Class of 2018

[ocean view]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lienlord Oh, quick question to anyone that might have experienced this. When I leave I will have about 9 weeks of unused vacation that will be due me. Was considering asking to just continue on the payroll for that period instead of getting it paid in a lump sum. Not sure if that's legal or beneficial for my employer, but it would extend my health benefits for a few more months and extend my seniority for pension plan.

I did exactly what you described for all the same reasons. My employer had no issues with it. I did, however, offer to come into the office for 1 regular day every three weeks during the ‘vacation’ time to help with transition & answer any questions that came up. By making this offer, it provided them some sort of benefit in return for keeping me on payroll rather than quickly cutting ties and paying me out. And I also earned more vacation time while on vacation-yahoo!

[Lienlord]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ocean view I did exactly what you described for all the same reasons. My employer had no issues with it. I did, however, offer to come into the office for 1 regular day every three weeks during the ‘vacation’ time to help with transition & answer any questions that came up. By making this offer, it provided them some sort of benefit in return for keeping me on payroll rather than quickly cutting ties and paying me out. And I also earned more vacation time while on vacation-yahoo!

Great idea, I'll make the same offer too! Thanks for the input!! LL

[CoolRich59]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lienlord Making a reservation now for a seat at the 2018 table!

Look forward to having you. There's plenty of room!

[akidagain2018]

I'm under thirty days! Nail biting! It's just me and my numbers, kinda unnerving. But I've been working a long time. Enjoyed the afternoon off today, trying on the 'I'm free and my time is mine' lifestyle, see how it feels. Love it!! Plan to vaca for the next week or so, another try-on the lifestyle exercise, and sanity break. I'll miss the paycheck, but I've got to go. I'm so done with my job. Now I just need to be done with my job. Hahaha......Looking at June 30, maybe into July. I dropped a complaint bomb on the desk of 'leadership', so now more people will know I am pissed at the whole bunch of them. And I'd like to see if they are going to do anything in response. Like fire one or two of the bullies. The leadership effectively carved me out of anything valuable -- for years! And still have no idea what my skills are. My mind is beyond their's and there's no way to change that dynamic without exiting. Can't wait to exit with a feeling of 'later, losers'. How awful. I have loooved my career -- except for the last ten years. I've quietly squirreled away and built a real estate portfolio. They'll have to get over it. Or not. Hahaha....

[JoeWras]

Strong rumors of RIFs coming up. Time for prayers.

[ugeauxgirl]

Hope it happens-

[Dtail]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeWras Strong rumors of RIFs coming up. Time for prayers.

Volunteered for a RIF. Worked out well.

[Ed B]

I am down to my last two days. My last official day is the 31st but we worked it out so I will out-brief and turn in my badge this Friday the 25th. I will use vacation for next week.

These last few weeks have been some of my best at the office. Since I am not taking on new action items - logically - I am able to focus on my core responsibilities, doing a lot of last minute counseling for internal customers relative to my expertise. That, and of course knowledge transfer as much as is possible. The person who will back-fill me on the really important stuff stepped forward and volunteered. We have worked near each other for my entire tenure here at Megacorp. I expected him to pick it up quickly. Not so much.

I think I have undervalued my knowledge and value to the company in my key areas. My senior managers understood my value perhaps better than I did which explains the excellent reviews and good raises I have gotten these last 8 to 10 years.

My colleague will struggle for a while but I took him on a tour yesterday and introduced him to the various subject matter experts scattered across Megacorp that will help him succeed, and as he becomes more knowledgeable he will help them with his expertise.

It seems likely that they will want me to come back for some consulting 1st qtr 2019 for a particular new capability. It has been mentioned by a few people already. I am open to it but not counting on it.

Now I am looking forward to my first summer break since my Junior year of high school.

[HI Bill]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lienlord When I leave I will have about 9 weeks of unused vacation that will be due me. Was considering asking to just continue on the payroll for that period instead of getting it paid in a lump sum. Not sure if that's legal or beneficial for my employer, but it would extend my health benefits for a few more months and extend my seniority for pension plan.

While it may be legal, I'm guessing your company will say no. Most would rather pay you out, than incur the extended health care benefits. They can then refill your position if it's still needed. You could just ask for 7 weeks off in a row, then give 2 weeks notice....

[Lienlord]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HNL Bill While it may be legal, I'm guessing your company will say no. Most would rather pay you out, than incur the extended health care benefits. They can then refill your position if it's still needed. You could just ask for 7 weeks off in a row, then give 2 weeks notice....

Thanks for the feedback. You may be right about not allowing me to use vacation rather than getting it paid out.

One item I neglected to mention is the fact that I'm also approved for FMLA, and have been using my accrued sick leave to help with my aging parents. My Dad (83) has dementia and must be driven to physical therapy for a shoulder & hip injury from a fall. My Mom just had surgery to remove cancerous tumors and needed to be taken to daily radiation treatments. I'm the only one of 3 siblings with sick leave available to take off work to help them, so I've been taking half-days for the past two months. This has influenced my decision to FIRE once my time is used up as I don't see much improvement in their health coming.

While my work approved my FMLA, it's obvious they are not happy about it. I get nasty emails from my boss wanting projects completed and deadlines given as if I'm there full-time. I think they expect me to work in the evening to stay caught up with assignments. The tone of the emails sound like they are building a case against me (not sure how the law works on that). I elected to use half-days off to try and fulfill as many responsibilities as I could while still taking care of my parents, but not sure if that is working. I'm actually approved for continuous leave, and may advise I will be taking this option as early as June 1st or July 1st. I have enough leave time to take the entire 12 weeks off with pay, so that may be the plan, followed by announcing my resignation at conclusion of it.

This will NOT be well received, but I'm realizing that there's never a GOOD time to leave your job (unless it's your employer's decision, then it's immediately without warning or notice!).
My DW has to remind me that family comes first, and once I walk out for the last time I'll probably never see or hear from anyone there again.

Ugh, it's a difficult decision. I have a staff of 4 that I'm extremely loyal to, and have been concerned from the beginning the impact my absence (temporary or permanent) will have on them. It takes forever for a replacement to be hired for anyone that retires or quits, and I hate for them to have to go through that.

Sorry for the rant; just trying to please everyone all the time without success.

[WestUniversity]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeWras Strong rumors of RIFs coming up. Time for prayers.

Likewise. I’ve heard well placed rumors with actual numbers being tossed around.

The rumors are saying up to as high as 5% across the board. Been with MegaCorp too long to put a lot of stock in any rumors, but as I noted, this is from a senior level source that would actually know. That estimate also coincides with my guesstimate.

This source also said any announcement would be within the next couple of months. I guess we will see...

[Ed B]

Our last RIF - a VLP - was two years ago. We have had two VLP's over the past 4 years. These VLPs were aimed at the high salary grades, especially us older folks. I was hoping they would offer one this year but the first two were so successful that they probably wont need another one. Plus, megacorp phased out growth in the defined benefit pension plan in two phases with the final phase reached Jan 1, 2020. It is well understood that there will be a stampede out the door in 2020. Our CEO and CFO have mentioned this during all-hands meetings over the past 6 months.

So, I stopped waiting for the RIF that may not come and processed out Friday May 25th. Today is my first "w*rk day" in retirement.

[JoeWras]

Since I've announced, people are asking me why I don't just wait for a RIF.

Why? Because I am done! A RIF would be great, but man, I just can't keep going with this. RIFs are impossible to predict, and under little control by local management. I'm still hoping and praying for a RIF soon, of course, but I gotta go.

I have read here before: "You will know when it is time."

Well, I know. It Is Time.

[WestUniversity]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeWras Since I've announced, people are asking me why I don't just wait for a RIF. Why? Because I am done! A RIF would be great, but man, I just can't keep going with this. RIFs are impossible to predict, and under little control by local management. I'm still hoping and praying for a RIF soon, of course, but I gotta go. I have read here before: "You will know when it is time." Well, I know. It Is Time.

Ditto. I’m pretty sure I can hang on until my chosen date. After that, no way. Too many changes coming that I am not up for. The ability to care deeply about any of this stuff anymore has been squashed out of me in the last 3-4 years because of work load and because of management. I have enough left to finish out this year... I hope.

[OnIslandTime]

Woo Hoo! DH and I have only one more day as a Mega Corp employees!!! For both of us it is the last day of our 37th year there. We've both enjoyed a good ride!

One boss asked me last week if I'm nervous...his household income situation recently changed when his wife quit her job to manage their family and home full time and he indicated they were nervous before she quit and still are a bit nervous. I said the feeling is a bit like the last day of school and the first day of school rolled up together: a mix of the gleeful free feeling of the last day of school and the uncertain feeling of the first day of school. I told him that even though we've analyzed the numbers from every angle (we are engineers after all), I expect the uncertain feeling will probably persist until we've gotten thru a bit of time and really see that it is financially possible to not be an employee.

Tomorrow, I'm going to be singing "School's out for summer. School's out FOREVER."

Have fun.

[WestUniversity]

Quote:

Originally Posted by OnIslandTime Woo Hoo! DH and I have only one more day as a Mega Corp employees!!! For both of us it is the last day of our 37th year there. We've both enjoyed a good ride! Tomorrow, I'm going to be singing "School's out for summer. School's out FOREVER." Have fun.

Congratulations! Love the song reference![emoji322][emoji898][emoji485][emoji481]

[Doribe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrBrisket 5/15 was my last day. Finally managed to find some time to post in this tread. TGIM! Updated list: Grumpyretirement trapperjohn datuck Snoopy (55) Lovetoski (46) January -------- chief04010 1/2 JeffinSeattle 1/2 Boilerman 1/2 (57) OldPhd 1/4 Uncle Lumpy 1/5 (60) ikubak 1/10 (55) Coolrich59 1/31 (58) February ---------- GrandmaHoo feb1 62.5 March ------ Nunyaa elainejtm April ----- whatnot 4/1 Mr. and Mrs. Honeyfill 4/2 ears20 (57) Poppydog and Mrs Poppydog 4/27 (63/59) Tdv2 4/27 (54) tmm2good 4/4 (58) ILikeStarTrek (55) 4aboard 4/27 (42) BeachOrCity 4/30 (53) May --- Hilltopper 5/4 (55) Mcbraemer 5/15 (63) DrBrisket 5/15 (49) SumDay 5/31 OnIslandTime and Mr. OIT 5/31 (59) ears20 5/31 (57) Ed B 5/31 (58) June ---- Pullin 6/1 GaryT 6/1 Seabourne 6/1 (39) sayhey24 6/7 neihn 6/30 Jollystomper 6/29 akidagain2018 6/30 (56) July ---- Dan4495 (60) 68Bucks MRC758 7/13 August -------- JoeWras 8/1 (55) Pellice 8/1 (62) September --------- October ------- FIREmenow RoyDornoch (60) November -------- Erbragg1 11/1 December -------- Magwitch & Mrs. MagWitch 12/21 (39) Cnocmmz tmitchell (50) WestUniversity 12/28

Congratulations

[redduck]

OK, it's about that time. Please add me to the list. Let's try June 8--a day after sayhey24. Thanks.

[ears20]

I pulled the ripcord yesterday.

Started cleaning out the office a week ago, had the obligatory sending-off party (heartfelt and very nicely done!), and turned in my badge yesterday. It still doesn’t seem real - I’m technically on vacation through the end of June - but I’ve won the race. Today is the first day of the rest of my life...

...and I hope the chute opens!

[emoji16]

[MichaelB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ears20 I pulled the ripcord yesterday. Started cleaning out the office a week ago, had the obligatory sending-off party (heartfelt and very nicely done!), and turned in my badge yesterday. It still doesn’t seem real - I’m technically on vacation through the end of June - but I’ve won the race. Today is the first day of the rest of my life... ...and I hope the chute opens! [emoji16]

Congratulations!