Ask Slashdot: When Is the Right Time To Discuss Retirement With Your Employer?

An anonymous reader writes: As I am sliding down the far side of 60, retirement is something coming up in two or three years.

The usual notice time is two weeks, but I'm one of two people (maybe three if they pull one back in off other projects he's done the past four years) who do what I do, and is fairly important to the company's product. Yeah, we'd be in serious hurt if one of us were hit by a truck.

I'd like to give a lot of notice. It took them six months to find me for this position half a decade ago. But I don't want to be let go before I'm ready to go, either.

Most slashdotters seem to be a lot younger than me, so maybe I'm asking in the wrong place, but has anyone else dealt with this issue?

Comments

No good dead goes unpunished

[Dorianny]

Watch out for your own best interest. Your employer will be doing the same

Re:No good dead goes unpunished

[Anonymous Coward]

It took me two times to learn this. During those attempts, I have tried to leave a company on their terms. It was bad for me.

Your life, live it.

Who knows, maybe the prospect will result in an offer that you can't refuse.

Re:No good dead goes unpunished

[rhazz]

I agree with that.

But I don't want to be let go before I'm ready to go, either.

I would give them notice on the day you are ready to retire, and then carry on with them until they are ready or until your good will wears out. If your boss/HR has any competency at all, they already know what's coming.

Re:No good dead goes unpunished

[gnick]

My current employer has treated me well so far. I've seen them treat my coworkers well, including when it came time to retire. As a result, I try to act in our mutual interest and trust them to do the same. I'm much happier with this arrangement than I would be if I was convinced that everyone was only self-interested.

This isn't always practical. I'm lucky to work for a small company staffed by human beings instead of corporate drones.

Re:No good dead goes unpunished

[olsmeister]

My current employer will not pay out my unused vacation if I do not give at least two weeks notice.

Re:No good dead goes unpunished

[lgw]

Watch out for your own best interest. Your employer will be doing the same

If you're still working at a shitty place late in life, then sure - why even give notice? But if you're working somewhere reasonable, there's no reason to be a dick.

Retirement is coming up for me in the next few years. I plan to let my boss know informally about a year ahead of time that retirement is looming, and he should plan accordingly. I don't want him to be surprised when I give 2 weeks notice, but that's all the formal notice I'll give the company.

That being said, you should be able to retire for at least a couple years before you actually retire. This is important! When you get to the point that you believe you can live acceptably on your savings, don't stop working immediately. It really sucks to be wrong about how much you need - I've seen it, and it's not pretty. Soldier on for a couple more years to account for errors in prediction about what life holds.

If you do that, and your company uses knowledge of your plans and screws you by e.g. firing you 3 months before you had planned to retire, then you don't really care. You should be able to retire for some time before you'd even think of warning your boss that you plan to actually retire, for so many reasons.

Re:No good dead goes unpunished

[Archangel Michael]

Here is my $.02 worth.

When you are good and ready, give your two weeks notice, BUT offer to stick around for ... say ... six months, if they need help finding and replacing you.

That way, you're fine either way, and come out like roses.

Re:No good dead goes unpunished

[Anonymous Coward]

Typically...

You retire, do not give them any notice.
If what you do is truly necessary, then they will hire you back as a consultant, and pay you a lot more to do your job part time.

Re:No good dead goes unpunished

[naughtynaughty]

If you work for an unenlightened employer who doesn't have a written policy to pay out accrued vacation when you leave then you should treat them likewise, give no notice and plan your departure to be on the day you would have returned to work after using all your vacation

Likewise with any employer that says they want two weeks notice but reserve the right to give you no notice before laying you off. At the end of your last work day hand HR your resignation letter that says "Due to your under-performance as an employer I am laying you off effective immediately".

Re:No good dead goes unpunished

[mysidia]

It will reflect more badly on you and your profession than on your employer, so I don't recommend it. It's always best to leave on the best terms possible ---- leave the door open, just in case you need something in the future: maybe not a job, but one sort of favor or another from your former company, boss, co-workers, etc.

My suggestion would be start making your post-retirement plans now, and when you have them finalized, figure out a hard date you want to stop working. Make sure you used up your normal vacation time for the year, and afterwards let your employer know a few months before that date you want to retire and start cutting back your hours after 2-3 weeks, and how many hours you're still willing to put in a week to get the project done on time and work with others to offload your duties..

If you've been in the service of the company a long time; they'll probably work with you on prepping to retirement...

I've had two employees retire on me.

[FuzzyDaddy2]

I had a very good engineer retire. He did it six months in advance, which from a management point of view seemed like a reasonable amount of time. (His exact words were "Just to let you know, I talked it over with my wife and we've met all of our retirement savings goals"). Longer than that seems unnecessary, and you may change your mind.

Don't overthink this

[magzteel]

If you are retiring you aren't trying to coordinate a start date with your next employer.

When you are *ready to go*, tell them you have decided to retire, and offer whatever notice period you want to.

Heck you could even retire and offer to provide consulting services on an as-needed basis.

Just talk with them

[ranton]

My mom and one close coworker have went through this in the past couple years, and in both cases they started a dialogue about this years before they were ready for retirement. Don't fool yourself into thinking that your employer hasn't already thought about the fact that a key employee is in his 60's. The best chance you have for this to work out in your favor is to open a dialogue with your employer.

Sure your employer could screw you over, but he could also hire someone in the next few months to cover his ass even though you intended on working a few more years. Unless you have an absolutely horrible relationship with your boss, this could likely be solved with a little communication.

Retiring is different than Switching Jobs

[Ksevio]

Since you're not going to move to another job in the industry, your employer will likely want you to stick around and train a replacement. IF they're a reasonable company, they won't be pushing you out the door if you tell them you're going to retire, they'll be planning the remainder of the time you have with them carefully.

What sort of places do you people work for?

[sunking2]

Retirement isn't a big secret. You think your bosses don't see that you are getting old? They know that anyone over 58 can go whenever they want depending on how they've planned. They'd much rather be able to plan a replacement assuming you fit a spot that needs filling.

Why would they fire you because you said that you were planning on leaving in the next 1-2 years? That makes no sense.

Alternatively, if they know you want to retire and they know a layoff is coming then that is a win win. They don't have to upset anyone, they get rid of someone who likely has a higher salary, and on top of it you get severance pay, insurance and unemployment.

Re:Why retire?

[Anonymous Coward]

There's more to life than work.

Re:In the modern climate, there isn't

[MerlynEmrys67]

Sounds like the way a company would work... however, lets do a risk benefit analysis:
Employee says they are going to retire in 6 months
Let them work for 6 months - they leave on their own
RISKS ?? Their productivity falls to 0 - costing 6 months salary (100K with benefits maybe?)
Benefit - Find a replacement worker, including letting current employee interview and give insight... Current employee trains replacement (Value - ???)
Benefit - Everyone else sees this person is treated well, including an office retirement party that is good for team morale (cost 10K including a small parting gift)
Fire them ASAP Risks - Possible age bias lawsuit as they are well over 40, and there would be no dings on their record otherwise
Risks - Everyone sees what happens and no one will help in the future
Risks - Who will do knowledge transfer, you are down an employee until you find a replacement Benefit - Save 100K in salary.

I don't see any reason to go through firing an employee early - the lawyers for the lawsuit alone will cost you 100K even if you win and don't have to pay a dime... Assume you would have to pay AT LEAST the 100K to the employee plus cover his legal costs (another 40-50K)

it's sort-of not your problem

[roc97007]

I'm getting to be that age also, but haven't been in the position to give notice, yet. That said, in every place I've worked so far, if you give six months notice, they'll start looking for a replacement immediately, and find a reason to dump you as soon as they're confident of business continuance. Don't do that to yourself.

Consider also, that if you retire you might get some benefits that you wouldn't get if you were, for instance, fired. A big disadvantage to announcing that you're going to leave sometime in the next several months is that it gives the company that long to figure out how to get rid of you at minimum cost to the company.

Even if your boss is a good guy and wouldn't do that to you, there are probably people higher up that would see the minimal cost option as business as usual.

Keep in mind also that some companies don't want an employee continuing to work there who has announced his intention to leave, to reduce the risk of pilfering and sabotage. Often, you give two weeks notice and they ask you to leave right away, and pay you for the two weeks.

And finally, your boss knows how old you are. If he doesn't have a plan in place already, it's on him, not you.

So in conclusion: Don't tell anyone. Just do your job up until it's time to give two weeks notice. It's safer for you.

Overthinking?

[eth1]

Seems like most people are overthinking this a bit... Once you're ready to retire, the exact date you stop working isn't very relevant.

My plan would be:
- Wait till the day I'm totally ready to walk out the door
- Walk into my bosses office and say, "Hey boss, I'm ready to retire. How long do you want me to stick around?"

Then it doesn't really matter what their reaction is.