I’m considering giving notice of retirement but not sure what would happen after I do. In other words, if I were to give notice that I wanted to retire on October 1, would they fire me right away because I’ve had some poor performance evaluations but today we’re not talking about me leaving the bank. Just didn’t know if by giving retirement notice it might force somebody’s hand. Does anybody have any experience with this issue?
23 replies (most recent on top)
@wz don’t give notice is what they are saying. I would put together a nice folder on why the shouldn’t fire you then if they start that path you can tell them it would behoove them to lay you off and sever else you will fight them in public and you have the evidence needed then. If you get laid off, then declare retirement the week before your 60 day notice is done. HR can help on that.
@x0 Retirement benefits? What retirement benefits? There are none. Part of the problem, really. No incentive for elderly MDs to get out.
@c5 how did you get both? Benefits book seems to state it’s one or the other. I’m hoping to get package then retire
@dh so it’s better to get a severance via the “efficiencies” instead of officially Retiring?
Don't ever give more notice than is required by law and company policy. Why? Because they are downsizing 500-1000 people every month. If you tell your boss you're leaving months in advance, you may miss out on the golden ticket. Not worth the risk.
@OP I just resigned my position a couple weeks ago (I technically don't have the points to retire, but that's basically what I my plan is). I was required to give 30 days notice per my title but my boss said I could stay as long as I like because we are so short-handed and the workload is high. I have seen others who are actually retiring give several months notice and stay the whole time. Can't say how reviews played into any of that except for my own (I usually get Meets). Good luck to you!
It’s not in your best interest to announce your retirement this early or even discuss it with anyone. Read the Retirement section on Workday to make sure you qualify. Minimally you may want to give the required notice for your notice period. If you meet the retirement criteria you’ll get to keep your RSRs. Use your volunteer hours and personal holidays now as they don’t pay out when you leave. Request all of your PTO now (through your end date). Once you mention resignation or retirement and your manager enters it in Workday you are pretty restricted by the system.
Smile and nod for the next several months, fly under the radar. Good luck, been there unfortunately.
@c5 You are lucky
I did the same thing with legit reasons
I got a warning saying i request layoff.
Were you abused by the manager? is im the evidence. Do you have other evidence?
Don't retire, retire gave company a good number on paper. no benifit for you.
Fire and retire are the same.
You still have a chance for displacement.
Fire and resign, You can still argue to get unemployment benefit.
retire is.tje worst
I “retired” in 2025 after 12 years with WF. I met the age and years of service. There’s nothing you get if you retire from WF. I was an exec dir. so I had to also give notice to ensure my RSRs were intact. I ended up taking some time off and then went into consulting, working about half the year on projects. Good luck.
@d5 nope, displacement after IM is not preferred any longer. may still happen but not preferred
pressure from upper management not to pay severance for underperformance. questioned if you do.
It is real.
@cw
False
Been there done that, in 2026.
Management prefers to "displace" people with an IM.
Taking severance requires you sign an agreement not to sue (in the US)...and this is a preferred scenario.
There's no benefit to formally retire there. It's virtually the same as a resignation.
@ct said: "You have to be put on a PIP and there is a process before any of that happens which could take a year."
this is 100% FALSE. PIP not needed anymore if there is IM or NI rating.
That, and the rest of your argument falls apart because your mental model and assumptions are living in 5 years ago WF. In today WF, every business unit has super aggressive HC reduction goals. Fire someone early when they've said they're retiring - that's a positive... it's severance they don't have to pay and they don't have to do a selection process and eliminate a person they don't want to lose.
Don't listen to the malcontents on this board. There is no upside for the company to fire you once you've declared your retirement. It's ridiculous on its face.
The powers that be in the budget cabal decide how much headcount to reduce, then the ratings are used to sift the people into wheat amd chaff. Those who are "displaced" do tend to be the lower performers, but they still get severance (to head off lawsuits).
In other words, you won't be fired until there's a planned displacement in the cards. Managers that fire people "early" risk having their headcount taken away permanently and managers are extremely allergic to shrinking headcount. You have to be put on a PIP and there is a process before any of that happens which could take a year.
Headcount shrinkage for 2027 is being planned now. Only the Operating Committee really knows at this point. Best guess, another 7% headcount shrinkage in 2027.
On the other hand, there is no upside to declaring your retirement early, either.
Me, I'd ride it out, play my cards close to the vest
@cd Agree 100%
First - i'm sorry you have to deal with this in your final months. My spouse worked for WF, was planning to retire this summer and got termed in November for IM rating (no performance plan, nothing concrete about how to fix it, etc - everything you hear about on this board). Since he was only 6 months from when he was planning to stop anyway, we called it even and went on with our lives. (I still work for WF. Hoping to make it 4 more years and then retire but every day is a cr*p shoot whether that will happen or not)
Anyway, to your situation - with the type of (lack of) relationship you describe with your manager, and poor performance rating you get no benefit by telling them that far in advance. It could make them hustle you out the door faster to show that they're "managing out poor performers". no way to know really.
The employee guide to retirement says you should give several months notice... but that's not required, and you don't lose anything if you don't tell them
What i've been seeing lately in my business unit is people telling their managers with enough notice to meet the required "notice period" - which varies by level - and that's all. If you don't know what yours is, go to HRSS on teamworks and type in "notice period" to find it or call the HR wells number.
Good luck and congratulations on being within striking distance.
It’s very rare that you’ll get a manager and their leadership who will work with you on a smooth retirement this many months out. I only gave my 30 day required notice and told NO ONE at work I was retiring, they were shocked. My manager was terrible so I knew giving any heads up would be a mistake. If you announce your plan to retire they’ll make your life He-l and possibly fire you now with cause. We had a team member who announced their retirement 6 months early and our manager kept asking us for negative feedback about him!! They were looking for reasons to fire him so he’d lose his retirement benefits. If they fire you it’s easier to get your position backfilled.
@bj I don’t think I’ll be displaced. I think I’ll be fired because that’s what it sounds like is going on from what I read on this discussion board. It Would be wonderful to have my manager work with me as the one poster wrote; however, I don’t really know him well enough to know if if that would help or hurt me
Might want to talk to your manager and feel them out for a layoff package instead. I did, and I got a package and retirement.
For a true retirement they'll make you work every day of the notice.
Hard to say. The issue for them is that they will very likely lose the headcount. They may ask you to leave, maybe not though.
Curious why Oct and not wait until feb, one more round of 401 and bonuses.
If your displacement is coming soon, why not wait? Free money.
I've seen cases were people said they were going to another bank and they were told to pack that day. They were actually paid out i learned for the 2 week notice they gave.
I would never give more than a 2 week notice. If they lay you off, that might be a 6-12 years worth of pay and unemployment. There's zero advantage to giving them any sort of multi month heads up. Heck if they treated you bad i would give them a heads up in the morning that was your last day and ask them to mail you a box if they want the laptop back.