Hand in notice - or not?

Elinore

I interviewed on Friday and was offered a job on Sat. The lady i will be replacing is retiring and has been hanging about patiently as they wanted the best fit for the role (its rather specialist) so its taken six or so weeks to find a replacement.

As such she is going to have to wait another four weeks for me to complete my notice and also have to stay on for a month while i am trained up. I will only be in the role a week and i have two weeks A/L that as agreed to be honoured at interview. so two and a half months until she free lol.

As such they were very keen for me to hand in my notice asap so i can work off that month. I did say would it not be better that i start after i come back off leave rather be in for a week then out for two and they were rather adamant that asap was necessary.

They advised they will send me out the paperwork asap so i can hand in my notice today.... but its not arrived.

would you still go ahead and hand in your notice? I am of the opinion they can change their mind at any time anyway so the paperwork is neither here nor there and by waiting i am potentially annoying them as its cutting into that first week before going on leave.

Note: its much less responsibility than my current role for 3K more money. its closer to home so only a 25min commute rather than a hour. The newest member of the team has been there 7 years and my predecessor was there 28 years. The team was bright and lively and it looks to be a great place to work.

elsien

Unless you don't mind burning your boats with your current role, I wouldn't hand in your notice till it's a firm rather than conditional offer - what about references, don't they need to check those first?
For now if you don't hand your notice in and something goes wrong you have a job to stay in. If you give your notice in and they retract the offer it leaves you with nothing.

FBaby

NOOOOOOO. Call them, say you haven't received it. You don't want a conditional offer either but a final one which specifies you start date.

They could still withdraw it at any time, that is always a risk for anyone, but if they are prepared to do this asap, it does give you more confidence that they really have that job ready for you.

If they are professional, they should understand why you want an official offer before you give in your notice. Chase them politely until you receive it.

Elinore

As it is i spoke to my T/L and he unofficially told me that they will refuse to accept my resignation if i hand it in anyway because of the nature of my role (specialist area and team of one/ no cover) that it needed to be discussed higher up. We have a recruitment freeze on so their will no one to fill the role/train up.

Can they do that?

Apparently they want to have a meeting first to discuss my role and possible changes before 'allowing me' to hand in my notice. This meeting is pencilled in for Thursday.

I don't know what they think they will achieve, they cant and wont match the salary the new company has offered. I have been saying for years cover needed to be trained up for my role and they have refused on the basis of cost. How can it be fair that i am being made to stay because of their lack of foresight?

I would speak to my union rep but hes been suspended ( have emailed the local head but he takes a dogs age to reply)

El.

JReacher1

They can't refuse to accept your notice. You are not a slave.

You will have a minimum notice period. As long as you hand in your notice correctly and serve your notice period you can leave.

Elinore

I am being told they are not accepting it until it can be discussed in a formal meeting.

(as it is i have not handed anything in yet anyway - as per the advice of the posters above)

So if i hand it in they can stamp their feet and throw the toys out the pram all they like and after a month, my contractual notice period, i can just leave? Can this affect my references though?

asajj

https://www.gov.uk/handling-staff-resignations

They can't refuse your resignation and I'd speak to ACAS.

However couple of things - first of all, if it is a specialist role, other company is likely to be helpful in this case.

First of all call them and ask for paperwork.

With your current employer, just have the meeting and see what they are after. If they haven't got another person trained and up to speed to do the task, this is their failure.

What if you have decided to move somewhere else or got sick? What they were going to do?

So be firm and polite and take advise

prowla

You can hand in your notice, and when you do it's done.

The (prospective) new employer can withdraw their offer at any time; I once served 3 months notice, and the new employer withdrew their offer on the Friday before I was due to start on the Monday.

Undervalued

Elinore wrote: »

So if i hand it in they can stamp their feet and throw the toys out the pram all they like and after a month, my contractual notice period, i can just leave? Can this affect my references though?

Providing you work your contractual notice there is nothing they can do.

Note, technically notice begins the day AFTER it is issued so take care about this if they are being difficult.

Regarding references. Unless you work in certain regulated professions you cannot force them to provide a reference at all. They could refuse. If they do provide one it must be accurate and not deliberately misleading. Obviously feint praise can be very damming..........

Savvy_Sue

Ask what they were planning to do if you ever fell under a bus?

They may be hoping to persuade you to stay and wanting to meet to see if they can offer a higher salary, but if you know you want to go then just smile and insist that you have handed in your notice, in writing, as required by law, and their acceptance of it is neither here nor there.

That's once you've got the offer in writing though ...

Where I work, we'd send a pdf of the offer by email if someone was waiting to hand in notice, btw!

Elinore

When i fell and broke my foot they panicked. They sent a lass to my house to learn how to deal with the high priority stuff. The rest just got left until i went back. The business and our customers have a agreed turn around for my work of 24/48 hours. So if its not done it gets worse and worse as my inbox just fills up with complaints and chasers.

If i am on leave no one deals with my workload so i have to play catch up when i come back. Makes you wonder why you bother going on holiday because you end up getting stressed when you return.

I love the people i work with they are wonderful and the reason i have stayed so long but the business itself is short-sighted and tight. i swear they pat themselves on the back each year with how much extra unpaid hours we have done and extra work that we have picked up with out them having to take on more staff.

We have had four full time and one part leave recently and we have been required to absorb their roles over quite a small team. Its getting too much for everyone and when i go they will just be expected to pick this up too with little or no training (like i was when i started!)

Foolishness.