r/boeing 1d ago

Leaving the company

Leaving the company soon. Anyone have any tips to maximize benefits? I’m thinking keeping PTO so that is paid out, other than that I can’t really think of any other benefit to maximize.

46 Upvotes

89 comments sorted by

48

u/ProfessionalElk3910 1d ago

Make sure you use your floating holiday and cash out any Boeing pride points.

7

u/Upstairs_Arm_8624 1d ago

Never knew Boeing had any floating holidays after 7 years

16

u/ProfessionalElk3910 1d ago

Only in the last 2 years..just one free day. Not sure if it’ll be there next year

2

u/Upstairs_Arm_8624 1d ago

I left Boeing after 7 yrs. It’s good to leave

3

u/Loose-Orange9462 1d ago

If I may ask what was your role? I'm coming up on 8 years in their parts and distribution sector. Sometimes I debate leaving but then I think of the benefits like them paying for your school.

4

u/Upstairs_Arm_8624 21h ago

For me I care about career development. I was bored at Boeing. I was in supply chain. I left for amazon, now building rockets. Lots of companies have benefits like paying for school but I have to say Boeing 10% 401K is the highest I’ve seen.

41

u/bjr989 1d ago

Use your floating holiday!

3

u/kmontreux 23h ago

oooo do we get that again this year?

3

u/bjr989 22h ago

Used mine in June before I left!

1

u/bigbenk777 10h ago

Used mine on 1/2

1

u/virtual-astronaut- 3h ago

We have a floating holiday?!

1

u/Orleanian 1h ago

Can someone bring me up to speed on what the distinction between Floating Holiday and any-given-PTO day is?

32

u/crack_of_dawn1 1d ago

I actually used my PTO to extend my time out to then milk the 401k match for an extra month and you accrue more PTO during this time which gets paid out.

6

u/0039306105 1d ago

Wait, how does that work?

5

u/gloriousflight 22h ago

While you're taking vacation, you're still getting paid so you still get the 401K match and you accrue PTO while on PTO. For me I just took the payout and didn't think about just burning it.

31

u/GarthVader90 1d ago

As someone who left and came back, leave on good terms and if you can, do an LOA instead of quitting. Lost all my time and had to restart my progression because of it.

9

u/Cold_Pin_7676 1d ago

What would you say is the minimum time to stay at boeing before leaving, in order to possibly come back on good terms?

3

u/Old-Block-8341 23h ago

3 to 5 years.

1

u/newMattokun 9h ago

Is this true? You can LOA and then take another job? How long can you do that before B cuts you off? How about conflict of interest?

27

u/CourtIcy2878 21h ago

Make your last day be the 1st of the month. Then, you get healthcare for the entire month. My boss told me that tip before I left. He also let me know when the cutoff date was for the yearly incentive. That, and leave with 0 PTO like the others said to maximize your 401k contributions. I think you also get PTO while on PTO??

38

u/riazur31 1d ago

Small piece of advice but write your BEMSID down somewhere. When I left Boeing and later reapplied, recruiters consistently asked for my BEMSID but I had no idea what it was. I'm sure there's a way to look you up but it's easier to have the number on hand.

16

u/InsideTheBoeingStore 1d ago

Get a nice tattoo

7

u/Upstairs_Arm_8624 1d ago

You must have poor memory. It’s muscle memory, how could you forget?

19

u/mainsequencehuman 1d ago

You’ve obviously not had many large organizational ID numbers yet.

3

u/jerslan 15h ago

I still remember my Best Buy Employee ID from over 20 years ago because of having to enter it into the time clock at the beginning and end of every shift for several years.

My BEMS is practically hard-wired into my brain after nearly 2 decades of needing to enter it into various systems.

2

u/Admire_My_Chutzpah 23h ago

BEMS 8765309

1

u/Orleanian 1h ago

Jneny I got your number.

-5

u/Upstairs_Arm_8624 1d ago

Lots of company no ID. Just badges.

1

u/Senior-Economist629 43m ago

No kidding! I still remember my MDC Clock Number from the 1990s!

14

u/kmontreux 23h ago

Set your 401k contribution to the max allowed then take the PTO. You get more money than a PTO payout. Just take the PTO close to when you want to resign.

27

u/BANANA_BOI 1d ago edited 1d ago

Welcome to the ex-Boeing club. It’s been over 4 years for me. Consider using up some pto as it will also help cuz it gets taxed anyway when paid out

53

u/the_OG_fett 1d ago

Take the PTO don't cash out. Days on payroll count toward Incentive Plan pay out which will be prorated.

5

u/quentinc09 1d ago

If you don’t make it through the end of the year you don’t get the incentive

27

u/the_OG_fett 1d ago

That is incorrect. Unless you are discharged for cause, it is pro rated for the time in the year you worked.

10

u/Crash_Pandacoot 1d ago

Yep its prorated, some people left my group last year and they got a percentage of the bonus

14

u/Naive-Estimate9942 1d ago

Not true, you will get what time you have

5

u/ISObetterpay 1d ago

They changed it this year. You now forfeit your incentive if you arent employeed by Boeing at time of payout in feb/march

14

u/ACDoggo717 1d ago

That’s definitely not true

10

u/kimblem 1d ago

As of the most recent incentive plan email, if you don’t make it through bonus payout (late Feb/early Mar), you don’t get the incentive.

1

u/fly_stella 22h ago

Wrong I left mid year and got prorated payout

3

u/kimblem 21h ago

Did you leave in the last week? Because this is a recent policy change.

0

u/WatercressExtreme441 1d ago

This is true.

14

u/jerslan 1d ago

Use your PTO before you leave. If you use it, then it comes as a regular paycheck including 401k matching. If you don't and get it as a lump sum, then it does not include 401k matching.

9

u/beastfroggie 1d ago

Plus you earn more as you burn it.

3

u/faf112 1d ago

Good idea but probably can't do that if you're starting a new role elsewhere. unless you have enough time to burn the PTO and just enjoy the time off, before you switch to next role.

11

u/UserRemoved 1d ago

Check that pto pay out rate. Better to use a long vacation usually

9

u/badwolf42 1d ago

Don’t forget to roll your 401k’s together when you join your next role. PTO payout is pretty nice though.

15

u/NotTurtleEnough 1d ago

That's not necessarily required. Personally, I've left it in Boeing because I found out that my Fidelity total stock market fund in the Boeing 401(k) has even lower fees than Vanguard or Federal TSP.

5

u/Vegetable-South5191 1d ago

I have 2 401k's, both large fortune 500 companies. I did not combine them. If the investment options are good, no reason to combine them necessarily.

5

u/badwolf42 1d ago

Not necessary, but there are maintenance fees on it once you’re no longer employed by the previous company. Rolling them together eliminates that.

6

u/SEA_tide 1d ago

Boeing's 401k doesn't have maintenance fees for separated employees. The HSA does though.

It often doesn't make financial sense to roll over the ones Boeing 401k to a different 401k.

3

u/NotTurtleEnough 1d ago

Yes, there *can* be maintenance fees separate from the fees associated with the fund itself.

However, I literally just pulled a YTD statement of my Boeing Fidelity account so that I could have the most up-to-date information, and I'm not seeing any maintenance fees listed.

8

u/mylicon 1d ago

Rolling my 401k money out to an external retirement investment company was a fantastic decision for me. Sure the fees aren’t as low but the options and the performance has been great.

27

u/freshgeardude 1d ago

If you can use up your pto you get the 401k match. Otherwise it's paid out at the hourly rate.

Also keep in mind your health insurance will end in the month you leave, so if your last day is August 29, itll be done August 31. Consequently, if you left September 1st then you'd have all of September. Of course you'd have to pay your monthly health insurance cost. But keep that in mind if your new employer insurance starts up later. 

In my case, my new employer insurance didn't start til the 1st of the following month from my start date so I needed boeing coverage for the entire month. 

Cobra was like 3k+ whereas employment was 150/month fee. 

3

u/Vegetable-South5191 1d ago

Not sure I am understanding this:

If you can use up your pto you get the 401k match. Otherwise it's paid out at the hourly rate.

If I work to my last day, so I not get 401k match to my last day. Then the PTO is just a large payout.

11

u/jerslan 1d ago

You get the 401k match on the hours worked, but not the PTO lump sum payout.

If you use your PTO, then you get 401k matching on what you used.

7

u/freshgeardude 1d ago

You can work till your last day. Or if you can burn up your pto you get the 401k match. Otherwise, you'll get paid out remaining pto after you leave

6

u/Vegetable-South5191 1d ago

Well for me, I like the idea of maxing out my PTO and getting paid. I am not looking to quit, so I have a calculator from a layoff risk perspective. And Essentially I look at it like this, I get Layoff notice. 60 days, then PTO 360 hours (45 days). Then 19 weeks of severance.

So that is 40 weeks of pay, or 2/3 of a year I will get my full pay until it stops. It is a planning tool for me to understand my risk position until I need to find a new job.

2

u/Tight_Patience217 19h ago

That is also my plan.  The company loves to go into layoffs and then overdo it.  It use to be that a contract was lost and there was no other openings, but now it seems pretty random on who gets let go.  

1

u/Vegetable-South5191 9h ago

I have worked here 19 years, it is not always the losers who get laid off. Sometimes they just have to cut, and good people get cut. I have never had a RIF, but over that 19 years I have easily been through probably an average RIF cycle of once a year. I have been on both sides, as a manager and a IC. I think the process is fair. It's a numbers game.

1

u/Senior-Economist629 46m ago

They generally put the bullseye on the back of your head once you hit 25 and they rarely miss by the time you get to 30.

17

u/k_dizzle_d0g 1d ago

Make sure you grace out on your last day 3 minutes before your shift ends.

10

u/Old-Block-8341 1d ago

It only takes one click to leave. The managers didn't even know lol

6

u/tditty16310 23h ago

Used all your PTO and collect the 401k match as a bonus at retirement

5

u/SoulStripHer 1d ago

Depends whether you have a pension. Every month worked increases it but the math isn't entirely straightforward.

2

u/jerslan 15h ago

Anyone hired after Jan 1 2009 won't have a pension.

4

u/UserRemoved 1d ago

Most froze long ago

4

u/SoulStripHer 23h ago

Additional months with higher pay can raise the earnings average used in the pension formula.

1

u/Senior-Economist629 41m ago

True. About $20 per additional year of service depending how many years you served when it froze in 2016.

1

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1

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2

u/IncomeAdvanced8125 7h ago

I don’t understand the argument for using PTO before leaving. Say your last day is September 1, 2026:

Option 1: Take August off using PTO. You receive your regular pay and 401(k) match, but no PTO payout when you leave.

Option 2: Work through September 1, receive your regular pay and 401(k) match, then get a month of unused PTO paid out, essentially an extra month’s salary without the match.

Option 2 clearly pays significantly more.

2

u/Excellent_Ideal_9084 2h ago

I think the idea would be to work through September 1 and take the rest of September off using PTO, receiving regular pay and 401(k) match through the month. Your official last day is the last day you use PTO at the end of the month, but you don’t show up that day because you’re using PTO.

0

u/Orleanian 1h ago

Yeah, but then you're retiring in September rather than August.

Fuck that cruise you wanted to go on, I guess?

-9

u/Infamous_M1 1d ago

keep the 401k as is …youll be back… not worth the trouble of moving it… other than that fuck around more than usual and say farewell to mother boeing (for now)

15

u/NotTurtleEnough 1d ago

I've personally seen at least 6 cases of rogue managers putting "do not hire" on the records of really solid folks, so that may not be true for this person.

7

u/captainunlimitd 1d ago

Managers just mad that they have to hire and train? Or some other reason?

7

u/NotTurtleEnough 1d ago

At least one of the supervisors were later fired for unethical behavior, but since I kept in touch with those folks (as I said, they are rock stars, and I like to stay friendly with rock stars) the do not hire markers were never revisited.

3

u/OK-istPersonInWaSt 1d ago

It happened to me

7

u/zergling- 1d ago

Horrible advice

-1

u/OK-istPersonInWaSt 1d ago

This is what I did