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Things to Know Before Announcing Your Retirement to Your Boss
Here are a few things to consider first before deciding to retire.
Start Planning - The best thing to do is start planning your retirement long before you announce your intention to retire. You can take 3-6 months to plan about retirement before announcing your retirement officially. This will give you ample time to discuss the decision with your loved ones, close friends, and family. It will also give you enough time to get comfortable with the decision and prepare all the paperwork. That's not all; it can also give you enough time to change your mind or even postpone retirement.
Make sure that your retirement financial plan is in order - You wouldn't want to quit your job if your finances for retirement aren't in order. Talk to your financial advisor and make sure that you run through the numbers again. In essence, make sure that you're in a much better place financially when you retire.'
Check your health care plan - Talk to your health insurance provider and find out what happens when you retire. You should be fully aware of the steps or things that you need to do as far as your healthcare plan is concerned.
Find out about the benefits you're eligible for - It's of great importance that you talk to your human resource manager and find out exactly what benefits you'll be eligible for when you retire. There may be sick days or unused vacations that you aren't aware of, so it's vital to find out. You should find out about your financial settlements, healthcare insurance, and other benefits.
Check out the Company's manual - It's fundamental that you thoroughly read the company's manual and policies about retirement. Get to know what the company expects of you as far as retirement is concerned. Know when and how to give notice of retirement for your specific job. In short, find any information on the company's manual and policies that will help you when it comes to announcing your retirement.
Consider working part-time - If you're in a situation where you aren't ready for full retirement, you can find out whether you can work for the company on a part-time basis or as a consultant on a limited basis.
Verbally Inform Your Boss about Your Plan to Retire
Together with your spouse and close family members, you've probably decided to retire. If that's the case, the first person to inform is your boss. You certainly do not want rumors to start going around before you inform your boss. This would be disrespectful to your boss and the hierarchy. As such, you should organize a private meeting with your boss and tell him verbally about your decision to retire.
When announcing your retirement to your boss, here are two things that you'll want to avoid:
- You shouldn't send the wrong signals. You certainly don't want your boss to think that you're no longer committed to the company's project.
- You don't want to create a reason that may force your employer to want you to leave earlier than you planned.
As such, here are a few tips to have in mind when meeting with your boss.
- Organize a private meeting with your boss without interrupting his/her work schedule.
- Depending on your relationship with your boss, the meeting can be formal or informal.
- Have clear plans on how you'll help the organization transition as smoothly as possible. You've been on the job and you probably know what it takes to do the job accordingly. You can help in the process of recruiting your replacement and even training them to do the job as expected. Your boss will be pleased if you have a plan to keep the projects going, especially if your retirement announcement comes as a surprise to him/her.
- Confirm to your boss your exact date of retirement to avoid any confusion. And even if you aren't sure about the exact date, you should be honest and give your boss a heads up. You can even ask your boss for his/her opinion about how much notice would be appropriate. It would be a lot better if you can come to a mutual agreement on when to retire.
- You can decide together on how to announce it to the rest of the organization. You should follow the rules if there's a strict protocol on how this announcement should be done. You should also let the boss know if you want to break the news to colleagues. But in most cases, the boss will take over communication regarding how retirement news is announced.
- Ensure that the retirement plans that are in place are both beneficial to you and the organization.
Know When and How to Give Notice of Your Impending Retirement
Unless the company stipulates on its policies on how and when to give notice, there are generally no hard rules as to how much notice you should give. Nonetheless, the best thing to do is to give management enough time to make sure that there's a smooth transition. Again, make sure that you don't give too much time, especially if you don't want to be considered a lame duck.
The thing is; you don't want your employer to be left without someone to do your job. So when giving notice, it's always vital that you offer ample time for the company to advertise your position, conduct interviews, and find appropriate candidates. You can also offer to train your predecessor to ensure that the transition is as smooth as possible. If anything, you probably know the job better than anyone else.
Keep in mind that the amount of time you give as far as the notice is concerned will vary from situation to situation. If you're a lower-level employee, a notice of about six weeks might be enough. This is because it's a lot easier to find a replacement in your position. But if you're in a senior-level position, you should give your employee a notice of about 3-6 months since employees at this level are a lot harder to replace.
The main idea when serving up a retirement notice is to ensure that you do everything necessary in your power to facilitate a smooth transition. As we noted earlier, do not give a longer notice even if you have the best intentions as your employer or colleagues might start treating you like a lame duck. For instance, they can leave you out of critical projects and this is something you don't want.
Write an Official Retirement Letter
In addition to personally telling your boss about your plans to retire and depending on how you reached an agreement with your boss on how to announce the news, it would be appropriate and respectful to send personal notes to important colleagues, as well as your extended network. You can also share the news in person with close staff but this will depend on the protocol of announcing retirements in your organization. That's not all; you should make the announcement official by writing a retirement letter.
A retirement letter is, of course, an official announcement of your retirement and proof of your retirement. Needless to say, the organization's human resource needs an official statement from you that stipulates your decision to retire. Organizations generally keep all information like your social security information, contracts, performance results, and any other employee records.
In essence, a company needs all the documentation related to an employer, and a retirement letter is one of them. It is proof that you left the job by choice and you should keep a copy of the retirement letter as well.
Bottom Line
Although you hopefully won't go back to being employed after retiring, it's always advisable that you retire the right way and this involves giving ample notice to your employer. By doing this, you'll not only continue having a positive relationship with your former employer but you'll also uphold your positive legacy within that organization.
Follow the above-discussed tips and do not leave in a lurch, It's always best to let them know by giving a retirement notice. In short, it's the smartest thing to do.
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