How do I hand in my notice to my boss while she's dealing with a family crisis? In what way can I handle this in a way that is tactful and professional?
I work in marketing for a very small (and floundering) tech start up. My direct boss is the CMO. I've been there for a little over a year and was promoted a little over a month ago. There are four people, including my boss, on the Marketing Team and I oversee our leads-to-sales process, manage major projects, such as our website, which is currently being redone etc. Hierarchically, I am directly below my boss. However, there is a huge age/career gap there--she is the CMO and I've only been out of college three years. I should also mention that my boss is remote--everything we do is over email or the phone.
While I've learned a lot in this job, I don't plan on making a career out of marketing. Back in the beginning of the year I applied for a fairly competitive fellowship in another country. The fellowship is exactly in-line with what I want to do career-wise. I recently found out that I got it. I was planning on handing in my notice tomorrow, giving our team four weeks to handle the transition (my last day will be July 29th). However, I just found out that my boss's mother, who has been very sick for several months, just passed away.
I still want to hand in my notice but I'm not sure how to do this sensitively. Timing was already going to be bad--the company has been floundering for several years and it looks like it might be going under soon. Marketing has been under the microscope and my boss has been under a lot of pressure. There are also a few personal factors at play here--my Aunt is the CEO of the company (which is how I initially got the job) and my boss has always been very open with me about her levels of stress and her mother's illness. I think it makes sense to hand in my notice earlier, rather than later, so that the team has more time for the transition. But I don't know--in what way can I handle this in a way that is tactful and professional?
