Giving my notice, need advice

Palk

Hi all,

I started a new job 6 months ago, I don't like my new job at all so I'm planning to change. Last week I got an offer for a job I really like so I'm planning to leave my job. My probation period is 6 months and I'm working 6 months and 2 weeks, my contract estates that at the end of my probation I need to pass a satisfactory formal review in order to confirm my employment, that never happened. Do I have a legal ground to say that I'm still on probation (as I didn't have a review) and therefore I can leave after a month?
Second issue I faced this morning as I was going to hand my notice but my boss is off sick, not coming at least until Wednesday, shall I wait for him to come back and have the conversation or just sneakily hand my notice into HR?

Thanks

TELLIT01

If one month is what is states as the required notice then that's what I would give. You haven't been confirmed as passing your probation so I don't see how anything else can be expected by the company.
Hand your notice in to HR, it's not being sneaky as you (a) have no idea when your boss will return and (b) the longer you wait, the further down the road your end date moves.

motorguy

Palk wrote: »

Hi all,

I started a new job 6 months ago, I don't like my new job at all so I'm planning to change. Last week I got an offer for a job I really like so I'm planning to leave my job. My probation period is 6 months and I'm working 6 months and 2 weeks, my contract estates that at the end of my probation I need to pass a satisfactory formal review in order to confirm my employment, that never happened. Do I have a legal ground to say that I'm still on probation (as I didn't have a review) and therefore I can leave after a month?
Second issue I faced this morning as I was going to hand my notice but my boss is off sick, not coming at least until Wednesday, shall I wait for him to come back and have the conversation or just sneakily hand my notice into HR?

Thanks

As above, i'd be resigning to HR and giving them a months notice.

jobbingmusician

Is your probation period really a month? It's sometimes a week in probation. I mention this only because ideally you want to give your employers the same amount of notice as they are bound to give you. What you *don't* want is to have budgeted for, and give them, a month's notice and for them to respond by asking you to leave in a week.

Palk

Yes, it's a month during my probation and becomes 3 months after that. Something becoming a norm in my sector but also a pain for the employees.

Thanks for the advice, I'll talk with HR and discuss with my boss on his return.

ohreally

Palk wrote: »

I'll talk with HR and discuss with my boss on his return.

What is there to talk about, serve your notice and crack on.

pinkshoes

Palk wrote: »

Yes, it's a month during my probation and becomes 3 months after that. Something becoming a norm in my sector but also a pain for the employees.

Thanks for the advice, I'll talk with HR and discuss with my boss on his return.

I would hand your notice into HR today giving one month.

If you have not had any notice that you have passed probation, then the one month still stands.

It depends how much you trust the company! If you speak to HR, they could tip your boss off and a letter passing probation might suddenly appear meaning you need to give three months! Imhave worked for a rather sneaky company that would do such a thing due to being short staffed!

neilio

If I were you I'd hand the letter to HR in person but don't inform them of the content, then immediately send an email to both your boss and HR confirming that you have resigned giving 1 month's notice and that the letter is with HR (explaining that your boss' absence prevented you from giving it to him), and name the person you handed the letter to. Have the email drafted and ready to hit send a few moments after exiting HR's office. Don't even mention the probation period.

If a letter confirming that you passed your probation miraculously appears, you'll be well within your rights to say that you had resigned before you were told that you'd passed. Ergo, you were still in the probation period.

That said, it might be worth looking at your contract to see if probation is passed only if confirmed in writing, or is it implicit?

Palk

Hi, I'm being a bit cautious as I don't want to be played as I know my department is short staffed and they are finding hard to find people. My contract says : "The position is subject to a probationary period of 6 months after which a formal review will be conducted and if successful your employment confirmed".

Malthusian

[Devil's advocate] I rather suspect that if your question was "My job gives us 25 days holiday + bank holidays once you pass 6 months' probation, I've passed six months but I've not had a formal review, can I book the extra holiday", i.e. something that made it an advantage to be out of probation, most people would say "Well, the 6 months are up, and you're still working there, so de facto you must have passed probation even if they didn't bother to confirm it to you."

The contract says that a formal review will be conducted but it doesn't say that you will be present for the review. Arguably the employment has been confirmed by the fact that you are still there.[/Devil's advocate]

That said, I am still inclined to agree with the advice elsewhere in the thread about assuming that you are still in probation and giving them a month's notice. You are on the way out one way or another, and their failure to formally confirm to you that your probation period is over is their problem. They could make life difficult for you if they wanted to. However, even if they are understaffed, they are unlikely to be that desperate to keep a very peed off employee around for two more months.

*edit* And for clarity, 100% hand in your notice to HR now. There's nothing sneaky about it. You're employed by the company and it's to them you give notice. It's not your problem that your boss is sick.