when I begged him to promise me that I would get an offer.

He got fired in the next round of reductions - no buy out, just severance pay.

 

[Nodak]

I was a DoD employee and gave my boss one years notice in the hope that they would find someone I could train. A year later I retired on CSRS and they hired a replacement a month later. Got lots of phone calls for help for a few weeks.

 

[kcowan]

In my management consulting career, I used to include the effort to recruit my replacement in the scope of work. Although the decision was theirs, the candidates were mine.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Some Visual Suggestions as to how to Properly Inform Management of your Decision

 

[MasterBlaster]

 

[Milton]

When I was hired by CurrentCo, I was asked to give my then-employer (at which I had worked for many years) the minimum possible notice, so that I could start working here ASAP.

During my time at CurrentCo, I have received almost no briefings regarding new (to me) assignments, and have never received anything approaching written instructions or summaries. Essentially, I always have to figure out everything from scratch, even when much work has already been performed by other people.

When it is time for me to leave, my notice period will be in accordance with the corporate culture reflected above.

He got fired in the next round of reductions - no buy out, just severance pay.

What is this phrase "buy out" of which you speak?