One thing I’ve seen work well with others (it wasn’t for me, because I wanted a clean break)…
Offer to support for limited hours at a (nice) retainer rate. Not hourly!
E.g. if leaving now, I’ll support you from July-Dec for $3,000/mo (or whatever).
At the time of quitting, your employer will want to de-risk the transition, so this will be attractive. But (assuming proper boundaries in place), the work after 1+ month is usually nonexistent and the employer essentially is paying you for peace of mind.
I wouldn't have done this either given my context (I wanted a clean break) but if I had been taking a sabbatical to have the time and headspace to (say) reorient my career, I probably would have.. It would have been a neat way to keep my skills sharp while earning money.
This is so helpful! People like me are lucky in a sense and lost our jobs before knowing we wanted to go on a sabbatical. I never had to go through the conversation of approaching a manager or company about taking one off and coming back after. I love that your wrote this out!
Thanks for reading, Michelle, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
Both are so difficult... it's just that the grieving process (of the working life that's served you for years) happens either while you're in a job (as you consciously decide to step away from it) or once you're made redundant (as you grieve a path that's been taken away from you).
I think I would have found it much harder to decide to go on sabbatical (i.e. take back control of how my life was going) while processing the 'blow' of having been made redundant. At the same time I would have appreciated the money that often comes with being made redundant!
One thing I’ve seen work well with others (it wasn’t for me, because I wanted a clean break)…
Offer to support for limited hours at a (nice) retainer rate. Not hourly!
E.g. if leaving now, I’ll support you from July-Dec for $3,000/mo (or whatever).
At the time of quitting, your employer will want to de-risk the transition, so this will be attractive. But (assuming proper boundaries in place), the work after 1+ month is usually nonexistent and the employer essentially is paying you for peace of mind.
I'd not heard that before but that's brilliant!
I wouldn't have done this either given my context (I wanted a clean break) but if I had been taking a sabbatical to have the time and headspace to (say) reorient my career, I probably would have.. It would have been a neat way to keep my skills sharp while earning money.
This is so helpful! People like me are lucky in a sense and lost our jobs before knowing we wanted to go on a sabbatical. I never had to go through the conversation of approaching a manager or company about taking one off and coming back after. I love that your wrote this out!
Thanks for reading, Michelle, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
Both are so difficult... it's just that the grieving process (of the working life that's served you for years) happens either while you're in a job (as you consciously decide to step away from it) or once you're made redundant (as you grieve a path that's been taken away from you).
I think I would have found it much harder to decide to go on sabbatical (i.e. take back control of how my life was going) while processing the 'blow' of having been made redundant. At the same time I would have appreciated the money that often comes with being made redundant!