I had a surprising conversation today with my immediate supervisor.
Let's recap some facts before I go into detail.
I gave 7 1/2 months notice that I would be quitting on or about May 1st. I expressed a willingness to be flexible on the date, either moving it forward or backwards a bit.
Several months back I turned in my "official resignation letter" to my supervisor with May 1st as the date.
I then rewrote that resignation letter several times until it met the "standards" of my supervisor.
I had found a qualified candidate in the local area, with all the required skills, certs and other government requirements 7 1/2 months ago. They pissed away 5 1/2 months before they got around to discussing salary with said candidate, and were unwilling to even match what the person makes now.
It's now two weeks to the day from May 1st. Last week, I heard they might have a resume coming.
So, I stop by my supervisor's desk and ask if the candidate was suitable.
(Being the only programmer the company has on staff at this location, I knew I would never, ever, EVER be asked to interview a programming candidate. I mean, why would management want to interject professional expertise into such a decision? But I digress.)
The resume hadn't arrived.
So, I asked, "So, will you be wanting me to come back for a couple weeks to do a proper handover, when you get someone in?"
He looked like he had just been pole-axed.
(In case you forgot, my nickname of SwordGuy is because I have a hobby that entails putting on medieval armour and fighting in it with wooden swords, axes, and, yes, pole-axes. So, having actually looked someone in the face as I pole-axed them, I happen to know my description was perfectly accurate. But I digress again...)
He was totally astounded that I was leaving on May 1st!
I mean, WTF?
Apparently, he thought I was just going to stay on until they found someone.
How the hell could I do that? I turned in my resignation letter with a date of May 1st. It was accepted.
***I*** can't unilaterally decide that I'll just hang around and continue to work! Once my resignation date hits the client takes my badge and will no longer allow me on the premises. In fact, the security guy had actually approached me last week and confirmed my last day on the job...
Now, I don't particularly give a damn about my current employer. They wouldn't lose one nano-second's worth of sleep over laying me off. They have zero loyalty to me and my wellbeing.
But I **do** happen to care about the work their client does. I'll go out of my way to help them out (but not at the cost of not retiring soon). I'm burned out and NEED the change.
I was asked what I could do to help them out.
Here's what I'm thinking (and why).
I was planning to go on COBRA for the rest of this year and perhaps the full 18 months. But that would only get me to Dec 1st of 2019, not Jan 1st. If the ACA coverage is as good and about the same cost I'll switch over to the ACA in Jan of 2019. If not, I'll want to use the COBRA as long as possible. If I can extend health insurance by 1 month, that takes me all the way thru to 2020.
So, I'm considering offering the following options:
1) They cover my insurance as they've been doing. I'll be on call on an as-needed basis to deal with important issues, with a daily rate equal to my current salary, but I bill in whole days. When they get a new person in, I'll commit to 2 or 3 weeks of full-work-week hand-over time, though that might have to work around my travel schedule.
2) Same as #1, but I am in the office about 2 days per week to show the flag, whether there's a problem or not. The days would shift as needed (except for emergencies) to allow for my non-workday plans.
That would save me most of the cost of our health insurance and also add several thousand a month into our cash flow, plus reduce the amount of time I need to cover with health insurance before the COBRA runs out. Also, if there is a delay on selling the old house, it reduces the need to pull from ready cash.
It's a win-win-win for the client, me, and the company, as long as it doesn't drag on too long. I'll include a 30 day notice in the offer.
I may find that only having to work 2 days a week might not be as irksome as 5 days plus very limited vacation time. Or not.
Thoughts?