How to resign without serving notice period

Comms69

JohnAlex101 wrote: »

Yes - I've got my next job lined up - but my notice period is 3 months...

Which you presumably agreed to?


You would be aggrieved if your employer just told you to go one day.

JohnAlex101

Thanks to all the comments so far. I have a new job lined up, my notice period is 3 months, and I have enough savings to not work 3 months.

In face, I would like to rest and spend some time with my sick and elderly parents for 3 months rather than suffer in this horrible team and company.

It's a large company - I won't mention the name - but most of you will probably recognise it.

My main concern is the reference - I don't want them to sabotage my new role by giving me a dodgy reference.

I always thought that large companies didn't get bad references? I could always ask HR to agree the wording of the reference with me before I leave - I wonder if they would do that?

Or I could ask to shorten the notice period, and make a shorter handover.

Ideally I would like to just tell HR - look, my line manager is a bully - I have suffered him for 5 years - and now I just want to leave - I think this is in everyone's best interest.

I know that someone else had raised bullying as an issue against this manager, but they got moved to a different team. And another person that complained got straight out fired.

The company is protecting him for some reason. And his boss actually seems to be afraid of him.

JohnAlex101

Yes, 3 months notice period is in the contract. But I'm pretty sure that if they fired me, they would just give me 3 months pay and escort me out of the office.

I don't see how me leaving is any different, except that I wouldn't get the 3 months pay.

JohnAlex101

Masomnia wrote: »

The above advice is good. Alternatively you could try and claim that you were constructively dismissed by your employer's conduct and thus entitled to leave without giving notice. But that could get messy very easily.

It might be better to say to your manager that it's not working, you'd like to resign and would they let you leave earlier than your notice period requires.

Alternatively spend every waking moment not in work applying for jobs, that on it's own might make you feel better about things.

Resigning in breach of contract shouldn't be done lightly and I wouldn't recommend.

Thanks - this is what I'm thinking of doing - I have already secured another role, and it feels good.

Now I just need to figure out how to jump ship without burning too many bridges.

The manager is a horrible human being, who will try to make me serve out the three months just because he can.

My mother recently got diagnosed with cancer - and I'd like to spend some time with her - I could use that as the reason to leave without working my 3 months notice period - that way, they can't accuse me of being unprofessional?

My main worry with raising an official grievance is that HR will then have a record of it, and going forward, it may come back to bite me in the !!!! at some point down the line.

ReadingTim

JohnAlex101 wrote: »

Thanks - this is what I'm thinking of doing - I have already secured another role, and it feels good.

Now I just need to figure out how to jump ship without burning too many bridges.

The manager is a horrible human being, who will try to make me serve out the three months just because he can.

My mother recently got diagnosed with cancer - and I'd like to spend some time with her - I could use that as the reason to leave without working my 3 months notice period - that way, they can't accuse me of being unprofessional?

My main worry with raising an official grievance is that HR will then have a record of it, and going forward, it may come back to bite me in the !!!! at some point down the line.

"Professional" is serving your notice period in full, providing an efficient and effective handover to your successor, or leaving things in good order so that can be picked up by someone else down the line, with no mistakes, errors etc coming out of the woodwork. If you can achieve that in less than the 3 months set out in your contract, and your employers are agreeable, it may be possible to finish earlier, by mutual consent.

Unfortunately, coming out with things like "my manager's a bully", "my Mum's got cancer" at this stage of proceedings, especially if you've not mentioned them before, can seem like a pretty transparent attempt to jump ship early, no matter how truthful they are, and you're right to worry this could come back and bite you in the @rse.

In short, you should have been a bit more strategic about this sort of thing before you handed in your notice, as it's too late once you've done the deed to try and wriggle out earlier. Sorry this isn't what you want to hear.

sitesafe

If you have some annual leave can you take that as some time to reflect on what to do, I guess the line manager would have to authorise it though. It's horrible working with a bully - well done for doing 5 years. You probably do need a breather between jobs to get over the stress and feel refreshed for the new role

steampowered

If they are a large company, they will probably have a reference policy. Ask what the policy is.

They may also have a policy about caring for sick relatives. Again, you can ask what that policy is.

You could raise a formal grievance about your manager but I'm not sure what that would achieve at this point.

[Deleted User]

Just be open and honest. A job I was in a while back let me waive my notice period as they needed to save hours so welcomed a immediate effect resignation. (Which I also asked them to confirm in writing they were offering me).

JReacher1

If you do walk out then do it on payday so they owe you no money. Also take the correct holiday days before you do it.

LilElvis

JReacher1 wrote: »

If you do walk out then do it on payday so they owe you no money. Also take the correct holiday days before you do it.

Assuming the OP is salaried and paid monthly then if he were to leave on the day he is paid then he could end up owing the company money as it is normal to pay on, say, 25th of the month for the calendar month.