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Old 07-09-2019, 10:23 AM   #41
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Re: The idea that your site may be closing. It could happen much sooner than you expect - a lease is no protection against closing a site as the cost of the people inside the building is a lot more than the cost of the building itself. (I am thinking here of typical office buildings, not manufacturing facilities with large amounts of capital equipment.)

I was in just such a situation and people were generally complacent about the timeline for closing the site - "Hey we have two more years left on the lease, why start looking for a job.". The site was closed a few months later - worked out well for the people on the cusp of retirement as we were all provided severance packages.

I would give a few weeks notice, but otherwise just ride out your period of employment doing your normal good work.
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Old 07-09-2019, 11:07 AM   #42
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I gave 6 months notice, for reasons of my own and knowing my employer's needs. It worked fine for me.
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Old 07-09-2019, 11:18 AM   #43
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Originally Posted by CardsFan View Post
And you need to be prepared to be shown the door the day you give notice. It probably won't happen, but you need to be ready.
Good point, when I gave 1 year notice, first he didn't really believe it I don't think but I was ready to go the
next day if it came out like that.

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Originally Posted by SoReadyToRetire View Post
As for the severance package, yes, I was kind of hoping that they might offer me one--but good point--why would they, knowing I was planning to leave next year anyway?
My VP had already asked me if I wanted to talk about it if a layoff came down to his team. Not a commitment at that time, but did I want him to talk to me and consider it were this to happen. Alas, would have meant 6 months of pay but didn't happen
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Old 07-09-2019, 12:09 PM   #44
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I originally gave four months' notice to give my employer time to find a qualified person for me to train. A month into my notice, I realized they weren't making any effort to find someone and were going to wait until the last moment. I went on a nice vacation and when I came back I decided I had had enough and gave them one week's notice. They found someone fast and I spent my last days cramming years of experience into my poor trainee's head.
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Old 07-09-2019, 03:48 PM   #45
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No matter where you work, the answer is going to have to include that you NOT tell them unless you are willing and able to be told to pack up and leave today. Other downsides include being made invisible over time, feeling like you have no value, being treated as dead-man-walking, having work taken from you but you still have to show up and fill your days.

Look for a strong upside, rather than absence of a downside.
+1. I made the mistake of giving 7+ months notice, and my program office wanted to have a transition plan, tell the client, and take away the projects that I manage. Without projects to manage, I'd have nothing to bill my time to, and would have to resign early. You will eventually be treated as persona non grata, as has also happened to me. My opinion or advice no longer counts, and I might as well not be here, except for the check. And spending time on this forum!

2 week's notice is my advice. 4 if you feel like taking a risk.
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Old 07-09-2019, 04:49 PM   #46
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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.

OP -If you want to help your manager, start to document what you do and how you do it over the course of the next year. They will really appreciate it. It will also help control the number of post-retirement calls and emails you’ll get.

I told no one, not even family until I gave my 2-week notice, but I did create a document of ALL of my responsibilities, no matter how small. All those little tasks that you just handle as a matter of course that your manager has no clue about - Write them down.

As a result of keeping my mouth shut, I got a higher than average annual bonus and pay raise based on my performance. I gave notice the day after the bonus was deposited. And the raise increased the value of my significant accrued vacation that they had to pay out. I have no doubt that if I had shown my cards earlier, I would have gotten a smaller bonus and no raise.
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Old 07-09-2019, 06:29 PM   #47
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OP -If you want to help your manager, start to document what you do and how you do it over the course of the next year. They will really appreciate it. It will also help control the number of post-retirement calls and emails you’ll get.

I told no one, not even family until I gave my 2-week notice, but I did create a document of ALL of my responsibilities, no matter how small. All those little tasks that you just handle as a matter of course that your manager has no clue about - Write them down.

As a result of keeping my mouth shut, I got a higher than average annual bonus and pay raise based on my performance. I gave notice the day after the bonus was deposited. And the raise increased the value of my significant accrued vacation that they had to pay out. I have no doubt that if I had shown my cards earlier, I would have gotten a smaller bonus and no raise.
I was really surprised when I left. Mega Corp has formal guidelines for bonus and is based on meeting profit goals and your performance review. It is paid out each March, so my plan was to leave after check hit the bank. Since I left 31 Aug that was 2/3 of the year and I got 2/3 of 2017 bonus about a month after I left, along with a little extra as manager has small funds he can add to computed amount.

Then there was the vacation I cashed in, pushed me into higher tax bracket than expected. Bunch of punks
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Old 07-09-2019, 07:27 PM   #48
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When you work for anyone other than yourself you're always replaceable, do not enchant yourself otherwise you can be fired on the spot. If you have a contract working for anyone you can be let go on the spot and figure it out in court. JMHO /shrug/ Good luck!
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Old 07-09-2019, 08:06 PM   #49
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I gave 4 YEARS notice. Please don’t bury me...not bragging here, but I knew I would be very hard if not impossible to replace. Part of the issue was that my next in line was older than me, by 10 or 11 years and was planning his own retirement. When I retired, my goal was to replace BOTH me and my next in line, with only one person. As it turned out, we found a replacement for my next in line and gave the older gentleman an easy way out...nice package, consulting for a couple years...just show up a couple times a week, slap a few backs, and read the paper. The new guy was younger than me. After a couple of years, he was suspected of having his hands in the cookie jar (female employees, not money) but nothing was proven, and I’m thinking that could have been because of the women’s fear, or just because they liked being charmed by him. It was in a different country and a different culture. Anyway, his performance, while very good at the beginning, was also beginning to suffer. All this was coming together in my final few months. So when my time came, HQ decided to send a replacement for me, who didn’t speak the language, understand the culture, nor understand the sacrifices made to get to the successes we were having. My underperforming #2 who we had intended to take both roles was gone in short order after that, and my replacement was gone within 3 years...himself also proving to be a bit of a womanizer. I should mention that I was the head of the Asian subsidiary of a large global company, and spoke/speak the language of the main country for that business, understand their culture to the extent possible by a westerner, yet understand the western corporate culture as well. My #2 couldn’t wrap his arms around the global corporate culture. The western guy who replaced me when I retired couldn’t wrap his arms around the Asian cultures. Result=> failure all around. Sales faltered. Profits and more importantly profit margins faltered. About that time, I stopped looking at the results and sold my remaining stock (good thing...it went down quite a bit 6 months later).

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.
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Old 07-09-2019, 08:35 PM   #50
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...
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. ...
And allow me to provide an alternate view.

If you are truly "mission critical and there is no one else who knows how to do what you do", then the corp should have a plan, in case you get hit by the proverbial bus. Your contract should state that they need X weeks/months notice if you decide to leave, with the penalties defined.

If your contract says 2 weeks notice, or 4 weeks or whatever, that's all they bargained for, and all you owe them. Period. If they want you to do more than their contract with you defines, fine, you are free to ask for any $xxx/hour rate you want under any conditions and they are fee to decline it.

It's that simple. Their lack of planning does not fall on your shoulders, unless you allow it.

I'll add - at any point in your employment, the corp is free to present you with a new contract. For example, they realize you are harder to replace than when they first hired you, so they say "Here is this year's raise/bonus, contingent on you signing a new agreement that doubles your required leave notice".

They either value you, or they don't. Not your problem.

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Old 07-09-2019, 08:41 PM   #51
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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.
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Old 07-09-2019, 08:43 PM   #52
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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.
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Old 07-09-2019, 08:49 PM   #53
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+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.
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Old 07-09-2019, 09:27 PM   #54
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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..
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Old 07-09-2019, 09:35 PM   #55
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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.
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Old 07-09-2019, 10:16 PM   #56
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You might want to mention it around the second week of July, 2020.

Or later.
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Old 07-10-2019, 02:15 AM   #57
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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.
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Old 07-10-2019, 05:19 AM   #58
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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.
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Old 07-10-2019, 02:37 PM   #59
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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.
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Old 07-10-2019, 02:48 PM   #60
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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.
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