Job Change Checklist?
August 30, 2017 4:05 AM   Subscribe

I haven't changed jobs in a while- help me checklist the transition. What do I need to do to ensure the departure from being a FTE at Current Job to being a FTE at New Job doesn't leave any dropped balls? Not work stuff, projects or task transfer- I'm talking my benefits, personal items, insurance etc. - stuff for ME. (Midwestern US location)
posted by I_Love_Bananas to Work & Money (6 answers total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
Response by poster: (Adding- history has proven quite conclusively that I cannot rely on HR to be helpful or supportive; they will offer the minimum required, and no more. If I leave something on the table, they're not going to remind me I'll be missing out on something that would be beneficial to me once I leave.)
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 4:08 AM on August 30, 2017


Best answer: Make sure you are either cashing out your remaining paid vacation days or using them to extend your end date. In some jurisdictions you are required to be reimbursed for them, but not all. If you have a lot banked up (like many Americans!), you may have so many that you could accrue another few while taking them. Unless either job says otherwise explicitly you can take those vacation days (and collect the salary) while working at your new job, so don't throw them away just because you don't want to take a long vacation.

Likewise, most employer provided health insurance renews monthly, so if your last day of work is September 1, your insurance won't expire until October 1.

Keep paper copies of all of your paperwork, or forward to your personal email address, and find out an email address and phone number for HR that is public facing before you leave.
posted by telegraph at 4:47 AM on August 30, 2017 [1 favorite]


If you have a 401k, stock shares, profit sharing, or anything like that, find out what financial institution is managing that and get contact info for the coordinator. Hunting that info down is harder when you don't work there. You don't have to roll over now or anything, but get the info on who to contact when you do so you don't have to go back through the company.

If you have stock options, you may need to exercise them within a very short period after leaving. I had one month to buy those options or lose them.

If you have an FSA or other flex-spending account, spend it down. For the FSA, you are entitled to all the money you earmarked, even if you haven't contributed that much from your paychecks yet. So I signed up for $500 at the beginning of the year and that $500 immediately becomes available to you, even though it's Jan 10 and you've only contributed $20. And if you leave in February having spent all $500, they don't get to collect it from you. (This is how it was when I left my last job 10 years ago, actually; you might want to double check that.) But if it's still true, schedule that specialist appointment, stock up on medication and contact lens solution. As long as the service happens before your last day, you can still request reimbursement after.
posted by gideonfrog at 5:49 AM on August 30, 2017 [3 favorites]


Keep paper copies of all of your paperwork, or forward to your personal email address, and find out an email address and phone number for HR that is public facing before you leave.

And write down any and all employee ID numbers that you may have. It might be a number that you use nearly every day (to log on or whatever), but it's surprising how fast you'll forget what it is once you're not using it.

When you inevitably need to get in touch with HR for some reason after you've left, without those relevant numbers it's often a pain to get the info you need.
posted by andrewesque at 6:13 AM on August 30, 2017 [1 favorite]


Talk to HR at your new company and find out exactly when your health benefits begin.

Sometimes companies have a policy of not starting you until the 1st of the month AFTER you begin. If that's the case, you'll probably need to enroll in COBRA for the gap.
posted by JoeZydeco at 7:03 AM on August 30, 2017 [1 favorite]


If you have any type of transit benefit, make sure that you get that taken care of.

Don't throw out your old healthcare cards/info, you may need them to deal with old EOBs, etc.

I started taking my person stuff home over the period of a week or two, so on the last day I just had one shopping bag of stuff to take home. It's amazing how much crap accumulates at your desk!

As a courtesy to your coworkers and the next person at your desk/role, on the last day give your desk, computer, peripherals a wipe-down. I had one coworker whose computer was really disgusting, and IT didn't do anything about it and just handed it to the new person. Oh, also, wipe any personal files, info, browsing history from your computer. A competent IT department will do it as part of procedure, but that doesn't happen everywhere.
posted by radioamy at 9:54 AM on August 30, 2017 [1 favorite]


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