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

[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

[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

[Fast Ben]

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

Depending on which state you're in, that may be illegal. It certainly is in California.

Re:No good dead goes unpunished

[networkBoy]

This!
We have a guy at my office much like you.
He gets hit by a truck, we stay in business, but we slip all sorts of deadlines, and likely contractual obligations, and our bug escape count will go way up.

He's a greybeard and greatly valued, but he wants to retire. He gave us a year notice, and he was in a position that if we said "bye" he'd have been fine (bored, but fine). As it is we are grateful for the year's notice and have him advising Jr devs when they get stuck. We're 6 mo in and he's down to 4 days a week (his choice, but good for us as it's driving home the point we need to learn everything we can from him first).

Honestly, if you're that valuable I predict that you will be fine having the "1 year warning" retirement convo, particularly if you approach it with something along the lines of:
"I've loved working here, but as I'm sure you can guess I am getting to the age where retirement is looming. I don't want to leave this team in a lurch, so I was thinking about working out a (1yr|6mo|nn week) transition plan where I can mentor a replacement. What do you think about that?"

This puts you in a position of relative power in that they can say okay, or you can leave and they have no choice but to hold the bag. Naturally if you have some trigger that needs to happen, like stock options vesting, wait till *after* the trigger, just in case.

In a reverse version of this I know a guy who knew his value, but when we were bought by Intel he simply didn't want to work for such a big company. He offered a similar resignation, a transition plan, knowledge transfer/training. He was rebuked and told "If you're quitting then we'll have your final paycheck to you plus some severance".
6 months later we were hiring him on a *LUDICHRIST* contract of $20,000 + expenses and $500 per diem for 4 days of work to crash course a group of devs to get past some roadblock.

Re:No good dead goes unpunished

[grasshoppa]

I'd play this a tad differently.

I'm still on board with the "Day Of" method, and I'd give them a month extra after notification. After that, my pending retirement becomes a negotiation tactic. You want me around for another 2 months? Cool, here are my terms, and they're expensive.

This works on a couple different levels. First, you are GIVING them a month extra, and how nice of you to do so. Second, you are being compensated for the extra time ( generously ). Third, you are giving them a strong incentive to find your replacement.

I've seen places say, "Oh, we're looking for your replacement"...but then not. So this poor, kind, soul gets stuck because he said he'd stick around until they find a replacement. This way you can charge them commiserate with how much you don't want to be there, and they really have incentive to find your replacement.

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

[grasshoppa]

This way you can charge them commiserate with how much you don't want to be there, and they really have incentive to find your replacement.

It's commensurate, dumbass.

Yes, I'm calling myself a dumbass, doesn't make it any less true.

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.

Re:Let them know early

[squiggleslash]

6 months of pay may be a significant thing for a smaller company

While this is true, there's presumably a reason they were paying him in the first place. Businesses are rarely evil, just sociopathic. That is, they'll make logical decisions in their best interests. Sometimes those decisions will end up screwing people over. But they won't make illogical decisions that are against their own interests just to screw people over. And, actually, even sociopaths know it's not actually in their best interests to screw people over so they tend to avoid it, and companies are the same way. Look at how normal it is to have severance packages when they're trying to reduce the number of employees, even if they operate in at-will states.

This entire comment section is utterly ridiculous, full of people absolutely convinced that the first thing a boss will do upon hearing someone is going to retire is fire them.

Why? Why would you fire someone who is leaving? Why wouldn't you take advantage of the fact you know this person is going to leave and when they're going to leave and use that to plan a transition?

This isn't hard people. I've seen it every where I work. I have literally never seen anyone fired because they gave more than two weeks notice. I've seen one person actually resign because they wanted to move across the country, and the company helped them with everything, including ensuring they had consultancy work to ease the transition while they looked for work in their new location.

Yes, there are some small businesses that are terribly run and terrible to their employees. But we're developers. We're not waitstaff. We're not retail assistants. We're not in any of those industries notorious for treating people like crap.

To the submitter: just wait until's a good time, when you'd be OK leaving now but another six months wouldn't hurt, and let the company know. It'll help them and your coworkers, it'll feel good when you leave, and, hey, you'll probably get a retirement gift.

Just don't do anything dangerous two days before retirement. That never goes well...