Notice period query - Giving more than is required
Discussion
I'm off to Australia at the end of August and whilst my contract requires me to give 4 weeks notice, I don't want to burn my bridges and would like to leave as easily as possible. I have a LOT of product information and history in my head and am often an invaluable resource for those around me who have not been here so long.
The right thing to do in my mind is to give them as much notice as possible. This will allow me to offload my knowledge onto someone else, give them time to find a replacement or promote someone to my level. It'll also get me out of going to a few tedious seminars and attending various dull meetings!
However, I was recently told (by an HR manager at a high-street company) that if your contract says you have to give 30 days notice, the 30 day clock starts ticking as soon as you say you're leaving - So if on June 1st I say I'm leaving on August 24th, they can actually ask me to leave on June 30th.
Is that the case?
I have seen previous instances where the company has "got bored" of certain members of staff whos' face no longer fits and within 2 weeks they're on gardening leave having been made "redundant". Whilst I seem to have a good relationship with the MD (my immediate boss) I dont trust him at all - I know he will resent paying me for 3 months when he knows I'm leaving.
The right thing to do in my mind is to give them as much notice as possible. This will allow me to offload my knowledge onto someone else, give them time to find a replacement or promote someone to my level. It'll also get me out of going to a few tedious seminars and attending various dull meetings!
However, I was recently told (by an HR manager at a high-street company) that if your contract says you have to give 30 days notice, the 30 day clock starts ticking as soon as you say you're leaving - So if on June 1st I say I'm leaving on August 24th, they can actually ask me to leave on June 30th.
Is that the case?
I have seen previous instances where the company has "got bored" of certain members of staff whos' face no longer fits and within 2 weeks they're on gardening leave having been made "redundant". Whilst I seem to have a good relationship with the MD (my immediate boss) I dont trust him at all - I know he will resent paying me for 3 months when he knows I'm leaving.
200bhp said:
Whilst I seem to have a good relationship with the MD (my immediate boss) I dont trust him at all - I know he will resent paying me for 3 months when he knows I'm leaving.
And there's your answer. Written notice 30 days before you want to leave. If you want to keep a good reputation, make sure your work is up to date when you hand your notice in, and use the next couple of months ensuring the processes and any documentation are up to date.
Thanks for the advice. It follows what I had been thinking for a while.
We have no HR dept. as such and that kind of thing is handled by the MD's P.A. - We only employ 80 something people.
I have been making an effort to encourage my team to take on a bit more responsibility with the aim being that they can become fairly self sufficient if required. However, the difficulty comes when someone says something like "Why was that dimension changed 7 years ago?" - At that time I was in a less senior position but absorbed a lot of information so my memories are often invaluable. Since I've been in my current position I've made sure everything is documented well just in case I get run over by the proverbial bus.
We have no HR dept. as such and that kind of thing is handled by the MD's P.A. - We only employ 80 something people.
I have been making an effort to encourage my team to take on a bit more responsibility with the aim being that they can become fairly self sufficient if required. However, the difficulty comes when someone says something like "Why was that dimension changed 7 years ago?" - At that time I was in a less senior position but absorbed a lot of information so my memories are often invaluable. Since I've been in my current position I've made sure everything is documented well just in case I get run over by the proverbial bus.
200bhp said:
my immediate boss - I dont trust him at all.
Well, you've answered your own question there.As above, get everything as up-to-date as you can, and give them the minimum notice in your contract.
Till then - KEEP IT TO YOURSELF.
Tempting as it may be, keep ALL your work colleagues in the dark on this, or word will get back to people you would rather didn't know.
shtu said:
200bhp said:
my immediate boss - I dont trust him at all.
Well, you've answered your own question there.As above, get everything as up-to-date as you can, and give them the minimum notice in your contract.
Till then - KEEP IT TO YOURSELF.
Tempting as it may be, keep ALL your work colleagues in the dark on this, or word will get back to people you would rather didn't know.
When I changed employer 5 years ago I was very lucky that I was able to tell my boss I was going to leave, but not formally hand in my notice (it was the civil service!) - which for complicated reasons is just as well as it took a while to sort things out before I actually left. I think it was 3 or 4 months in the end when notice was only required to be a month! But like you, I wanted to leave on good terms, hence telling him when I did - and I still have friends there, so not impossible (although unlikely!) that I could go back one day.
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