How much notice do you give when you retire?

[dunkelblau]

No person is irreplaceable, if it takes more than 30 days for company to transition your responsibilities / duties then you and the company haven't done a very good job of cross training.

Providing a long notice of your retirement seems to be either be that you are really not mentally prepared for retirement or that you are looking to garner attention from your peers and staff.

I gave notice to three levels of management in my chain over a year ago. No firm target date on my part, just that I saw it coming in a few quarters, depending on circumstances. Part of our discussion was my disclosure of what happened five years ago when I applied for a company-wide buyout but was one of very few whose applications were denied. That occurred before we were acquired so my new chain of command wasn't aware.

Apparently they needed the work I produced and couldn't find anyone else to do it. I stayed on with an incentive and spent the next year creating extensive training materials. My niche isn't realistically transferable in 30 days, mainly because we run a lean team.

Maybe I'm not really mentally prepared for retirement (seems easier than starting a new career if I were go guess), but I certainly have not been looking to garner attention from my peers because I didn't tell them, and I've never been a manager.

My motivation last year was to inform my new chain in case an exit opportunity arose that would be convenient to them and hopefully comes with a bit of payout for me. In the meantime they've also gotten in the habit of asking my permission before giving me any new assignments, which is kind of cool. And I still post training materials regularly.

 

[pacergal]

The folks I worked directly with knew a year in advance-I had a calendar countdown at my desk. The formal written announcement to HR was about 3 months prior, after reading and following the 50 page "retirement readiness packet and checklists" they post online (this was a government agency after all!)

 

[capjak]

My company wanted 90 days, mainly for pension and benefits. I gave notice in April for a June 30 retirement, than changed to August 30, than negotiated January 19 2018 and Just extended (likely to May 31, 2018) based on WFH 2 days a week and a 4 day work week (i.e. in the office 2 days a week).

 

[NameRedacted]

I'm almost 62 yo and will retire in 2019. I've been reading about folks who give up to 1 years notice of impending retirement.
I'm on good terms with my company (MegaCorp) and have gotten along well with everyone.

I've given the company my best for over 3 decades but, I recognize that the company would sell its grandmother if it could make a dollar so, am conflicted over the decision.

So ... should I give 2 weeks minimum or a longer heads up??

I gave my company 4 weeks notice and they asked me to stay another month AND paid me a bonus early. I made it clear in my resignation letter that I was willing to do whatever it takes to smooth the transition.

The best advice I can give is to make the experience as pleasant as possible for them. Try to leave a good impression and go above and beyond. You never know if you may need their help in the future.

Since there is a slight possibility the company may ask you to leave as soon as you hand in your notice make sure you have everything you need, all personal possessions and remove any personal information from company equipment.

Also, have a plan ready for what to say if they ask you to stay longer. For example are you willing to stay an extra 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months or whatever. If you have that figured out you won't end up getting talked into staying longer than you intended.

I found working out my notice to be a very pleasant experience, consisting mostly of documenting everything I know, training my replacements and fixing all those little things I never got around to. There was no stress.

I think a year's notice is too long. You may end up with nothing to do other than pointless makework as they hand all the important or interesting work to people they see as having a future there.

Even though they asked me to stay the extra month, the very last week I had nothing to do and this was the worst part. I spent my time composing short individual notes thanking and complimenting the people I had worked with over the last few years. This was well over a hundred people and in a few cases, I have to admit, it was difficult to find nice things to say.

An unintended consequence of this little exercise was I got some absolutely fabulous replies back. Every now and again I go back and read them. They really cheer me up.

 

[Scuba]

My advice is to give no more notice than required within your company's HR policies or your employment contract.

My employment contract stated three weeks notice and that's what I gave. I knew it would be burdensome to my boss and my team, but our firm had been bought by MegaCorp a year earlier and I was unsure what the "home office" reaction would be if I was courteous and provided an extended notice. My team was excited for me but my boss behaved badly for those three weeks. Eh, no skin off my nose, but unfortunate.

Conversely, when DW gave her required two weeks notice this September, her boss (though surprised) was very gracious and congratulated her. The next day, her boss's boss called and asked her to stay two months rather than two weeks. My DW considered it for a day, asked for a couple concessions in return (i.e. she'd stay for 8 weeks but get paid for 9 and an extension of health insurance through the end of the year). They agreed and she finished up the day before Thanksgiving.

As other's have pointed out, you simply can't be certain of the reaction and you've got to do what's best for YOU and your family. Your work life is fleeting - "you do x and we pay you y." Don't mistake that for personal loyalty and/or personal obligation. Save those traits for your personal life.

Well said!

 

[Helena]

.

God works in mysterious ways...

I had planned to retire early, right after my 26th year with the company and my 55th birthday [when I could retire with full benefits.] I had the date marked on my calendar for most of my working years. But the year I turned 55 I started to hedge, thinking I might work a couple of years longer.

Ironically, a few weeks before my 55th birthday, I began having unusual problems with my disabled son's day care. Then the problems continued. So I turned in my notice to retire about two weeks before my 55th birthday. Then I turned around and took vacation for much of that two weeks period. My supervisor understood my 'special needs' situation and I had the usual retirement party.

I am so happy God manipulated my situation so I would retire early as I had planned all along. My son and I had several wonderful retirement years of being together, going wherever, whenever we wanted and doing whatever we wanted to do. Then he died suddenly and unexpectedly during a seizure.

.

 

[Backdraft57]

I gave 9 months and it was a big mistake. I'd only do one to two months if I had a do over


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Cessna152]

Presumably a sole proprietor would be well aware of his or her own retirement date ...

Actually, probably not!

Before I acquired a 10% equity stake in the company I do work for by exercising stock options (I do contract work for them - meaning I’m not actually an employee there) its sole owner had been trying to figure out how to sell it so she could retire herself! Not so easy to do for a small company with about $1 million in sales a year selling a niche software product line for the last 20 years to high tech companies around the world.

Anyway, I gave 7 months notice (retire mid-2018) but her V.P. of sales asked/begged if I’d be willing to continue to do sales demos (even though my background and purpose there is software development - small company, many hats deal - I ended up doing all the demos for 10 years.) I caved in and agreed with the stipulation that they’d hence-forth be done around my schedule, not the prospect’s or customer’s.

So while every situation is different, if you’re “The Man/Woman” (or one of several) in a small business, retirement may be difficult to accomplish without crippling or destroying any value you’ve built up in the company.

 

[traineeinvestor]

I informally told some of the partners I was intending to retire well over a year before I FIRE'd. Formal notice was given about eight months in advance - it allowed me to sidestep a lot of admin related work + it helped the promotion prospects for some of the junior staff facing headcount issues.

It worked well for me but YMMV.

 

[ChicagoGal]

Well, the guy that supports me from a reporting standpoint just gave two weeks' notice. He's on vacation the entire 2nd week, so he really gave 5 days' notice. And I'm on vacation 3 of those days. So we have 2 days to figure out the transition. Yay.

 

[Jimmie]

I work for a global US-based company. HR requires 12 weeks notice for people mgrs and 2 weeks notice for everyone else. If proper notice is not given, then no retirement benefits given. My company provides continued medical/dental/life insurance benefits at same cost to retirees until age 65. So, really important to me to follow the rules! Plan to retire early at 62.

Have to admit, it's a daily struggle going to work every day, as I'm past ready for my next phase in life, but need to use next few years to "top off" our retirement finances, especially considering the long-term cost of medical expenses that medicare will not cover for retirees. I am not telling anyone at work of my planned retirement date until it's time to give notice. I'm just hoping I make it to my planned date and retire on my own terms.

 

[Crewer]

I effectively gave 7 months notice but it was an unusual situation. Megacorp was moving most of its operations and had a great buyout package. It was such a good package that I figure most of the people designing it planned to take it. I took the package but told my boss I'd like to stay at least 3 months so I'd hit 50 and would keep med insurance at the company rate. That was in Feb. My boss was also taking the package to retire at ~55. He signed me up to leave at the end of Sept. as one of the people essentially shutting down the place. I was happy to do it.

How good was the package? Lets just say a year after I left I got a bonus check tied to some company benchmarks - benchmarks they made without me. Like I say, the people designing the package must have planned to take it and they wrote in this tidbit so they's all get checks, too!

 

[SJ1_]

I'm almost 62 yo and will retire in 2019. I've been reading about folks who give up to 1 years notice of impending retirement.
I'm on good terms with my company (MegaCorp) and have gotten along well with everyone.

I've given the company my best for over 3 decades but, I recognize that the company would sell its grandmother if it could make a dollar so, am conflicted over the decision.

So ... should I give 2 weeks minimum or a longer heads up??

I would give them the same notice they give people that they want to
get rid of.