Making sure to get put on gardening leave
Discussion
A bit of advice needed...
Been with current employers for 17 years. Company recently taken over by new owners and to cut a long story short, I've basically had enough of the way it's now being run and intend to resign, even though it's highly likely I'd be made redundant at some time next year anyway when they move the business to Germany. I have a new job lined up (not in the same industry) that I can start pretty much straight away if required. I don't have an employment contract with my current employers, though the company handbook states 3 months notice period for someone at my level.
My ideal scenario would be to resign and get put on gardening leave for three months, as I'd like to feel like I'm getting something for the 17 years I've invested. Was planning to write a resignation letter stating what I think about the way the company is being run as the reason for my resignation but also to make it obvious that I'm probably not a good person to have hanging around the office for the next three months, in the hope that I get put on gardening leave. I assume as long as I am careful with my wording, there is no reason why I could be sacked for just stating my opinion? Any other advice anyone can offer as to the best way to go about resigning to ensure I get my notice paid without me needing to work it?
Been with current employers for 17 years. Company recently taken over by new owners and to cut a long story short, I've basically had enough of the way it's now being run and intend to resign, even though it's highly likely I'd be made redundant at some time next year anyway when they move the business to Germany. I have a new job lined up (not in the same industry) that I can start pretty much straight away if required. I don't have an employment contract with my current employers, though the company handbook states 3 months notice period for someone at my level.
My ideal scenario would be to resign and get put on gardening leave for three months, as I'd like to feel like I'm getting something for the 17 years I've invested. Was planning to write a resignation letter stating what I think about the way the company is being run as the reason for my resignation but also to make it obvious that I'm probably not a good person to have hanging around the office for the next three months, in the hope that I get put on gardening leave. I assume as long as I am careful with my wording, there is no reason why I could be sacked for just stating my opinion? Any other advice anyone can offer as to the best way to go about resigning to ensure I get my notice paid without me needing to work it?
Shaoxter said:
If your new company is not in the same industry then why would your current employer put you on gardening leave?
Hopefully just because they don't want an unproductive, dissatisfied and potentially disruptive manager in the office for the next three months. Surely I anyway don't have to tell them who my new employer is? I could just refuse to tell them and they may assume that it's a competitor from my refusal to discuss. I'm not too worried about getting a future reference from my current employer so can afford to be an annoyance to some extent.- Let them assume your new employer is in the same industry.
- Any access to costs?
- Sensitive information?
- Potential to poach other staff?
- Potential to cause serious disruption?
ETA - I've read through your post again and I doubt you'll be offered 'Gardening Leave' given that you are resigning. More likely they will offer you a reduced notice period; why pay you to sit at home when they can let you leave early?
Garden Leave tends to be offered when being made redundant, unless you are very high level management or have access to sensitive information.
Edited by The Beaver King on Wednesday 1st October 12:27
Gardening leave is to restrict your access to and blunt your knowledge of the state of play with regard to commercially sensitive information .
as others have said , if they think you are going to be an issue but there is no need for governance reasons for you to be prevented from leaving or kept from starting a new job they'll just foreshorten your notice period ...
as others have said , if they think you are going to be an issue but there is no need for governance reasons for you to be prevented from leaving or kept from starting a new job they'll just foreshorten your notice period ...
Edited by mph1977 on Wednesday 1st October 20:00
I doubt you will get it if you tell them where you are going. You may seem a bit petty if they ask and you refuse to divulge.
You may be able to get a reduced notice however. 3 months is quite long but then you just be fairly senior by now.
Would you really sit around being unproductive if they made you work your notice and we're still paying you?
You may be able to get a reduced notice however. 3 months is quite long but then you just be fairly senior by now.
Would you really sit around being unproductive if they made you work your notice and we're still paying you?
mike9009 said:
Three months pay whilst sitting around doing nothing/ going on holiday.....
You're not supposed to go on holiday whilst on gardening leave - the point is that you're still employed, being paid and should make yourself "available for work" in case they need to call you in for handover stuff etc.mrmr96 said:
mike9009 said:
Three months pay whilst sitting around doing nothing/ going on holiday.....
You're not supposed to go on holiday whilst on gardening leave - the point is that you're still employed, being paid and should make yourself "available for work" in case they need to call you in for handover stuff etc.vescaegg said:
Would you really sit around being unproductive if they made you work your notice and we're still paying you?
In all honesty probably yes. All the middle management have been very badly treated since the company ownership changed. Some were offered a deal to resign with a decent pay off because they weren't seen as signing up to the new direction, while others (myself included) have stuck it out for a while in the hope that things might change. The situation is so laughable now that people are starting to walk on their own as there is zero confidence that the business will even survive much beyond the next year. As a few managers have had decent pay offs and been granted gardening leave, I'm just trying to engineer a position where I can get a similar deal. I don't mind if my statements are viewed as petty so long as they have the desired effect. As previously said, I don't need to worry about references.Defcon5 said:
If you have been there 17 years can't you wait to get made redundant before leaving?
Of course that would get me a much better pay-off, but I don't think that's likely to happen until this time next year and my new employers won't wait that long. The new position is too good an opportunity to pass up, so it's a case of getting out by the end of the year. I have some sense of entitlement (which may be right or wrong) because I've been there so long and been so poorly treated under the new ownership, but if push came to shove I'd be quite happy to just resign and work my 3 months notice if that was required.blade runner said:
Of course that would get me a much better pay-off, but I don't think that's likely to happen until this time next year and my new employers won't wait that long. The new position is too good an opportunity to pass up, so it's a case of getting out by the end of the year. I have some sense of entitlement (which may be right or wrong) because I've been there so long and been so poorly treated under the new ownership, but if push came to shove I'd be quite happy to just resign and work my 3 months notice if that was required.
If you can start your other job, why not resign and offer a month's notice?The current place may be delighted that you are leaving and send you merrily on your way - if they try to make you work 3 months then you can tell them how you feel. I can't see what's to be gained by writing a long resignation letter to them.
Just a one liner with a 'Dear' at the beginning and a 'yours' at the end.
I have done this, I resigned and told them I would be starting with a competitor at the end of my notice period. They asked who it was and I refused to tell them as kt really was none of their business.
Straight on gardening leave - no messing about.
the fact I actually didnt have another job to go to at the time meant that my gardening leave was used to go and find a new job which took 1 week.
literally woke up that day and decided enough was enough and quit.
Straight on gardening leave - no messing about.
the fact I actually didnt have another job to go to at the time meant that my gardening leave was used to go and find a new job which took 1 week.
literally woke up that day and decided enough was enough and quit.
hman said:
as bas as it sounds the "going to a competitor" lie is actually what ensures you go on gardening leave.
Also it won't cause a bad word to go around about you in the industry.However, since I didn't care much about that, I just stuck my feet on the desk and started surfing the net. It took three hours.
davepoth said:
hman said:
as bas as it sounds the "going to a competitor" lie is actually what ensures you go on gardening leave.
Also it won't cause a bad word to go around about you in the industry.However, since I didn't care much about that, I just stuck my feet on the desk and started surfing the net. It took three hours.
It wasn't until I went they realised that I was the only one with access to all the major systems the team needed to run production releases, etc. As I was the only one to actually do the release as it was 'beneath' the rest of the team.
They were not happy when I refused to hand over all my passwords and logons... However I did offer to help them out but they refused to let me in the bank as I might 'steal data', I didn't want my name on any release that I was not actually doing as it would come back and haunt me it internal audit found out I had given my access to someone else... result being nothing to me and all major releases were put back 2 months whilst the rest of the team run around trying to get access to the systems.
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