Notice Period, Profit Share and Bullying...
Discussion
Ladies and gents, I require an outside perspective on my girlfriends employment situation. I'll try to keep to the mains points, but there is quite a lot to cover.
Basically my GF works for a large electrical merchant. She has worked there for 3/4 years, starting through an apprenticeship type scheme (she was 17 years old) and now working as a Purchase Ledger Clerk.
We had planned that after 18 months we would move into together, which is now. She will be moving in with me in Birmingham in the next month or so, which means leaving her current job. Sounds simple enough.
She has two job interviews on Monday, both similar to her role now but with an approx 25% salary increase. With one of these jobs we are 90% she will secure an offer as they have been making all the right noises and seem extremely keen to get her interviewed. That said, she won't be handing in her notice until she has received a formal offer.
The issue is that at the end of this month her current employer pays out a profit share scheme. This is usually equal to 2x her monthly wage if not more and is based on previous year performance. She has been promised a decent share this year as her employer was not able to give her a large enough payrise.
She has told the two companies she is due to see on Monday that she will be able to start mid-April, as we had planned for her to hand her notice in this Friday. It was only later that we realised that this may cause an issue.
It is possible that if she hands her notice in as planned, her manager may alter her potential profit share to less or none due to the fact she is leaving. The timing is very tight as she is paid the last working day of the month, so it may have already been submitted or it may not have.
The other part to this is that she has been having problems with some of her colleagues. For at least 2 years she has experienced verbal bullying from one member of staff. She has made complaints about this, but very little is done. The colleague may stop for a short amount of time, but will start again. She had a private conversation with her manager, whose only comment was that 'it will only stop when one of you leaves and I don't think she is planning on going anytime soon...'.
This has caused her a lot of undue stress and in the end she was been prescribed anti-depressants and was signed off work for 4 weeks. In the last 4-5 months she has been back, the colleague has stopped and it was a lot better.
Now another member of staff has taken up the mantle.
It seems that this particular branch is very b
hy. They are constantly slagging each other off behind closed doors and making sarcastic or unprofessional comments. The colleague who is currently being 'king ahole' has made comments about the GF's weight, about our relationship etc (she is 8 stone and not fat, so a pointless comment but I'm concerned she could be taking it onboard and it could damage her self confidence).
So, the final question. Does my GF hand her notice in this Friday, risk losing her profit share but at least serving her notice period in full? Or does she hold off until payday, hand in her notice and then not come in for the last 2 weeks and start her new job?
In an ideal world I would tell her to work her notice period, it is the 'ethical' thing to do and her new employer would probably respect her more for doing so even though they may need to wait a bit longer for her. The devil on my shoulder says bks to them, she has taken a lot of st at this place and they haven't done her any favours, so why should she?
What is the PH consensus, by the book and risk losing her bonus or do what's best for her?
Basically my GF works for a large electrical merchant. She has worked there for 3/4 years, starting through an apprenticeship type scheme (she was 17 years old) and now working as a Purchase Ledger Clerk.
We had planned that after 18 months we would move into together, which is now. She will be moving in with me in Birmingham in the next month or so, which means leaving her current job. Sounds simple enough.
She has two job interviews on Monday, both similar to her role now but with an approx 25% salary increase. With one of these jobs we are 90% she will secure an offer as they have been making all the right noises and seem extremely keen to get her interviewed. That said, she won't be handing in her notice until she has received a formal offer.
The issue is that at the end of this month her current employer pays out a profit share scheme. This is usually equal to 2x her monthly wage if not more and is based on previous year performance. She has been promised a decent share this year as her employer was not able to give her a large enough payrise.
She has told the two companies she is due to see on Monday that she will be able to start mid-April, as we had planned for her to hand her notice in this Friday. It was only later that we realised that this may cause an issue.
It is possible that if she hands her notice in as planned, her manager may alter her potential profit share to less or none due to the fact she is leaving. The timing is very tight as she is paid the last working day of the month, so it may have already been submitted or it may not have.
The other part to this is that she has been having problems with some of her colleagues. For at least 2 years she has experienced verbal bullying from one member of staff. She has made complaints about this, but very little is done. The colleague may stop for a short amount of time, but will start again. She had a private conversation with her manager, whose only comment was that 'it will only stop when one of you leaves and I don't think she is planning on going anytime soon...'.
This has caused her a lot of undue stress and in the end she was been prescribed anti-depressants and was signed off work for 4 weeks. In the last 4-5 months she has been back, the colleague has stopped and it was a lot better.
Now another member of staff has taken up the mantle.
It seems that this particular branch is very b
hy. They are constantly slagging each other off behind closed doors and making sarcastic or unprofessional comments. The colleague who is currently being 'king ahole' has made comments about the GF's weight, about our relationship etc (she is 8 stone and not fat, so a pointless comment but I'm concerned she could be taking it onboard and it could damage her self confidence).So, the final question. Does my GF hand her notice in this Friday, risk losing her profit share but at least serving her notice period in full? Or does she hold off until payday, hand in her notice and then not come in for the last 2 weeks and start her new job?
In an ideal world I would tell her to work her notice period, it is the 'ethical' thing to do and her new employer would probably respect her more for doing so even though they may need to wait a bit longer for her. The devil on my shoulder says b
ks to them, she has taken a lot of st at this place and they haven't done her any favours, so why should she?What is the PH consensus, by the book and risk losing her bonus or do what's best for her?
illmonkey said:
Its 2 weeks, tell the potential employer that they'll need to wait a bit longer, for the right person they will.
Also depends if you can afford to potentially lose the commission.
I don't see how we can help really.
Yeah, I've told her in the interview that she should let the potential employer know that her notice period would be 4 weeks from receipt of a formal job offer.Also depends if you can afford to potentially lose the commission.
I don't see how we can help really.
I'm just looking to see if PH had any other ideas, could point out any issues or believed one way would be better than the other.
tankplanker said:
That amount of cash on the line I'd wait till pay day every time; its only worth forgoing the cash if she risks losing the job offer and the job offer was hard to come by.
...and there in lies the other problem. She has no idea what she will be receiving for profit share until she gets her wage slip (about 3 days before payday). So she could get the same as last year, in which case it will only be 75% of her monthly wage. Still a nice amount of extra money, but not worth pushing off a job offer for 2 weeks.I've suggested she has a quiet word with her boss today and find out what she should be expecting for her profit share. If it is the same as last year then she should hand her notice in tomorrow as planned. If it is substantially more then wait for payday and then hand her notice in. She will have to talk to the interviewer in the meeting and see if they are willing to wait.
If she does receive a job offer then it is too good to risk losing it. The best situation for her would be to get a decent profit share and not have to put her start date back by two weeks. There are so many unknowns though....
I am afraid I have to say wait for the money in the bank.
At this point you don't have a definite offer or contract, so that might still take some time. I would tend to agree that whilst the notice period is one month, I would suggest there is some mileage in the bullying issue.
Get the money, Check the offer and contract are ready with new employer and accept the job and confirm start date. Resign citing uncomfortable atmosphere, offer one week notice and ask for absolute confidentialty around the resignation, stating that it won't be possible to remain professional in the face of difficult colleagues if they know you are leaving.
Throw in that if there isn't a deal on notice period then a formal complaint around the bullying issue remains a possible course of action.
Gargamel said:
I am afraid I have to say wait for the money in the bank.
At this point you don't have a definite offer or contract, so that might still take some time. I would tend to agree that whilst the notice period is one month, I would suggest there is some mileage in the bullying issue.
Get the money, Check the offer and contract are ready with new employer and accept the job and confirm start date. Resign citing uncomfortable atmosphere, offer one week notice and ask for absolute confidentialty around the resignation, stating that it won't be possible to remain professional in the face of difficult colleagues if they know you are leaving.
Throw in that if there isn't a deal on notice period then a formal complaint around the bullying issue remains a possible course of action.
Thank you, this is very much a solution I was toying with.At this point you don't have a definite offer or contract, so that might still take some time. I would tend to agree that whilst the notice period is one month, I would suggest there is some mileage in the bullying issue.
Get the money, Check the offer and contract are ready with new employer and accept the job and confirm start date. Resign citing uncomfortable atmosphere, offer one week notice and ask for absolute confidentialty around the resignation, stating that it won't be possible to remain professional in the face of difficult colleagues if they know you are leaving.
Throw in that if there isn't a deal on notice period then a formal complaint around the bullying issue remains a possible course of action.
It isn't a nice thing to do and not one I would suggest to her lightly.
She called me this morning quite upset as a few colleagues had made comments concerning a sales meeting last night. She didn't attend, but a few people have blamed her for certain aspects of the job not getting done. Those aspects are not part of her job role and she is very upset as she works extremely hard. She regularly has to do other peoples work on top of her own in order to stop them falling behind. I don't work with her, so I can't say she is the model employee but her general manager has never complained about her and has made comments in the past the she works above and beyond her job role. It is purely those on the same level as her.
I've suggested to her that she has a chat with the manager about this mornings comments so it is on record. I've also told her that if anything else happens then she should email the manager and then print off a copy as proof she has made a complaint.
I know for a fact that things will become extremely difficult for her at work once she hands her notice in. She will also start receiving more blame for others short comings as she is leaving soon and become an easy target.
As soon as the money is in the bank - walk out and don't go back. Write to manager saying that as they have not dealt with bullying matters which you consider to be gross misconduct on the part of the other staff that you have lost faith in them as employers and that you consider your emplyment terminated with immediate effect. Also reserve your right to taking remedial action against them (I reckon that would be the end of the matter!)
Good Luck
Good Luck
Definitely wait until the bonus is in the bank.
Contrary to popular belief, bonuses and increases are NOT a reward for the previous year's efforts, but are an incentive to keep you there for the upcoming year.
As for just walking, I'm never that keen, as the next employer can get twitchy about that. If you've prepared to walk out of your previous job with no notice, would you do it to the next one? (Remember, they don't know any backstory, only the point made here)
Contrary to popular belief, bonuses and increases are NOT a reward for the previous year's efforts, but are an incentive to keep you there for the upcoming year.
As for just walking, I'm never that keen, as the next employer can get twitchy about that. If you've prepared to walk out of your previous job with no notice, would you do it to the next one? (Remember, they don't know any backstory, only the point made here)
Bank the bonus money.
If she is offered a new job, It shouldnt be too hard to negotiate / stall the new company for 2 weeks if they've decided its her they want, its not uncommon for people to give 6 weeks or more notice so simply lay on some BS but credible reason why you need to stay - An offer is exactly that, and can be counter offered, not just yes or no.
Dont tell the new company the backstory, it'll just scare them no matter how justified.
If she is offered a new job, It shouldnt be too hard to negotiate / stall the new company for 2 weeks if they've decided its her they want, its not uncommon for people to give 6 weeks or more notice so simply lay on some BS but credible reason why you need to stay - An offer is exactly that, and can be counter offered, not just yes or no.
Dont tell the new company the backstory, it'll just scare them no matter how justified.
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