Given Notice, How to Negotiate

[Music Lover]

When I worked at MegaMotors, we had a guy who never officially quit but just quit coming in to work and didn't answer any phone calls. His checks just kept on coming until someone finally turned off the tap. My hero.

That's awesome. How long did it take until they turned the tap off?

 

[ponyboy]

I said it earlier in this thread: I'm flabbergasted. Why on Earth OP doesn't just give a damned firm date, and LEAVE on that date, is beyond me. Nothing prevents the company from making some sort of offer to him, after he leaves, for contract work. And if they don't, uhhhhh then he's presumably happily retired. Win-win. After I hit the submit button for this comment, I'm unfollowing this thread. Reading it makes me want to scream.

Because, if OP would do that, the thread would end and people would no longer feel inclined to make recommendations to OP.

 

[Popeye]

Interesting take. Mine is that OP feels an "obligation" to his boss and to his company. I know what that's like. When I left, I left virtually nothing hanging out there. I told my boss to call me if I could ever help (over the phone - no chance of coming back at MY Megacorp - THEY were the ones who burned bridges.) I liked my boss and would have gladly helped out with suggesting personnel or other available resources within my mental rolodex, etc.

Having a conscience and deep work ethic can cost you. At some point, you need to get over it and look out for yourself. I just don't see OP looking out for himself enough at this point, but YMMV.

Certainly possible and I know the feelings all too well. Nearly 30 years at the same company will do that! Though strangely enough I knew individuals there almost the entire time who lamented and complained about...everything. Even more strange are their posts now in a private Facebook group about how these were the good old days and it was a great place to work.

I had a similar exit with nothing hanging out. They probably could have squeezed a few months out of me without much effort if they weren’t trying to move me into project management. As I told one of the PMs, they always seemed miserable to me so why would I take that on! I think I was prepping my departure for about 18 months even if it was subconsciously. I told some folks they could call after I left but I think only two individuals did, for a couple of times each. I did go back in for a two day stint about 18 months later but that felt like it was really just hand holding if anything. Of course the bureaucracy to get me back in was ridiculous. I told them just buy me lunch and we’re good but they had to make it formal. I think the process took place over about two months and they set it up as open for a year but I never went back in again.

 

[Popeye]

When I worked at MegaMotors, we had a guy who never officially quit but just quit coming in to work and didn't answer any phone calls. His checks just kept on coming until someone finally turned off the tap. My hero.

Haha! That was one of my daydreams too. Thiis gives me a great thread idea for the most bizarre departure stories! Has that ever been discussed here?

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

OP is being a wuss. Sorry if that sounds offensive.....

Pick your day, and stick to it, unless you have an acceptable offer in writing. Boss will continue to push OP around, until the OP takes control of the situation.

 

[MichaelB]

The OP is clearly trying to arrange / manage his exit while minimizing the impact on the employer, who may be taking advantage of this. It doesn’t help to call him names. Perhaps show a little empathy and stick to friendly, positive suggestions.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Interesting take. Mine is that OP feels an "obligation" to his boss and to his company. I know what that's like. When I left, I left virtually nothing hanging out there. I told my boss to call me if I could ever help (over the phone - no chance of coming back at MY Megacorp - THEY were the ones who burned bridges.) I liked my boss and would have gladly helped out with suggesting personnel or other available resources within my mental rolodex, etc.

Having a conscience and deep work ethic can cost you. At some point, you need to get over it and look out for yourself. I just don't see OP looking out for himself enough at this point, but YMMV.

Funny. To me, the boss sounds like an A-1 jerk. If I'm FI, I'd "tell the boss what I think of him" and walk out the door today.

There are only a few moments in a lifetime when you have power like that.

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

Sometimes you need a hard headed partner. Years ago when I was spending most Sundays at the office, working on "critical" projects for the good of the institution, my wife said: "You know, Barnfellow, XXX (my employer) will never give those weekends back to us. They're gone forever."

Stopped me in my tracks. And I changed my behavior, for the good of us!

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Sometimes you need a hard headed partner.

Ain't it the truth. Believe it or not, I'm the softie in my partnership.

 

[travelover]

That's awesome. How long did it take until they turned the tap off?

To be honest, I don't know. The tale was told to me by people that knew him when I hired in as a rookie. According to the tale, he also took a company vehicle with him when he went.

We had another guy, that I knew well, that had two families, unknown to each other. One lived in the Detroit area where Mega was located and the second in an area where we had a big test site that this employee traveled to extensively. Flaky people.

 

[Koolau]

Funny. To me, the boss sounds like an A-1 jerk. If I'm FI, I'd "tell the boss what I think of him" and walk out the door today.

There are only a few moments in a lifetime when you have power like that.

Oh, I agree. The boss seems a jerk. But everyone is different. You or I might tell off such a boss, but others are more reticent to burn bridges or even make waves - even to our own detriment.

I have mentioned before that when my assignment was changed at Megacorp I very politely informed my boss that I was outa there - that Friday. Nothing to do with him - only the assignment. I took my vacation to finish out the whole month and left the phone numbers, etc. where to reach me. Very professional but firm (on my part.) YMMV

 

[DINKFIRE]

I guess it's time for an update on this situation, after a couple more calls with HR and my boss last week.

A little background why I didn't just stick to two-week notice from the get go. The MegaCorp I work for is publicly traded, and my role (in finance) could materially impact the integrity of the financial reporting for Q1, so my boss is very worried that if I'm gone before the end of April, the company's financials could face severe scrutiny from auditors. I've been with the company for many years and had great relationship with my colleagues and our auditors. My boss was hired a couple of years ago and that's when my work life started going downhill. But I still feel like most of people I work with are genuine folks and I don't want to make their life a lot hard if I can do something about it. I've left all my previous jobs on good terms, and I would like to do the same if I can.

So after I get my boss and HR to believe that I'm really ready to leave instead of taking a couple years off with plan to return (I'm in my early 40s), they turned around and wrote me an offer. There will be additional compensation through end of April for me to stay until then full-time, while ensure Q1 is done right and I fully transition my responsibilities. I will be on retainer for another several months (for a fixed fee in exchange of few hours of consultations as needed) to ensure they can get questions answered. Although the additional compensation is slightly lower than what I asked for, it is a more sincere offer so I'm glad we finally worked things out. The terms are all written in legal agreements with signatures from HR, my boss and I.

I'll update this post later on to let everyone know how the extra month works out.

Thank you all for very helpful input.

 

[Whisper66]

Great update! Glad things are working out well for you.

 

[Jerry1]

Excellent!

 

[Aerides]

Great update, thanks!

 

[Nature Lover]

Congrats! Sounds like you're happy and satisfied you can leave on your own terms.

 

[pb4uski]

.... A little background why I didn't just stick to two-week notice from the get go. The MegaCorp I work for is publicly traded, and my role (in finance) could materially impact the integrity of the financial reporting for Q1, so my boss is very worried that if I'm gone before the end of April, the company's financials could face severe scrutiny from auditors. ...

The Q1 financials really shouldn't "face severe scrutiny from auditors"... quartely financials are unaudited! The auditors typically only read the quarterly press release to ensure that it isn't misleading or erroneous, that numbers add correctly, etc. If your boss really has that concern then s/he doesn't understand what the auditors do on the quarter.... or is making it up as a smokescreen to get you to stay on.

If a single individual is that critical to the integrity of the financial statements of a publicly traded company... your boss is very worried that if you're gone before the end of April that the company's financials a jeopardized... that in and of itself could signal a significant deficiency or a material weakness in financial controls.... and should be a warning bell to your audit firm.

 

[Chris7]

Glad you feel valued and they came up with additional compensation. And I realize you had a great relationships, but don't think for a second they would have given you the same consideration. And actually, they didn't. They used your Goodwill to try to get you to stay longer without any consideration.


I worked for a company, not even a MegaCorp, and one of the near-founders, who had been there for over 20-years, was laid off. He was given a box to empty his desk and escorted out of the building.



If push came to shove, they would have done the same to you.


Hopefully, everything is in writing and is clear.


Good luck. cd :O)

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

Ethics+Compensation = Nicer exit.

Congrats to you for handling it the best way for you! We are all just kibitzers and have no dogs in this hunt.

-BB

 

[DINKFIRE]

The Q1 financials really shouldn't "face severe scrutiny from auditors"... quartely financials are unaudited! The auditors typically only read the quarterly press release to ensure that it isn't misleading or erroneous, that numbers add correctly, etc. If your boss really has that concern then s/he doesn't understand what the auditors do on the quarter.... or is making it up as a smokescreen to get you to stay on.

If a single individual is that critical to the integrity of the financial statements of a publicly traded company... your boss is very worried that if you're gone before the end of April that the company's financials a jeopardized... that in and of itself could signal a significant deficiency or a material weakness in financial controls.... and should be a warning bell to your audit firm.

I guess I should be more clear when using the term "audit", the quarterly financials are not as detailed, but we do provide our data to the same big-four audit team who does year-end audit. It is a limited scope process but still important, as company's 10-Q impacts share price too. I've told my boss that the quarter-end is not as difficult, but since the company is so big, he still worried a lot about it.

We all believe companies should have succession plans in place, but the truth is, mega corps run very lean nowadays, and they only deal with individual departure when it happens.

 

[mitchjav]

To be honest, I don't know. The tale was told to me by people that knew him when I hired in as a rookie. According to the tale, he also took a company vehicle with him when he went.

We had another guy, that I knew well, that had two families, unknown to each other. One lived in the Detroit area where Mega was located and the second in an area where we had a big test site that this employee traveled to extensively. Flaky people.

Reminds me of a co-worker who also had two families - but both in the same town and they knew of each other - everyone was apparently fine with it...

 

[Aerides]

I guess I should be more clear when using the term "audit", the quarterly financials are not as detailed, but we do provide our data to the same big-four audit team who does year-end audit. It is a limited scope process but still important, as company's 10-Q impacts share price too. I've told my boss that the quarter-end is not as difficult, but since the company is so big, he still worried a lot about it.

We all believe companies should have succession plans in place, but the truth is, mega corps run very lean nowadays, and they only deal with individual departure when it happens.

Sounds like your boss is a bit of a twit who relies too much on his team, and doesn't know as much as he should. Now he's worried that the brains are leaving (and probably should be). Back to my earlier point - and do keep this in the back of your head if they try to extend you: If you were leaving to another job, even not a direct competitor, you'd already be gone.

 

[retire-early]

I guess it's time for an update on this situation, after a couple more calls with HR and my boss last week.

A little background why I didn't just stick to two-week notice from the get go. The MegaCorp I work for is publicly traded, and my role (in finance) could materially impact the integrity of the financial reporting for Q1, so my boss is very worried that if I'm gone before the end of April, the company's financials could face severe scrutiny from auditors. I've been with the company for many years and had great relationship with my colleagues and our auditors. My boss was hired a couple of years ago and that's when my work life started going downhill. But I still feel like most of people I work with are genuine folks and I don't want to make their life a lot hard if I can do something about it. I've left all my previous jobs on good terms, and I would like to do the same if I can.

So after I get my boss and HR to believe that I'm really ready to leave instead of taking a couple years off with plan to return (I'm in my early 40s), they turned around and wrote me an offer. There will be additional compensation through end of April for me to stay until then full-time, while ensure Q1 is done right and I fully transition my responsibilities. I will be on retainer for another several months (for a fixed fee in exchange of few hours of consultations as needed) to ensure they can get questions answered. Although the additional compensation is slightly lower than what I asked for, it is a more sincere offer so I'm glad we finally worked things out. The terms are all written in legal agreements with signatures from HR, my boss and I.

I'll update this post later on to let everyone know how the extra month works out.

Thank you all for very helpful input.

It sounds like you got some money out of this but not as much as you thought you would be getting when you submitted your retirement.

To be very frank, I would have played even more hardball than you did.
$X or I leave.
You came off weak and easily manipulated.

There are very few times we as employees have the upperhand.
This was one of them.


.

 

[Calico]

OP,

Pay no attention to people who are passing nasty judgement on you. They don't know you.

You did what worked for you, what aligned with your values, and what you needed to do for your own self respect. You are satisfied with your decision and you will soon be happily retired. That's all that matters!

 

[Markola]

It sounds like you got some money out of this but not as much as you thought you would be getting when you submitted your retirement.

To be very frank, I would have played even more hardball than you did.
$X or I leave.
You came off weak and easily manipulated.

There are very few times we as employees have the upperhand.
This was one of them.


.

That’s a bit harsh but I agree that employers in our society hold all the cards, so it’s rare to have any leverage over them so that you can separate in triumph while they are in public disgrace. The best one can usually do in our system is to spend/save/invest your paychecks wisely, untangle from jobs with some sanity and positive references left, then detox and put the former employer in your rear view mirror. You are then free to focus on your own future.