I'd probably give 3 months. any more than that it will be too much of a weird limbo, even if it does take them longer than that to hire and train a new person.

In my role, it's usually a year plus to recruit, hire and onboard, so when I've left jobs I've given 2-3 months and spent that time ensuring projects are transferred to others or wrapped up, as needed. I once gave almost 5 months and it was too long. People dont know whether to include you in a meeting, or not, etc.

When your manager says things like "I don't want you to leave bc this work is too much" start responding with "yes we need to train someone else on X and Y because eventually I will be retiring". This shouldn't be a shock at ALL since you are 64.

But like others have said, this is definitely a situation where you should look out for yourself first, then the company. It's not your problem if they can't produce this report without you. It's the company's problem. Yes it might suck, but that's how they learn that sometimes you need redundancy.

Early in my career a very important web developer for our company dropped dead over the weekend of a heart attack. Everyone was stunned. And no one knew how to do his work. There was stress about it for maybe 2 days. Then: they just figured it out. Life moved on. It was a good lesson that even the seemingly most important people are replaceable. So are you.

Anonymous wrote:I would talk to your manager now and put it out there that you are looking into retiring before the end of June and that you would like to starting discussing a real transition plan. This way you are not blind siding them and can feel that an organization that you worked with (and I assume) supported you for over 20 years is not left in a spot.

See if there is are some new AI tools that can help you transition tasks / capture knowledge transfer. Clean up your 20 years of email / files etc.

If I was your manager, I would want to celebrate you and your contributions.

Thanks for these ideas.

I am in a union and double checked. I only need to give two weeks.

But a new wrinkle: Company wants us to slash over a million bucks in the first quarter so I could be getting a buyout offer.

I would talk to your manager now and put it out there that you are looking into retiring before the end of June and that you would like to starting discussing a real transition plan. This way you are not blind siding them and can feel that an organization that you worked with (and I assume) supported you for over 20 years is not left in a spot.

See if there is are some new AI tools that can help you transition tasks / capture knowledge transfer. Clean up your 20 years of email / files etc.

If I was your manager, I would want to celebrate you and your contributions.

pp again, 3 Months but your focus is on training, if they'd like you to train. NOT working full-throttle wearing-yourself out. Be scaling down. You're there to help with the transition, not there giving 110 percent.

3 Months

Do you know anyone who has retired within the last year or so? Can you confidentially ask one of them for info about notice and policies you might not know?

I retired last year. My company has a policy whereby regiments can only happen on the first of the month and there is a deadline to put in your written notice. If you miss the deadline, yo are free to leave but you lose all of your retirement benefits unless you make your date effective the following month. You can use vacation to serve out your time but you can’t use sick leave absent a qualifying reason or leave without pay. So based on my experience, I’d say check your company’s policy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the culture and norms. You’ve been there 43 years so you should know… will they use your early notice as a way to push you out the door if belt tightening is needed? Also, I’m sure you have deep knowledge. But no one is indispensable. The company will not fall apart if you leave and they bring in someone else to learn the ropes - in 6 months that person is going to be at least competent in the position, maybe not masterful to your standards, but they will be fine. All this to say, it’s not as simple as giving notice - it requires some strategy on your part.

OP here. I would like to tell them now and get people cross trained. I agree that others can learn it and do a great job. But it can be a crushing amount of work and stress when you are learning it.

These seem like good reasons to train someone, retirement or no.

You can start training people without giving notice or you can think about working as a contractor post retirement

2 weeks. Not my job to run the company.

2-3 months

My coworker gave a month's notice. Another coworker gave two month's notice. There are people at my law firm who've given half a year's notice. Any is totally acceptable.

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the culture and norms. You’ve been there 43 years so you should know… will they use your early notice as a way to push you out the door if belt tightening is needed? Also, I’m sure you have deep knowledge. But no one is indispensable. The company will not fall apart if you leave and they bring in someone else to learn the ropes - in 6 months that person is going to be at least competent in the position, maybe not masterful to your standards, but they will be fine. All this to say, it’s not as simple as giving notice - it requires some strategy on your part.

OP here. I would like to tell them now and get people cross trained. I agree that others can learn it and do a great job. But it can be a crushing amount of work and stress when you are learning it.

Anonymous wrote:If you have a pension, I wouldn’t give notice one second before you’re fully vested.

I am fully vested.

Waiting until 65 for the Medicare.