When to tell boss I'm retiring?

stuhse

Say nothing at your appraisal, save your leave up, hand in your notice the day after your bonus is in the bank. Work/take leave for the 3 months.  You'll have plenty of time to work out tax, don't let a notional date control your life. 5-10k is not to be sniffed at.  At a few places ive worked there would be no bonus once they knew you were leaving,  but in my head its money youve earned by your good performance in the past...so you are due it. Make sure you get it.

Ciprico

Your tax situation will surely significantly change when you leave, so a bit of extra tax admin can't be avoided so shouldn't be the basis of your decision.

Getting out in time to fully enjoy spring makes more sense, or working a couple of months after April to use 2024 nil band tax allowance would be higher on my list of reasons....

DullGreyGuy

Pat38493 said:

I doubt they would offer you a redundancy package if they knew you were already going to quit in a few months, but if they did wouldn't that be a good thing - free money.

No, it would be less money @Pat38493

OP says they have 3 month notice and 3 years service. If they follow their plan through they get 6 months more pay. If the employer made them redundant tomorrow they get 3 months pay and 4.5 weeks redundancy (assuming statutory only). Ok the 4.5 weeks will be tax free but that's still going to be notably less than the 3 months additional work the OP gets if they see it through. 

Albermarle

I don't think there is anything to lose by telling them as early as possible.  If you are concerned just make it clear that you are not giving your "official" notice yet but as a courtesy you are giving them extra warning that you are planning to hand in your official notice

If you have a good employer and good relations with your Boss etc then the above is the way to do it.

As someone who used to run a business, I would like to think you would have the decency to give your employer as long as possible to find a replacement.

I gave my employer nearly a years unofficial notice due to the obvious need for a bedded in replacement. However after 6 months I found that the HR dept. had done nothing at all !. In the end it was more like 15 months before I eventually left. So maybe best not give an employer too much time as it then gets relegated to the back burner, especially in a big company.

waveyjane

stuhse said:

Say nothing at your appraisal, save your leave up, hand in your notice the day after your bonus is in the bank. Work/take leave for the 3 months.  You'll have plenty of time to work out tax, don't let a notional date control your life. 5-10k is not to be sniffed at.  At a few places ive worked there would be no bonus once they knew you were leaving,  but in my head its money youve earned by your good performance in the past...so you are due it. Make sure you get it.

Hard ball, eh?  I like your style!

I found the policy: if I leave after 2nd March 2024, and the reason is retirement, then I'd get "Full cash element of bonus" for 23/24 bonus year. I want my last day to be start of April, so that would be good. Seems hopeful, as long as they don't have some extra definition of "retirement" (they don't give any in the document).

barnstar2077

Personally, I wouldn't let them know too soon.  I would stick to the required notice and leave it at that.  Why show your hand until you have to?  You have nothing to gain, but they could change the way they treat you for the worse.

cfw1994

barnstar2077 said:

Personally, I wouldn't let them know too soon.  I would stick to the required notice and leave it at that.  Why show your hand until you have to?  You have nothing to gain, but they could change the way they treat you for the worse.

I'm kind of with this view....but it does depend on the company and your relationship with everyone.

I got on very well with my boss (& his boss), and I did have a conversation several months early with them so they could start to think of the shape of the wider team after I was gone.   I knew there was zero chance I would get made redundant if there was a cull...

On the timing to leave....depending on your business: it may be worth working 1 or 2 months into the new tax year.  Then you would later get some tax back (perhaps a fair chunk if high rate taxpayer) a bit later.

Also: have you checked your State Pension is all paid up?   If not, working a bit into FY25 may fill another year...

Finally, if your holiday is done on a calendar year basis, you perhaps save up the days  & still be able to leave close to April.....work into June, but leave early in May (couple of bank holidays in May to help with that 😉).   Pretty well what I did!

theoretica

What do other people in your company do?  I have known quite a few of my colleagues give warning of a year that they will be retiring, or several months notice that they are leaving and going to study full time from next September.  So I know they aren't poorly treated for doing that.

barnstar2077

When it comes to retiring there is no required notice, if you will never work again then you won't need a reference anyway.  If you feel they have treated you fairly though then it is understandable that you would like to give them a few months warning.

If you wanted to leave straight away but not burn too many bridges then you could say that you are retiring on short notice for health reasons.  You feel awful about the short notice, but you must concentrate on your health, doctors orders etc.  They could hardly hold that against you at a later date.

cloud_dog

I know our business (HR Dept) will not place a vacancy until you actually leave, so the concept of advance notice won't benefit the act of getting a timely replacement.

I (we) are c.15(ish) months away from our R-Date, so theoretically end of 2024.  I am thinking we simply continue until April 2025 (unless I have pulled all my hair out before then).

I lead a department but I am only on a 1 month notice contract, and being completely honest it is not my intent to give the business unit more notice that I am legally obliged to so.  I have a very good team around me, who help make my working life a little more tolerable, and what I intend to do is to let my team know probably 6 months in advance of my likely end point, so that we can ensure we plan in the time to bring others up to speed / hand over the awareness of certain functions etc. 

I was going to have to work until after July, when bonuses are paid, but luckily for me my business decided last year to can my bonus but to add it on to my salary, which made the R-Date that much more flexible!