Boss is refusing to let me take my foot off the gas

[tiredofthisshit21]

I'm retiring at the end of this year, corporate role, mid senior. I gave more than my contracted notice out of courtesy, did everything right. I've only got just over two months to go and I had thought that there might be a bit of easing back of the pressure to ease me gently into retirement. But my manager just keeps piling on the workload and pressure, regardless. I'm trying to care less, I really am, but there's no acceptance whatsoever that I have no incentive to go the extra mile any more. Currently facing into another working week with dread.

If you've been in this situation, how did you handle it?

Well, don't do them? You plod on the last two months, do the job you're paid to and say no to all overtime. Too many employers in the UK think this level of workload endlessly is acceptable because people bend over backwards to work stupidly long hours. Stop the extra hours.

You want to ease into retirement then there's the way, no more overtime. You're in control of that at least. Anyway, 2 months will go fast! Enjoy your retirement.

This!

But I’m unsure why you gave more than required notice if you wanted to stop working sooner.

The last months are likely to be more stressful than usual if anything because you’ve got handovers to do as well as your usual job.

That said, there’s no consequences if you don’t do everything asked of you now!

I do agree you can’t expect to be paid the full salary for these final months but effectively work less than the full job.

Maybe because she’s deliberately worked a longer notice than she had to and also has likely been working there a long time and given a lot to the company, so deserves to be treated well. Or maybe that it’s better for the business to have the work completed properly and handed over efficiently rather that the OP just reach the end of her tether, go off sick and leave things half finished. And finally if the current employees see people being treated well and leaving on good terms with their employer, rather than being worked into the ground like a knackered old donkey, they might be more tempted to stay long term themselves.

Perhaps it might be good for the teaching profession if those about to leave (I.e with very little to lose) took a bit of a stand and refused to do all the “extras” without being paid? Maybe they should be making a stand?

Make sure you stop the late finishes. If you haven't got time to complete the work they're piling on, say so. Having your replacement starting should be an ideal opportunity to offload some tasks. As others have pointed out, what can they do if they object?

I've seen this from both sides. As an employer I had more than 1 valued. long term member of staff retire around retirement age with plenty of notice. One was mid management and whilst we expected a reasonable period of notice, we worked with the employee to ensure that they wound down and handed over their role, projects and knowledge. We expected management to go the extra mile, but not to the level of staying late every night and hitting unrealistic deadlines, and certainly not in the last 6 weeks before retirement. We also had a celebration to mark their final day with gifts etc.

As an employee, I retired early; nobody cared. It was actually worse than leaving a job. However, I had pre-empted their behaviour by going part-time for the 2 years before I left; this included working fewer hours, so the expectation to be available 24/7 had been removed.

OP in your situation I would just turn up at your start time, go home at your finish time and do some work whilst you are there, especially once your replacement is in place.

There definitely is.

An organisation can't have a senior employee work flat out to their last day and then just stop, it would create mayhem. It's not like they can just slot in a new person to put widgets into a thingummy.

Most organisations, ime, wind people down in their last few weeks (and this includes those who have a long notice period and are on their way to another employer) to avoid this cliff edge.

OP, work to rule, say no, and in your last couple of weeks, start actively slacking. You will actually be doing the company a favour to force them to work out how they are going to manage without you.

Work to rule. They won’t fire you. Leverage your sickness policy if they get particularly bad. 2 months is no time at all.

It would still be unreasonable to pile lots of extra work onto a teacher just because they were retiring, or to badmouth them for being unable to do it.

Just do what you can, without too much stress, and leave the rest.

Why does every post about jobs end up “what about teachers”? Give it a rest. Other
people work hard too, newsflash

He’s getting the last drop out of you! Don’t let him! He might have an ulterior motive to make you leave early because he has someone else lined up and doesn’t want to pay you both. You might be brilliant and he’s worried how he’ll cope without you? Whatever it is, work exactly your hours, don’t take work home, go out for your lunches, ask if there’s any possibility of doing some remote days. After a month, wind things down, tell him of things that won’t be completed, if you have any personal logins on work hardware log out and ensure you have a personal computer. Clear out desk and drawers of personal stuff. Take any annual leave owed. Ask if there’s any possibility of WFH sometimes. Book some weekends away or other activities. Just gently quiet quit and check out. He’ll start asking other people. If he asks you to go early, ask to see the written agreement that pays you to your last day. You’ll get there…

Also one other thing- what about getting AI to do quite a bit of your work? Don’t tell the boss obviously but are you using it as much as you can (summarising things and drafts of handover materials is quite a good use of it IMO).

oh just go off sick @tiredofthisshit21. LIfe is too short for this crap!

You’re de-mob happy OP so the work feels particularly egregious. Whether you go hell for leather the last couple of months or really start to ease off your last day will be here before you know it.
I retired from my job last year and it was the most underwhelming day of my life. No one from my team was in and my line manager called me and told me where my certificate was and that was it. I worked for that public sector organisation for 26 years ( and that department for 8 years) and ultimately my last day caused not even a ripple. Get one of those countdown widgets for your phone and start planning the rest of your life. Congratulations

Some good advice, thanks. I will definitely take it.

They don't pay sick pay when you're in your notice period so it would be unpaid. They also won't pay me my 2026 bonus because I'm leaving, which I think is a pisstake.

This is an organisation which has normalised long working hours, and if you don't do it then you stand out. But I'm not doing it any more.

Yup!

Just go off with stress !

Say clearly "I dont have capacity" finish on time and ignore them...

What are they going to do? Performance manage you out?

I bizarrely only have a 1 month notice period in my contract despite being fairly senior. My plan when I retire in a few years time is to literally give a months notice for this exact reason

I had a role like this - rekentless- retired 6 years ago - so happy. Keep your head down it'll fly by

Does it matter if you don’t get a couple of weeks sick pay if the job is causing you to dread every Monday?

Also sorry about the bonus but the time to negotiate that would have been when you agreed to a longer notice period.

Honestly I think you have to slightly take the financial hit if you do want a bit of time off. Hopefully things aren’t financially too tight anyway if you’re retiring slightly early.

Treat this as a lesson in “decoupling” from your employer, if they aren’t going to pay you a bonus and try to take the piss then you’ll only do what works for you. Do it with a smile on your face and some slightly passive aggressive emails and the 2 months will fly by.

So don't do extra hours, arrive and leave on time. Do what you reasonably can in the time you are paid to work. You are in the driving seat here.

When would you have to continue to work till to get your bonus? Can you change your notice period and work till then?

Work to rule - no unpaid overtime - what have you got to lose?

I am appalled by the amount of extra work that companies expect rather than employing the right number of people needed for the job. You need have no further truck with this now.

Enjoy your retirement.