Long story short, I got a job offer to move from journalism to comms where I would make more money. Accepting the job means leaving my boss and the office as a whole in a bad position since the business runs on a skeleton crew. The company has been quite content with being understaffed in recent years since the work gets done regardless. I know the usual advice would be that it’s not my problem anymore, but my new job offer is within the same small community and I don’t want to burn bridges since we will likely still be seeing each other.
I started working here right out of college about 6 years ago, and I have never resigned from a job before. I feel guilty knowing my boss, who is already spending almost all of her waking hours at the office and has zero work/life balance, will somehow have to take over my responsibilities until a replacement is hired. She made it work for my maternity leave earlier this year, but that was only 6 weeks and I spent months in advance stockpiling evergreen stories. We have multiple locations in our company, most with much larger staffs. Would it be inappropriate for me to email higher ups in the company (after I give my notice) to ask them to please help my boss through this transition? Like maybe other writers in the company could send content or do some stringer work?
I don’t have to start the new position until the end of September so I can potentially give four weeks notice instead of two. Im not really sure what else I can do to resign gracefully and leave on good terms. I’m also not sure how to start the conversation, whether I need to type a physical resignation letter, etc. Any advice on what I should say is appreciated.