Do I have to tell my colleagues that I'm leaving?

Question

I handed in my notice this week and my boss has told me that he has not said anything to the team because he "knows that it is my personal business and is something that I need to do in my own time".

However, I don't think that it should have to be me to tell them - I would imagine that it is down to my boss to announce it rather than me.

Further to that, I actually don't want to tell anybody - I would rather just slip away quietly on my last day and leave it at that because I am not one for huge amounts of attention, plus I get the impression that people will view me in a more negative light for leaving.

Some might think that this is a duplicate of this post, but it is not as my scenario is the opposite - my boss wants me to tell my team whereas I don't want to.

Answer 1

Do you have to? No. Should you? Yes.

Why?

Because it's not about you.

When you work with people, they do get used to you and they get emotionally attached. Giving people a chance to say goodbye is a kindness, it is also a good business/career move. You may or may not go back to that company, but if you do go back to work again, you may need references and you don't want to burn any bridges.

Just leaving without a word may offend certain people. People you might not think even care could turn out to be your strongest allies in the future. As @Dank said below, leaving without a word could get the rumor mill started. People tend to gossip, and they will fill in with fiction where they don't know fact.

If you want to avoid too much fuss, tell people on your last day and let them know what a pleasure it was to work with them.

Before you leave, send a group email saying that you will miss everyone and enjoyed your time with them. This will leave a fondness for you with your coworkers and it is the professional thing to do.

Answer 2

The boss is being courteous in giving you the choice of when and how to announce this. If I were you, I'd appreciate that rather than complain about it.

If you prefer to have your boss announce this, ask him to do so.

But really, it shouldn't be a big deal either way. This is a fairly common occurrence. And it's going to become public knowledge anyway as soon as you start briefing whoever will be taking over your duties.

Answer 3

You don't say what industry you're in, but I can tell you right now, as a software engineer, this would be the worst way for a colleague of mine to leave. We have a very tight schedule, that we're nearly always behind on, and release dates that can't be shifted. The loss of an engineer with advanced notice causes my blood pressure to spike in panic, particularly since it can take months to replace them. When one of my coworkers left recently, he actually told me several months ahead of time, when he was just looking and hadn't told anyone else and I really appreciated that. It gives me a chance to re-plan, reset expectations, and run damage control.

If one day he had just said, "Oh, by the way, today's my last day," or, worse, one Monday morning our manager tells us, "So, John's not with the company anymore," well, John's never again getting hired at a company I work at for the rest of my life. As soon as I find out he's up for a position, I'll head straight to the hiring manager and tell them that John can't be relied upon, and has a history of disappearing without notice.

When you leave a company, you want to leave a good last impression for everyone. You never know when you'll be working with these people again, or who they'll talk to, and you don't want to be That Guy Who Mysteriously Disappears Without Notice.

Answer 4

Further to answers already here, it's a good idea to let people know, even if it's just your team so any tacit knowledge you have can be documented and/or passed over.

There may also be things you do either daily or weekly which they don't realise you do but if it's not done can cause issues, so they need to be handed over.

If you're not getting a direct replacement, any of your duties need to be passed out to other people or documented for when they need doing by whoever is available.

With all that in mind, just remember you don't have to tell them why you're leaving. They will undoubtedly ask, and it's difficult to avoid without being awkward, but there's no need for details to those who don't need to know.

Answer 5

At some point, someone may have to tell some of your colleagues. For example, whoever is taking over your responsibilities will need to know so they can work with you to ensure a smooth handover. The person responsible for paying you each week will need to know also, so they can ensure you receive your final check, any other guaranteed compensation (e.g., can you cash out your PTO?), etc.

If you do not want anyone beyond those with a "need to know", let your boss know this. You don't have to tell anyone, but your boss may need to tell some people.

That said, depending on the work environment, once the "need to knows" know, everyone else will know. Then you will be getting even more attention. Everyone will be stopping by saying "I heard rumors that you are leaving, is that true?" So, if you are trying to minimize attention, I suggest just telling everyone. If you take it into your own hands, you can nip this in the bud.

Answer 6

There are professional and personal consequences you have to think about.

Professionally, the main thing is transfer of responsibilities. If you have no particular responsibilities, and are pretty much interchangeable with your colleagues, then there's nothing to do here. Some jobs are designed like that to allow for frequent staff turnover with minimal impact. Otherwise, this is your boss's responsibility to manage, but depending on your role you might be heavily involved in it or it might even be delegated to you. If you're telling people stuff about how to do your job when you're gone, you kind of have to let them know you're going in order to provide context for that.

From what you've said it seems like your boss is completely relaxed about this and foresees no problems. You might be inclined to follow that lead. However, maybe your boss is assuming you'll start telling people quite soon, and doesn't realise that your preference is not to do it at all. You should discuss this with your boss, because it's not clear whether "it is your personal business" is really intended to take precedence over "you need to do it". If you'd prefer for your boss (not you) to make an announcement at the latest possible time, then just ask.

Personally, there are likely to be people who'd prefer some sort of closure. If they know you're leaving they might stop by your desk to say goodbye, maybe exchange personal email addresses, or pay back the price of a coffee they borrowed from you 18 months ago when they forgot their wallet, never paid back, and would feel guilty about. Whatever's important to them. Furthermore, if you take a moment to say goodbye to them that's a social signal that they have meant something to you (perhaps not much, but more than nothing). So you can leave on better terms by giving people a short amount of time to do that -- perhaps a few days or even just a day, depending how easy it is to drop by and speak to you.

If your workplace is generally unpleasant, and you think it will be made even more so because your colleagues are horrible to people who are leaving, then they'll despise you whether you tell them or not, and perhaps you might as well sneak out. But if you're on good terms with them and just shy about big parties and rounds of applause, you can let them know you're going but privately ask your boss (who hopefully knows this about you already) to intercept anyone trying to organise farewell cakes/speeches/whatever. This will deal with most of the people who, as you've seen in other answers, will remain civil to you after you have left only if you go through certain routine pleasantries.

It's also worth bearing in mind that there are some (relatively few) workplaces where employees are walked out the door as soon as they hand in their notice. So the shock of a colleague leaving without notice clearly can be survived, but the difference from your POV between that situation and yours, is that in that situation everyone rightly puts it down to the employer's choice, and any ill-will falls on the employer. Whereas in your situation it's you who has chosen and they'll know it.

So no, you don't have to unless your boss instructs you to. Maybe not even then. Alternatives are that your boss does it instead of you, or that nobody does anything. Just be aware of the consequences when you decide.

Answer 7

As already said, it is recommended that you tell your co-workers you're leaving. They'll find out on the first day you don't show up to work anyway. While you may not care what they think and may not expect that to be a problem, you never know. I've had employers ask me about co-workers from previous jobs who had applied at my new(er) employer. So being the "person who just left, without saying good-bye" could come back to haunt you.

Also already noted, someone else will have to take over your work. Unless what you do is very simple, it may be necessary for you to update a co-worker on what you're working on, so they can take over more smoothly. While we don't know exactly what your boss said, he may be expecting you to initiate this; failure to do so could affect future references.

As for people thinking negatively about you: I've worked in places where the opposite has been true when I announced my departure. Sometimes I've found that people thought more highly of me than I realized. Other times I heard things like "You got a job at {insert perceived great workplace here}? So cool! I'd love to work there. If they have another opening, please let me know."

Also, there's the human factor - people will want to say their good-byes; if you just up and leave, they are more likely to think negatively about you than if you give them some advance warning.

Answer 8

A viewpoint not mentioned yet:

I guess there is a reason why you are leaving. Whatever it may be, I guess you are assuming that leaving improves your overal situation. Either you will be working in a better place soon, or you at least will leave an abysmal place.

Either way: live is changing to the better for you! Rejoice! Let it be known far and wide that you are leaving, be happy about it. All pressure you felt in the old place has now fallen away from you. All problems the old place made you suffer through are gone. You don't need to rub it in everyones face or even tell them why exactly you are leaving (if it is a reason inside the company, they probably can take an educated guess anyways). You can always just answer "I felt that it was time for a change", which is probably a) true and sounds b) entrepeneurical. You certainly don't need to throw a party on your last day.

But unless you are the underdog in your current company and fear physical harm if/when you tell them, by all means do so.

Answer 9

If you don't want to tell anyone I think that is your business.

I worked for a company where a guy left and we were not told.

As for negative light. Your colleagues would want to say good bye.

Answer 10

It's like this. you need to read your work contract, you may need to handover your resignation letter to your hiring manager. Then you should wait the notice period, because there may be critical projects that may directly depend on your expertise and you may asked to do knowledge transfer to somebody else in that time.

Never ever try to write your letter of good bye or inform others that you are leaving company. Simply within the notice period your colleagues should NOT know about that you are going to leave. It's bad for their motivation and teamwork collaboration with you.

The right time for that letter is a one day before you end your notice period. They day that you collect your items to your cardboard box. Write a letter thanking about their teamwork, dedication and cooperation.