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I had a supervisor once who retired while she was on vacation. After 25+ years with the company, the pension plan formula went from 2% at 60 to 2% at 55. She had been waiting for age 60 (she was 58) and so she just called in from vacation and said she would be in to clean out her desk on Saturday (while the office was closed) and she never came back after Saturday.
I was planning on retiring in July and going to Medicare in August. My manager and fellow workers knew of my plan. But things went so bad under a new VP & Director that morale crashed and no one wanted to be there. In the middle of February, my manager talked with those of us that were closing in on retirement and suggested that we should seriously consider leaving ASAP if we were able. So I gave my official notice at that time for April 2. Three of us retired at the same time.
If you have a defined pension plan, you may want to consider giving plenty of notice. I gave about 4 months notice so that the HR department would be sure to have enough time to complete all of the necessary back and forth paperwork for my pension. This had to be processed by an out of state bank and I knew if I wanted my checks to be deposited to my account the first month of my retirement, I could not just hand them a few weeks notice.
I would just say there is no correct answer-ask around to the old-timers at work....trust me, they will know.
If you have a defined pension plan, you may want to consider giving plenty of notice. I gave about 4 months notice so that the HR department would be sure to have enough time to complete all of the necessary back and forth paperwork for my pension. This had to be processed by an out of state bank and I knew if I wanted my checks to be deposited to my account the first month of my retirement, I could not just hand them a few weeks notice.
I have learned one thing over the years. Ask a question about the 401(k) and you will have an answer in less than ten minutes. Ask a question about pension benefits and you wait three or four weeks.
I worked for the federal government and they recommended submitting your paperwork 3-6 months in advance, and suggested asking for a preliminary estimate of benefits a year in advance. This was all done through HR, however, and they treated it as confidential and did not notify my supervisor. I had a good relationship with him, and did keep him informed. I have heard of people who who just "vanished." Their supervisor called to report them AWOL and they found out "Oh he's retired." My supervisor was unable to recruit for my position until I'd actually left the building, so he just asked me to document as much as possible and work with my co-workers who would be taking up the slack until my replacement came on.
After 25 years I gave a month's notice, only because I was a working supervisor of my department. I figured the powers-that-be needed that time to work out how to save money and eliminate my job after I was gone. I was right. I understand the result hasn't been pretty but it's no longer my concern.
I worked for my former state - 25 years also - and was a manager. Sure enough, my position was eliminated after I left. I anticipated that. A year or so later the entire department was eliminated with some functions, including my program being rolled into a new, much smaller, new department. People were not happy, and still aren't. I'm glad I left when I did.
But there was a glitch. I was involved in forensic issues and the week after I retired I had to appear in court on a case as a witness for the plaintiff as well as for the petitioner. That was interesting. I insisted that the state bring me back as a retired annuitant for those three days for liability and pay purposes. After it was all over I never looked back.
NC is an "at will" state, meaning an employer does not have to give any notice before letting you go, nor does he need to give any reason. As a result, one does not need to give ANY advanced notification before quitting or retiring. It is just a matter of efficient logistics and what suits the employee best.
When I retired, with about 3 wks notice to the HR department, it still took the company several months (3 to 6) to begin my small pension and get their end of everything squared away. Although it was a big company they were not very good at handling one-off incidents (like one person retiring) in the HR department. Now if an entire department were layed off, or retired, at once they would probably figure out how to make things go smoothly.
I'm right at about three and a half years out from retirement and I'm making noises now. About a year out I'll make louder noises and tell my supervisor that he needs to seriously start looking for a replacement for me. Six months out I'll give the "official" notice with a specific date. It will take that long to train someone to take over my responsibilities. No worries about being a "lame duck". I monitor/control two instruments on earth orbiting environmental satellites. As long as they are healthy and gathering good data, my job is secure for as long as I want to do it.
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