Offer letter and contact differ

JackeeBoy

brightonman123 wrote: »

Send them a copy of your offer, and ask for contract to be amended.

I did and they have come back saying that 4 weeks is the usual.

nicechap

JackeeBoy wrote: »

Hi all

I have recently passed my probation at my new work place. One ongoing matter was a lack of a contract. Brought it up a few times but nothing ever happened so just left it until I passed my probation. Chased it and one was hastily sent across which had the wrong title, working hours etc. Raised this and they have sent another for me to check and agree to but notice the notice period is 4 weeks. Managed to dig out the offer letter I received before I joined and it says a notice period of 3 months.

Now, I am not looking to leave and very happy working here, but that is a big difference. I am just a little nervous about questioning this as I don't want to give off the wrong impression.

Should I?

JackeeBoy wrote: »

To answer a few questions above, the notice period works both ways. I was with a place for 5 years previously before moving to another job before this, but the last job I had was a small company and long story short, I got screwed over as they cut cost in order to make the company look better as they were selling it. This company is of a similar size so having 3 months notice, especially within my first year, is ideal as 4 weeks is little time to be looking for another job if you've be let go out of the blue.

Unlikely to happen here but as it's such a big difference, wanted to see if it was worth bringing up or not.

JackeeBoy wrote: »

I did and they have come back saying that 4 weeks is the usual.

So what do you want to happen and how much of a fuss/ fight do you want to make of it? Do you think the new company will make you go bust/ make you redundant/ terminate your contract soon?

If you are planning to leave in first year, would you be happy to leave tomorrow with three months notice or in 6 months time with 1 months notice?

If you want to enforce the notice period, strike through the 4 weeks and replace with handwritten script of 3 months and send it back along with the offer letter and prepare for any consequences. Only you can judge whether this will taken gracefully by your employer or rejected. And in either outcome, kept for future reference by them.

xapprenticex

dam thought title said contract killer

JackeeBoy

nicechap wrote: »

So what do you want to happen and how much of a fuss/ fight do you want to make of it? Do you think the new company will make you go bust/ make you redundant/ terminate your contract soon?

If you are planning to leave in first year, would you be happy to leave tomorrow with three months notice or in 6 months time with 1 months notice?

If you want to enforce the notice period, strike through the 4 weeks and replace with handwritten script of 3 months and send it back along with the offer letter and prepare for any consequences. Only you can judge whether this will taken gracefully by your employer or rejected. And in either outcome, kept for future reference by them.

I don't want to make a fuss about it as I don't want to give off the wrong impression. Thing is, I keep get the run around about why the contract is different. Still haven't got a straight answer and wouldn't want to agree to something because a HR person made a mistake (they had a number of things wrong, including title, in the first contract they sent across). From a more practical perspective, the longer notice period is better security. I have been part of a department that had its funding pulled. Because I was there under two years, I wasn't technically made redundant but was paid my 3 months notice which was like £10,000 and made a huge difference to soften the blow whilst job hunting.

Was also working for a small company that suddenly decided to get rid of their sales team and I was left with only 4 weeks notice. In this company, I help with an account which has yet to renew their contract (automatically goes in to a rolling 1 month). If I got the news that this company was not going to renew with us, I will be screwed.

Not likely to happen but again, if I was offered 3 months notice, I just want to be sure that's the case and it's not just some HR person trying to cover up a typo.

Savvy_Sue

Undervalued wrote: »

Notice which way?

Not having to give them 3 months notice could possibly be convenient for you if you decided to change jobs at some point in the future.

Only being entitled to four weeks notice from them is obviously less appealing. However, depending on how long you have worked there, it gradually becomes less relevant. Regardless of what the contract says they cannot give you less than the statutory minimum notice which is one week for each complete year of service (up to a maximum of 12).

If they provide a contract then you are bound by any lawful terms in it unless you positively reject it. Just not signing it is not sufficient.

Go back to this post and think about the bits I've bolded. It's very rare for an employer to give 3 months' notice if you've only got to give one, IME it's always been the same on each side. So what's usual in your line of work / at your level? If you did want to change jobs, is it 'normal' to have to give 3 months, or is 1 more usual?