I am way over 55 years of age, and to be retirement eligible with XOM I must also have 15 years of service in, which I will have in 8 months. This place has treated me so badly, I can't stomach going to work any longer. I don't need the job, I won't be using XOM's Advantage Plan insurance, and after being told last week XOM will no longer give grants to MOST charities that employees volunteer for, I have no incentive to reach full retirement here. How stupid would it be to quit my job just a few months from full retirement eligibility? What will I lose? Will I be forced to take the lump sum pension, or can I take the monthly annuity?
25 replies (most recent on top)
Stick around for the health insurance. Try to stick around for the 8 months, never look back and enjoy your retirement.
Could you please let me know why you're bothering to work here? Every moment of your life is too precious to waste in this company surrounded by useless "Advisors" and "Supervisors" of many sorts.
I would not recommend working the next 8 months, but I do recommend showing up for 8 months.
Work so little that you get the PIP then bank 3 months of extra pay when you retire.
That's a pretty good racket.
A free dinner for giving the lowdown on the beast.
Gotta try that.
I was in the same boat when I retired. The last 6 months was excruciatingly difficult. I had a boss who was completely inept. Everyone around me was quitting. My job responsibilities grew every time someone left.
I understand the stress involved. It became so difficult, I began having physical symptoms (heart palpitations, hair loss, and insomnia).
I chose to stay. I decided to just do the basics and weather the criticism and ignore the digs directed toward me during meetings. It was so bad, I took every vacation day instead of banking them to get a big check like I’d planned. I pushed the “WFH” guidelines and I took quite a bit of sick time (unsurprisingly I caught every bug going around - COVID, strep, the flu), but I made it out alive.
It’s been 6 months since I retired and I’m only now getting back to myself. I was exhausted & depleted.
Since I left, a few people I know have interviewed and been offered jobs at EM. They asked me what it was like working there and if I would recommended. I firmly told them, “NO. Absolutely not. I would not recommend.” If they want to know details, I tell them to buy me dinner and I will tell them everything. After I tell them the good & bad, they usually choose to decline the offers.
Good luck.
my Kroger gas discount is better.
The gas card benefit is still available when you retire.
To answer the specific question this person asked, if you leave early your pension or equivalent lump sum are calculated from age 65 on. To be very clear, if you leave now you lose the pension for all the years between now and age 65.
Hang in there buddy. There are a lot of us on that timeline. Just do the best you can without letting them abuse you.
@1srr+1oxVtJHo you are obviously an arrogant a$$ that was part of the rot while you were here! Don't assume you know how miserable this person is and don't offer about you advice!! To the person asking this try to make anyway you can like so many other nona$$ people ha e suggested here! Best wishes and I hope you can make it through!
If you can't make 8 months then you don't deserve to retire, instead you deserve to work the rest of your life until you drop. So sorry.
...Or, you su-k it up and find your inner strength. I did it, it was not easy; but if I can do it I bet most can do it as well. If you can't make 8 months then you are lost. Please, don't be lost.
Now, having done the EM 15 years myself, I am sitting pool-side every afternoon with my favorite beverage + mind-altering smoke, financially independent, flush with retirement funds, never having to worry again about money, never having to make new money, never having to work a job for money never ever never again; thanks in part to my ability to last 15 years at EM, ha! (Plus other financial stuff)
Thanks EM!
Don't be a fool. Get your 15 years; then, enjoy the rest of your life :))
You will be closely monitored over the next 8 months. By telling everyone on the LAYOFF FORUM that you are 55 years old with only 8 months to 15 years of service, H/R can easily identify a handful of employees that fit this VERY NARROW BOX.
Stay there, but fake everything. How? Give information but not the whole thing, fake that you are training somebody, but don’t, etc,, etc. The most important part, do not tell anybody that you are going to have 15 years there; you close friend will tell everybody. Good luck!
I'm an annuitant and still get the gas discount.
There is a huge difference between retiring with “annuitant” vs “resignee” status. They don’t give gas card credits to annuitants any more, so the gas discount is a non factor. However, run the numbers on the pension- the annuitant formula may be different, and at this point, with only 8 months left, why give them the satisfaction by giving anything back.
Smile and wave through this final victory lap, and walk out the door with your head held high knowing that you took everything you could from them.
@1kkw You can still opt to take your pension at age 65 if you retire at 55. You will just have a lower salary and less years as a multiplier within the calculation.
The big money penalty is usually that if you leave early, you pension is based on full benefit at 65 vs 60.
But if you are close to 65 and do not need health insurance. It may not make that much difference.
Need to understand the numbers.
Don’t let them win. The time will pass either way, so let it pass while you get paid. Use every single ounce of PTO you’ve got. Sick, vacation, personal. Get doctors notes. He-l, go out of short term disability for 12 weeks. Whatever you gotta do to leg it out. You’re there, get what you earned and flip em the bird on the way out.
You lose a lot. If you're that close, put your ego aside and turn the tables on them. Set a comfortable routine seated at 8 sharp and leaving at 430. Accept all meetings you're invited to. Smile, nod and laugh often.
Run the numbers before you quit in anger. A friend ran the numbers and saw that he’d take a pretty significant long term hit leaving early, so he stuck it out until he got past the retirement eligible line
It makes absolutely no sense for you to quit right now and give XOM one of the biggest financial gift you could possibly give for treating you badly. The heath insurance and a good reoccuring monthly paycheck will take a lot of stress off your shoulders so that you can enjoy life during retirement. It will be worth it to hang in there.
If you aren’t 65 and Medicare eligible, you should hang in there to get 15 years so you can buy into the XOM health insurance at employee costs, otherwise you will be paying much more for private health insurance, unless you plan to get another gig.
Just mentally take a new attitude that they are going to be paying you for the bare minimum - also, make it to the next assessment - let them pip you, the younger colleagues with children depending on them will thank you. You can take the PIL and full retirement and you will be paid through Nov 24’ for doing almost nothing.
Above is actually some of the best advice you will get on this stupid board. I won’t even charge you for it. Congrats, you got light at the end of the tunnel and I’m jealous!
Hang in there! Don’t let them win.
I hear you. Treatment of employees is terrible unless you have something they want. Stick it out the next 8 months so you make it to retirement eligibility.
They can’t take your lump sum away if you opt to take it regardless whether you leave early or not.
Gas card is not a big deal. You get cheaper gas elsewhere anyways.
Stick it out and do the bare minimum
The Gas Card?