my company is not planning well for my retirement … what’s my responsibility?

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager .
A reader writes:
I have worked for the same small company (less than 20 employees, including the owners) for almost 30 years. I am full-time, salaried, and exempt and handle a niche set of clients who have specific rules and regulations that must be followed. Approximately 85% of my work falls in two busy seasons, each lasting about four months. During those months I work between 100-150 hours of overtime. The other months, I do the other 15% of my job, prep for busy seasons, and use my generous PTO. I enjoy my work and my clients, and my bosses have been for the most part good to work for.
Next year I will reach my full retirement age, and plan on retiring. The problem is that we have no one who is, or will be, ready to take over my job by that time. I gave my bosses notice three years ago on when I was retiring, and they kept saying they would hire someone, but that didn’t happen until recently, and the person they hired is basically entry-level. When they hired them, they asked if I would be willing to work part-time hourly for a couple of years after I retire to help with the change. I said yes, but stressed part-time and only for one to two years.
We are currently in our first busy season of the year, and I started training the new coworker, Clive. About three weeks in, they pulled Clive to help in another non-related portion of what our office does. He is supposed to be returned to me for training next month. This has cut a huge portion of his training, and is going to make it very difficult for me to have him ready to even handle part-time in charge. In talking with other coworkers, I found (as I suspected) that the owners think I won’t leave them in the lurch, and will work “as much as needed” after retirement.
I am very fortunate in that financially I don’t have to work after retirement, so my working post-retirement is really a favor to my clients and the owners. If I get bored I can volunteer or take some mindless part-time job that won’t come with the responsibilities and stress I have here. So no, I will not work as much as they need.
I know I need to set up a meeting with the owners after this busy season ends, and get an agreement on what my transition hours will look like. I have a clear idea of what that should be for me: “X hours during first busy season, Y hours during second busy season, and Z hours spread out through the rest of the year.” Overall this would be roughly 40% of my usual hours, with all but about 15% of that happening during the two busy seasons. I also want to block off several non-busy-season weeks as not available so I can plan some much wanted travel, and do some projects I have been putting off. The second year I would like to cut those hours in half, and be completely done working at the end of the second busy season in year two. All of this means I have to be able to have Clive training full-time … no more pulling him off to work on other assignments, and the owners have to agree to that as well.
So do I just go in and lay it out like that? Or should I originally ask for less than what I am willing to do so I can “give” a little? Is it really even a negotiation? Ultimately I know it’s in my control, since I can just say, “Okay, you want more than I am willing to give, so you should plan on my last day being X as originally discussed, and I will gladly do all I can to train whoever you want as fully as possible until then.” My spouse thinks I should not say that if it comes to it. He thinks they might make my last year miserable by constantly “guilting” me to try to get me to change my mind if they know that. I do care about my clients, and I want to make the transition as smooth as possible for their sakes, so I think transparency of what I will or won’t do is the best course for everyone, but he’s right that I don’t want to spend a year being made to feel guilty for doing what is best for me, and there is a good chance they would do that.
I should add that finding someone with experience in what I do in this area is very difficult. There is only one other company in the area who provides this niche service; they are a larger company and probably pay more than our owners could, and this is not a place people would likely want to move to, for economic and other reasons. So training someone from the ground up is about the only option other than dropping the service, which I know they don’t want to do, as it would have ramifications on the other portion of their business as well.
So how do I handle this? Lay out my terms I am willing to do, or ask for less than I am willing to do so I can negotiate up to what I really want them to agree to? And if we can’t agree do I let them know now that I won’t work after retirement, or hold that until closer to the date?
You don’t need negotiating tactics because there’s nothing to negotiate; you are the one who holds all the power, and you can decide what you are and aren’t willing to do, state that plainly, and hold to it.
It would be a bad idea to start by asking for less than your real bottom line just so you can then compromise a bit — because doing that will teach them that you will compromise if they push, and that means they’re more likely to keep pushing for more of what they want later on. You’re far better off just making your position clear: you’re offering your time as a favor, you would be perfectly happy not to do it at all, and so anything you’re willing to give them is a courtesy and if they pressure you for more it will be easier for you to make a clean break instead.
In other words, this isn’t a debate or a negotiation; it’s you letting them know what you’re willing to offer, and they can take it or leave it.
Frankly, if we had a time machine I’d suggest you not offer post-retirement help at all. You don’t need the money, this particular work comes with stress and responsibility that you’re looking forward to leaving behind, and you have lots of other ways you’d like to spend that time. However, now that you’ve made the offer and they’ve hired someone based on that agreement, I don’t think you should back out as long as they respect it — but you can certainly make it clear what your boundaries are.
In this case, that means you should meet with the owners as soon as reasonable and say that in order for the plan you all agreed on to work, you need Clive training full-time with you from this point forward, and if they pull him into other projects, he will not be ready to take over when you leave, period. That’s also the time to lay out the hours you’re willing to work after retirement — and you should frame that as “this is the maximum of what I can offer.”
But before you do that, please seriously consider whether you really want to be working as much as you’ve proposed here. Working 40% of your usual hours means you you’ll be missing out on a lot of the benefits of a real retirement. Do you want to do that, or do you think it’s something you have to do to make the transition work? Because that’s not your responsibility! You could work 20% or 10% of the time or none at all. Your company has had three years to plan for this, and you do not need to sacrifice the first two years of your retirement just because they didn’t.
If they push for more hours, you should say, “X is the most I’m able to offer. I don’t have any wiggle room on that.” If they keep pushing, try saying, “There’s no option for more than X; it’s just not on the table. Given that, does it make sense for me to continue training Clive or no?”
If they agree but then keep pulling Clive into other projects, you should say, “Just a reminder that I won’t have Clive ready in time if he’s not training with me full-time, so if you put him on this project he won’t be ready to take over when I leave.” From there, it’s up to them — you’ll have given a clear warning and what they do with it is their call. But you should not alter your own plans in response. If he’s not ready because of their choices, that’s not on you — they’ll have to deal with those consequences. (However, you should consider whether you’ll even want to do the part-time work if he’s not fully trained. If his insufficient training will mean more stress for you when you’re part-time, you should raise that now too — say your ability to return part-time is contingent on Clive working with you full-time between now and then.)
As for your spouse’s worry that your managers will make your remaining time miserable by constantly guilting you to change your mind, try this: “The more we debate this, the less appealing it becomes to stay on part-time at all! If you want me to work part-time, this is what I can offer. If you are going to keep pushing me for more, my preference is to make a clean break.”
And keep in mind that their ability to guilt you relies on your willingness to feel guilty. If you can get really clear in your head that you’re entitled to stop working there entirely at any time (including tomorrow, if you wanted to — what was their plan if you got another job and gave two weeks notice?!), you’ll shore up your defenses against whatever emotional manipulation they may attempt.
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