Notice period after only 6 months...flexible?

[munter]

Say you joined a company on December 13th. But now you realise that they are not holding up their end of the bargin e.g. they change your job from advanced user of software to application designer/developer because they dont want to buy in the promised software.

So you've lined up another job in another company. Bad news is you have a 3 month notice period. Would you expect the employer to cut that down to a month. I mean you've only been onboard 6ish months.....

Any advise welcomed!

[olf]

munter said:

Say you joined a company on December 13th. But now you realise that they are not holding up their end of the bargin e.g. they change your job from advanced user of software to application designer/developer because they dont want to buy in the promised software.

So you've lined up another job in another company. Bad news is you have a 3 month notice period. Would you expect the employer to cut that down to a month. I mean you've only been onboard 6ish months.....

Any advise welcomed!

One way to get round this is to refuse pointedly to tell them where you are going. Tends to make them think you might be off to a direct competitor and that you might steal the crown jewels and take them with you to the new co. Que 3 months gardening leave or one months holiday and two months double pay.


ETA - Read your contract closely, it may be that the notice period is not enforceable until the probation period (typically six months) has been served.

Edited by olf on Friday 11th May 13:12

[softtop]

The notice period works more for you than the organisation. You could decide to never turn up again and there is nothing the company can do. The problem in not being fair will more than likely come back and haunt you. The next job after this new one wants two references from your last two employers.... you know they will not have a good word to say and it may affect your chance of getting the job confirmed.

If the new company accepts your full notice period then that is the start. Any shortening of your existing contract while keeping the organisation happy, means you are not letting them down and is money in your pocket if you can the new job early. I would not divulge the detail as to where I was going since "I have two firm offers and I had not decided which one to take".

Always state you are willing to work your notice and that your letter of resignation is one of your 'notice to terminate your employment' and not of the termination itself.

[munter]

olf said:

munter said:

Say you joined a company on December 13th. But now you realise that they are not holding up their end of the bargin e.g. they change your job from advanced user of software to application designer/developer because they dont want to buy in the promised software.

So you've lined up another job in another company. Bad news is you have a 3 month notice period. Would you expect the employer to cut that down to a month. I mean you've only been onboard 6ish months.....

Any advise welcomed!

One way to get round this is to refuse pointedly to tell them where you are going. Tends to make them think you might be off to a direct competitor and that you might steal the crown jewels and take them with you to the new co. Que 3 months gardening leave or one months holiday and two months double pay.


ETA - Read your contract closely, it may be that the notice period is not enforceable until the probation period (typically six months) has been served.

Edited by olf on Friday 11th May 13:12

Unfortunately I work for a goverment created monopoly so competitors are and will be non existant!

[munter]

softtop said:

The notice period works more for you than the organisation. You could decide to never turn up again and there is nothing the company can do. The problem in not being fair will more than likely come back and haunt you. The next job after this new one wants two references from your last two employers.... you know they will not have a good word to say and it may affect your chance of getting the job confirmed.

If the new company accepts your full notice period then that is the start. Any shortening of your existing contract while keeping the organisation happy, means you are not letting them down and is money in your pocket if you can the new job early. I would not divulge the detail as to where I was going since "I have two firm offers and I had not decided which one to take".

Always state you are willing to work your notice and that your letter of resignation is one of your 'notice to terminate your employment' and not of the termination itself.

I'm not intending to "do the dirty" on them. Just try and negotiate the period to say a month or 1 1/2 months. My offer company knows that i'm on 3 months notice and accepts it but is keen to get me in position soon as. Plus frankly I cant wait to get out!

[che6mw]

notice periods where I am are typicaly 3 or 6 months at my level. I've seen maybe a dozen people with similar contracts all being handled in different ways on leaving - so it really does seem to come down as much to your management as it does your contract. Good luck - certainly worth haggling for what you want.

[apguy]

A very good article (if a little old now -but the legal points are still valid) is at:

www.egos.co.uk/Freelanc/freela20.htm

[justinp1]

munter said:

softtop said:

The notice period works more for you than the organisation. You could decide to never turn up again and there is nothing the company can do. The problem in not being fair will more than likely come back and haunt you. The next job after this new one wants two references from your last two employers.... you know they will not have a good word to say and it may affect your chance of getting the job confirmed.

If the new company accepts your full notice period then that is the start. Any shortening of your existing contract while keeping the organisation happy, means you are not letting them down and is money in your pocket if you can the new job early. I would not divulge the detail as to where I was going since "I have two firm offers and I had not decided which one to take".

Always state you are willing to work your notice and that your letter of resignation is one of your 'notice to terminate your employment' and not of the termination itself.

I'm not intending to "do the dirty" on them. Just try and negotiate the period to say a month or 1 1/2 months. My offer company knows that i'm on 3 months notice and accepts it but is keen to get me in position soon as. Plus frankly I cant wait to get out!

The problem is that your current employer might see 'doing the dirty' exactly as not working the notice period. If you were asking for it to be reduced by a couple of weeks I an see them being flexible, but cutting it from 3 months to 1 month or even 2 weeks, isnt flexibility it is just basically letting you off your contractual liability. What would your reaction be if they told you that they were closing your post and wanted to pay you the equivalent of 2 or 4 weeks pay?

I have just been put in the same situation myself as an employer. Luckily for me, I have had at least some protection as I have made a point to liquidate damages into the equation as the equivalent of the cost of agency staff to fill the leaving employees notice period should they not fulfill it.

What this will come down to will be the exact situation - how much does your employer need you att he post. If they need you a lot, and it would take 3 months to get someone else, then this will of course influence negotiations. That said, they cannot force you to work there.

I would recommend just being honest and frank with each party. Tell your employer you want to leave ASAP, and tell your new employer you want to leave ASAP. If your old employer needs 'buying out' of your contract, then perhaps you new employer may wish to fund this? If not, then at least it gives them the opportunity to make their own decision and wait for you.

[Leftie]

Got any holiday? That could shorten it by 2 or 3 weeks if you haven't taken any yet.

[imfinlay]

At my last job I was on 3 months. When I resigned I had already written up a list of handover tasks and training for colleagues that I would need to do. We agreed that when I'd completed we'd renegotiate the date. That took 2 weeks, I left in a month total.

[munter]

imfinlay said:

At my last job I was on 3 months. When I resigned I had already written up a list of handover tasks and training for colleagues that I would need to do. We agreed that when I'd completed we'd renegotiate the date. That took 2 weeks, I left in a month total.

Thats a nice idea. But after 6 months i'm still getting my head around the crappy system they intend to maintain. And they have pushed the person who designed it out the door so he'll be going on the 6th next month. There is now no real way to hand over to someone else. Plus there is no-one else as now they wont buy proper software no-one wants the job therefore handover will probably consist of what I was told originally "It's self documenting, do your best"

Edit:Before someone says "why did you take the job". In the interview I wasn't given the full story. It was supposed to be a small simple system. In fact it's 180 Access databases and over 5000 .xls documents. And most of them work together. And it was going to be replaced with an off the shelf package, which I can use. But they decided not to after 6 months of ground work.

Edited by munter on Tuesday 15th May 11:37

[Davel]

Could you possibly have a case for constructive dismissal?

They brought you in to do a job and, by not buying in the saftware, they may have effectively taken away that job, which is why they're now trying to change your role.

[munter]

Davel said:

Could you possibly have a case for constructive dismissal?

They brought you in to do a job and, by not buying in the saftware, they may have effectively taken away that job, which is why they're now trying to change your role.

I think i'd sooner come to an amicable agreement of "I'll work a months notice and then you can play hide and go fork yourself"

[stevieb]

you could always try this



I can not remember employment law in detail but i do not think that a 3 month notice period is enforceable. If your rights as an employee are only to have 1weeks notice to terminate you job then i do not see how they can enforce a 3 month notice period.

But it would be best for your career to come to a reasonable arrangement to reduce your notice period to say 6 weeks.

Steve