Sent out my 5-month pre-emptive 'Across the Bow' email (move, community, coverage)
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I am not sure why you are determined to give months and months of advanced notice. That typically will leave the employee in an uncertain, lame duck status. I have never worked for a company that would go out and hire and train a new employee months in advance. That is typically not included in the company's budget. On top of that if there is a critical employee with unique knowledge it is always important to have some backup coverage in case of an accident or medical condition or sudden departure permanent or temporary.
My wife is the City Clerk. Has been (or will have been in December) the City Clerk for 30 years. It's not something one simply takes over in a day or couple weeks.
She wants to give the city plenty of time to find a qualified replacement and the time to get at least up and running before she leaves.
No, I am not so naïve as to think the company will adequately approach the staffing decisions in advance. Any failure in this regard will be theirs alone and not because of any inaction on my part. Working in a Nuclear Power Plant, with all the statutory credentials necessary just to enter the site (even before any opportunity to perform the job) my employment continuity is not in limbo. Although your concern is a valid one for many job positions.
Just trying to help. You have to close out your quote by adding a / between the last [ and Q in quote.
That said. Companies are making it ever more difficult to care about doing the right thing. Is that a bad argument? I won't argue it's not, just because someone else does wrong doesn't give you an excuse but I really do not know the exact date I am leaving.
When my ducks all get in a row it may not leave me the time to give a proper notice and like the company, I'll do what is best for me.
I have heard many, many stories from people who were miffed about the way their retirement was handled. Sometimes it is a little sobering when we discover how incidental we are to our various companies. In my own case I left my last titled job to become self employed when I was 50, and it was not the reaction of senior management that has stayed with me - it was the reaction by the rank and file that I found most gratifying.
It's been nearly 25 years and I still remember some of the wonderful experiences of saying goodby to people I hardly knew.
The people I care about at work (and there are some) know I am trying to get everything worked out.
....the company waits until the last minute so why bother and my work went to India anyway.
....
Sometimes we get really personally involved in our jobs. Later in life we make the same mistake even though we learn companies are not people and don't have personal involvement in their employees.
Looking back, I lost a lot of jobs:
1. Company lost a Federal contract and the jobs ended.
2. Business downsized due to a changing economy.
3. Parent company sold our group. The new owner was much larger, absorbed the work and gave everyone notice.
4. I got a new boss and he wanted to hire someone he worked with previously. I was given a severance package in exchange for not even mentioning the details to coworkers. I was marched out the door that day by an HR representative.
5. Company was merged and the facility I worked at was closed.
When I decided to retire from the last company, I made my own plans and then gave 30 days notice. I knew I was underpaid and under appreciated. After giving notice the company brought in a couple of prospective employees. They wanted way more money so the company decided to divide up my job among existing employees. Apparently that did not work out. When I returned for a visit a couple of years later, I found they eventually hired a full time employee and two 30 hour employees to do my job.
I was careful about the jobs I took and worked for companies that were much better than average. Even so I saw no evidence that companies really have much concern about the employees. The concern extends only to the level that motivates employees to give to their efforts and loyalty to the workplace.
"Across the bow" Does that mean you company is going to stop what it was doing and react? I doubt it.
Just trying to help. You have to close out your quote by adding a / between the last [ and Q in quote.
Thanks! For some reason the automated tool buttons were not working for me this morning, so I tried to force the quote function by coding it myself - and failed. Too late to do the edit now. Hopefully I will remember for the future.
Congratulations. I was planning on retiring in early October 2017 - I told my management in March I was retiring because it was time to set goals for the year and I didn't want to set training and career goals that were meaningless. Plus, I was working on consolidating multiple large server applications in a single location and didn't want to leave my team members hanging. Hoped for a layoff and a severance package (they were in process of moving our work to Montreal and India), but it didn't happen. Been retired for over a year and a half now - though I didn't do the move until October 2018.
I felt like you, OP, and wanted to do the right thing. The HR department, and my pension system each required 3 months notice. But I gave my immediate manager 4 months notice so she could put in a request to the City Manager to start the hiring process for a replacement. She put in the request and it was approved.
I've been retired for 9.5 months now, and 2 other of my co-workers retired a few months after I did. As of a couple weeks ago, the City still hadn't started the hiring process. My other co-workers have been working short-staffed, (a lot of OT), since the 3 of us left.
So while my intentions were good, the City did what is best for them fiscally. Paying OT to a short staff is cheaper than paying full salary and benefits to 3 new employees.
No skin off my nose, but I feel bad for my former co-workers.
Best of luck to you, and kudos for doing the right thing.
Congratulations. I was planning on retiring in early October 2017 - I told my management in March I was retiring because it was time to set goals for the year and I didn't want to set training and career goals that were meaningless.
Yes, my Mid-Year Review was yesterday so the timing was optimum. No needless goals to be completed before year end are included in my Development Plan.
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