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I recently put my two weeks notice into a company that I had worked at for 5 years. At most previous jobs I've had fantasies about quitting, but this job I thoroughly liked. My boss (the CEO, it's a small company) was generally good to work for, the pay was good, and the work wasn't bad. I informed him and HR about my notice and as expected he was very distraught, but I just kept telling him that I liked working here. I also mentioned that it's just time for me to move on for my career and that I'd do whatever possible to make the transition easier.

I'm now a week into my notice and I knew that it wouldn't be possible for them find a replacement for me so soon (it'll most likely take months). My job is very unique, I have multiple ongoing projects and support tasks I need to take care of with my clients. My boss hasn't spoken to me since the day I gave him my notice and I'm not really sure what to do. He hasn't announced to the team that I'm leaving, which means the one person that could possibly take over my duties isn't up to speed on them at all. I would also like to alert my clients to my departure, but I have no new point of contact for them. I've never been in such a vital position and held so much responsibility when quitting before, so I'm not sure what to do if my boss won't talk to me.

VuongN
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    Why is it that you feel you need to do anything at all? Not being able to replace you quickly enough is a learning experience for your boss, it's not your problem. I would avoid trying to contact any clients too, you don't want to be seen as trying to poach them. As long as you are sure the 2 weeks is sufficient for your local employment laws (And maybe your contract) I wouldn't worry about it, just focus on your next job. – musefan Feb 21 '22 at 14:39
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    How did you resign? Did you do it verbally, through e-mail, letter? Do you have a paper trail? Some Letter with an inbox stamp? E-mail with a received confirmation? If you don't have a paper trail, do you have a witness of you resigning? – jwsc Feb 21 '22 at 14:54
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    @jwsc I resigned via email then spoke over the phone with my boss because I work remotely. – VuongN Feb 21 '22 at 14:57
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    Are you looking for a counter offer? Otherwise who cares? – Pete B. Feb 21 '22 at 15:33
  • Not a duplicate, but there are similarities: How do I deal with my current employer not respecting my decision to leave? – and also: How should I (or companies in general) handle transitioning after resignation with a bus factor of 1? – Dave Gremlin Feb 21 '22 at 15:47
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    To clarify, is your boss is refusing to talk to you now? Like not responding to emails or answering your calls? Or he just hasn't reached out? – BSMP Feb 21 '22 at 18:44
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    It's in their court. Document everything you have and try to leave information for whomever replaces you. Beyond that, it's up to them. – J... Feb 22 '22 at 13:07
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    On your last day, be sure to set up an out-of-office auto-response in your email, referring all contact to your boss, and make sure your voice mail is also updated. Be sure to note that "my last day with the company was X, so I won't be responding to your message". You may want to be super professional and polite and include "it was a pleasure working with all my colleagues inside and outside the company". – FreeMan Feb 22 '22 at 14:09
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    This sounds like a "them problem", not a "you problem". – Richard Feb 22 '22 at 18:54
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    @Bruce If resigning after 5 years was enough to poison the waters then I'm not sure there's anything OP can do. They've already offered to do anything to make the transition easier. They can't make themselves responsible for their boss' personal feelings about their resignation. – BSMP Feb 22 '22 at 18:56
  • Check reply from MonkeyZeus, might be of help in future. – GoodSp33d Feb 23 '22 at 06:37
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    If he won't acknowledge your leaving, then as long as your paycheck keeps getting auto-deposited after you're gone, you're golden! Not your problem. – Ian W Feb 23 '22 at 10:31
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    It isn't about boss' feelings, it's about his responsibility. We all have our own responsibilities. @Bruce I suspect also that you have poisoned the waters by this move. seriously?! OP doesn't seem to be in a management position nor a C-title. – None Feb 23 '22 at 22:59
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    @Bruce I understand, in which regard? The social responsibility changes with the context and environment. He acted professionally in a socially responsible manner. What would you want him to have done? What'd have been acceptable in your opinion? – None Feb 24 '22 at 01:24
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    @Bruce: what on earth was "socially irresponsible" or "poisoning the waters" about resigning after 5 years? That's meaningless. Jobs aren't perpetual indenture. How does anyone ever resign in your universe, unless they have negligible responsibilities? The CEO should simply discuss with OP how to handle ongoing project/ support/ client stuff. That's how it works. Agreed, when you're working remotely, sending an important message by email, rather than in-depth conversation followed by a short confirmation email, might be suboptimal. But, resignations and job changes will still happen. – smci Feb 24 '22 at 02:24
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    @Bruce Two weeks' notice is precisely what is socially acceptable. Otherwise, like you said, people would just leave immediately. It is, however, irresponsible to expect unreasonable things of your employees far beyond their contracts, or to accuse someone of doing wrong for not accepting that BS. – Matthew Read Feb 24 '22 at 04:20
  • @VuongN : It's been 2 weeks. I assume you've had your last day. May I ask for an update? I'd like to know how your departure was announced, if it ever was. – Darren Griffith Mar 10 '22 at 03:07

8 Answers8

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You have informed the boss, and HR. It is up to the company to determine their next steps: they can hire internally, they can hire externally, they can decide not to fill the position. The company will decide how to tell the team, and their customers.

Unless a company hires internally, they almost never have time to fill a position unless the incoming person has a shorter notice period. I have seen organizations identify a person internally and have the two people spend weeks together, I have also seen cases where the handover lasted 10 minutes. Or less.

Contact HR to discuss what things you must do by the last day: stuff to turn in, forms to fill out, details about the final paychecks.

Your obligation to the company is almost over. They will decide what they want to do, though they might not do that until after you are gone.

mhoran_psprep
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    I somewhat disagree with "The company will decide how to tell the team". If they haven't given you specific instructions and you like/respect your team I'd suggest telling them, from a "basic human decency" standpoint. – Martijn Feb 22 '22 at 09:04
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    @Martijn: while this would be desirable, it could be unwise to do. Resignations are typically considered confidential until the management decides to go public with it so be outing yourself, you potentially disclose confidential information without permission. I would ask first. – Hilmar Feb 22 '22 at 15:12
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    @Hilmar Is that something that would be typically written in an employment contract? (I assume the US?) None of my (EU) jobs had such a requirement and even the relevant labour law doesn't prohibit telling anyone when I decide to quit. – TooTea Feb 22 '22 at 15:20
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    @TooTea, unfortunately it's not unheard of here in the US. I got in trouble for telling people I was leaving when it was my last day, even though I was told "end of contract" the previous day. I thought people needed to know and my boss didn't like it. – computercarguy Feb 22 '22 at 16:10
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    @computercarguy Can you clarify what you mean by "in trouble"? Like legal trouble or was your ex-boss just not happy about it.? – BSMP Feb 22 '22 at 18:58
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    @Hilmar, I live the in US and have been in professional jobs for almost 40 years now. Not once have I heard "resignations are considered confidential". Some individuals may have thought it, but never said it. – donjuedo Feb 23 '22 at 02:04
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    In Germany the notice period is at least a month, sometimes much longer. I agreed in the past to not tell my co-workers that I gave notice for a couple of days to allow my manager to inform the team and the stakeholder in their preferred way. But I would never agree not telling them for more than a week. Teams need to plan for leaving co-workers too, it is hard to do a proper hand-over on the last day... – spickermann Feb 23 '22 at 07:13
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    @Hilmar never heard of resignations being confidential. All jobs I quit I informed my team the same day as I handed in the resignation. Sometimes even before I handed it in. I'm from EU though, I don't know about US work ethics – Ivo Feb 23 '22 at 08:56
  • At my current employer, we receive notification of employees leaving with various notice. Sometimes with several weeks notice, sometimes it's "yesterday was X's last day". I believe that in the latter case, the employee was terminated by the company, though I'm not in any sort of managerial position, so I don't know all the back story. Generally, though, when an employee chooses to leave, it's public knowledge pretty early on. Sometimes, it's shared with a select small group so they can start preparing, then the general announcement isn't made until a few days later. – FreeMan Feb 23 '22 at 12:18
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    @BSMP, my boss chewed me out for it. If I had been in legal trouble, I would have specifically said "legal trouble". I did say that "my boss didn't like it", not that it was against company policy or against any laws. I'm truly surprised so many people are misunderstanding this. – computercarguy Feb 23 '22 at 17:09
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    @computercarguy I think the misunderstanding comes from TooTea stating it's unusual for that to be in an employment contract in the EU, and your response stating that it's not unheard of in the US. Including the confidentiality of a resignation in an employment contract is neither a legal requirement nor customary in the US. Your employer can't restrict what you tell people, and they don't have any leverage once you've resigned anyway. – PC Luddite Feb 24 '22 at 00:37
  • @Hilmar I think there might be a bit of confusion here. Involuntary terminations are often confidential (although I can't imagine enforcing that on the person leaving - moreso on HR or other involved parties) to prevent gossip about the person or circumstances leading to the situation which typically are between the person leaving, their boss, and HR. A voluntary resignation is a much different situation, although probably unprofessional to gossip about. – coppereyecat Feb 24 '22 at 16:56
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As others have said, it's not your responsibility to find or train your replacement. But there is something you can and should be doing - letting your teammates know that you will be leaving.

Sometimes companies want you to hold off announcing your departure, but that shouldn't be more than a day or two. For example, they may be working on bringing in a replacement for you from another part of the company, and would rather announce both your leaving and your replacement together. So make sure you check first.

Email your boss and say that you would like to tell your team you are leaving, unless he prefers that it comes from him. If he comes back and says he would rather do it, or would rather you wait, let him. If he doesn't respond after a reasonable time then start telling your teammates. That should spark enough discussion about who is taking over your duties that your boss will be forced to do something.

DJClayworth
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    If there's no response at all from the boss to the "who should tell the team" email, since it sounds like the boss is completely ignoring the OP, I'd suggest a "since I haven't heard back from you, so I'll let them know tomorrow morning". Give him time to respond, but let her know you will be taking action unless you hear otherwise. – FreeMan Feb 22 '22 at 14:05
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    @Freeman I like this answer, because it contains an polite ultimatum: it isn't a "who should tell the team?" question. – Simon Crase Feb 22 '22 at 20:16
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He hasn't announced to the team that I'm leaving, which means the one person that could possibly take over my duties isn't up to speed on them at all.

This is the only piece that matters. You don't want your boss to paint a negative and unexpected departure to your coworkers; you'll need them for references in the future.

I would call and ask something along the lines of:

Hi boss, I was wondering if the team is aware of my impending departure? I would like to say my farewells.

Treat your resignation as a fact and not a feeling. At this point you should be executing standard resignation actions like documentation, tying up loose ends, and saying farewell.

Update

I just saw this comment:

I resigned via email then spoke over the phone with my boss because I work remotely.

Oof, that's a faux pas. Call me old-fashioned but I think you should have done the resignation over the phone; a follow-up email is for documentation.

What's done is done though so just proceed with the resignation.

MonkeyZeus
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  • Was searching for this, when you have worked for a long time, I think its fair enough have a conversation first and open up why this is happening and then drop in an email to make it official. – GoodSp33d Feb 23 '22 at 06:36
  • Agree that the phone call should have been first, with the email as a follow up, if at all possible. – coppereyecat Feb 24 '22 at 17:10
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My boss hasn't spoken to me since the day I gave him my notice and I'm not really sure what to do.

He hasn't announced to the team that I'm leaving, which means the one person that could possibly take over my duties isn't up to speed on them at all.

I would also like to alert my clients to my departure, but I have no new point of contact for them.

I've never been in such a vital position and held so much responsibility when quitting before, so I'm not sure what to do if my boss won't talk to me.

I hate to be "that guy" but based on these statements, I don't think your role is as vital as you think. Most companies do a pretty good job at making their employees feel like they are a valuable part of the organization and that the entire company's health is on you. It's part of the millennial era where we all grew up in the 90s and made to feel very important and that when we got a job, we'd be the most important person there that the boss can't fire.

My advice is to continue doing your work, don't inform your clients but definitely put an away message that reads something like your last day will be X and to forward the email to your boss. I also don't think you should feel obligated or somehow compelled to teach others. Just do your 2 weeks, tell your boss thank you, and head out to your new job. Hopefully you'll get an away lunch or something to that effect but it doesn't look like that is the case here. I do not recommend doing anything with the clients or how they should go about. That could be a lawsuit on your hands especially if you left them your personal number. Instead I would just do the away message and continue to answer questions as your approach your departure date.

Dan
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You enjoyed your time at the company, that generally implies that you have good relationships and respect for your boss and your coworkers, this unfortunate immaturity from your boss aside. There might not be any professional obligation here but departing on the best terms possible can be valuable for your own self-respect and connections for the future.

Do what you can asynchronously. Wrap up projects as much as possible. Document in detail the status and history of all your open projects and clients. Document all the "specialist" areas of your work that you feel aren't generally known.

Reach out to your boss, but phrase your requests in a way that put the value to him and the company. This reinforces your statement to your boss about liking working there and wanting the best for the company after you go.

  • "I think "co-worker" is best suited to take over these open tasks, shall I start some knowledge transfer?"

  • "I want this change to go over for the clients as smoothly as possible, is there someone I can bring up to date on their current issues so they can get in touch?"

Whatever happens you have put in a solid effort to leaving on good terms, and you can sign off with HR on your last day without regrets and with genuine good wishes to those you've worked with.

Miazga
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It is your responsibility to adhere to the terms of your contract. It is your company's responsibility to ensure the contract has proper terms and to prepare for business continuity issues arising from them. That's the bottom line.

In this case, your contract states you have to give 2 weeks notice to quit, and you did. That's your responsibility, and you've fulfilled it. Anything arising from that, e.g. with regards to giving someone else responsibility for your clients, making sure your coworkers are prepared to take over your projects, and so on, is your company's responsibility. They will instruct you, through your manager, as to what your responsibilities are during those 2 weeks notice to ensure company continuity, and you should do whatever they ask, because that's your responsibility.

If the company fails to acknowledge your resignation or fails to ask you to perform knowledge-transfer or anything like that, that's their business and not yours. You should continue to do your work as normal, and when the 2 weeks are up, simply fail to show up for work. That's all you need to do. In some cases, irresponsible companies will call ex-employees and ask for their assistance on continuity issues after the employee has already left the company. In this case, remind them you are no longer their employee and instruct them that if they need your assistance, you will require a consulting fee for your time (you may also politely decline the request if you feel so inclined).

Regarding letting your coworkers know you are leaving, unless you have specifically been instructed not to, you can send a note to your coworkers informing them of your departure, some warm message, and possibly personal contact info if they'd like to keep in touch or whatever.

Ertai87
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Resignations can be confidential. Not necessarily legal, but as a form of courtesy.

Often some people stick around only because of someone they like. One resignation would follow with others. That can be more of a concern than replacing the person who leaves - it might mean internal discussions of whether everyone is being treated well, compensated fairly, and sometimes they wish to act on your exit interview.

Trying to fill your position often indirectly announces that you are leaving. In the end, it's up to the leadership to decide how to handle it.

I've been in situations where they offered me a part time contract to keep my replacement up to speed, after leaving. This is uncommon, but it means there are still options for you and them.

Muz
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    This is silly. Even if the OP doesn't tell people today, surely they will notice in a week when the OP is no longer there. If it's so bad that your leaving will spark a landslide of resignations but management is somehow thinking that they can increase pay or fair treatment or whatever now that they're literally faced with people leaving, maybe rethink if management is the people who deserve your extra courtesy, or your coworkers who deserve the courtesy of not being blindsided by the extra work. – user3067860 Feb 24 '22 at 21:27
  • From the question, I had the impression that OP was good friends with both the management and colleagues, and wished the best for both. If OP is leaving despite good pay and treatment, it's unlikely that management is bad. It seems more like a courteous divorce situation. Colleagues are likely to leave because of OP's leaving left a hole in the ship. – Muz Feb 26 '22 at 06:40
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Just a thought: why not draft a short hand-over plan, which includes a list of responsibilities, who IYHO is best suited to take them over, and they key things they need to know? This could be useful evidence if (worst case) your boss later claims that @VuongN left them in the lurch.

Simon Crase
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