Walking out of a job; Consequences?

walwyn1978

I had a job I hated and which had driven me to clinical depression/thoughts of self harm and worse. By handing in my resignation and working my notice it helped me to feel (a bit) better - every day was closer to the exit, I was in control as I was leaving, whatever they did I knew I wasn’t there in the weeks to come so I didn’t have to worry. 

Hand your notice in, leave under the proper procedures - for the reasons above from other posters and because you may find that helps your mood improve a little as it did for me as you take control again. 

Good luck. 

steampowered

Yes, people just walking out of jobs happens quite a lot. Normally it works out fine. Sometimes it has consequences.

You are legally required to give 1 week's notice to terminate your employment (or longer, if a longer notice period is in your contract). If you fail to do this, you are in breach of contract.

When you are in breach of contract, if the employer suffers provable financial loss, they can bring a court claim against you for that loss. In most cases an employer cannot prove financial loss so there are no real consequences. 

In some situations employers can - the classic example is somewhere like a care home which uses agency workers to fill staffing gaps. If the care home needs to take on an agency worker to complete the employee's notice period at a higher cost, the employee will be liable for the difference between the cost of the agency worker and their salary. Some employers do claim for this. Probably not relevant for you though as I doubt the employer can hire a temporary manager.

I would advise giving the proper amount of notice. If you have worked for this company for 10 years, you can work a few more weeks. It's not like you need to work hard during that time. You'll feel better once you have given your notice and the end is in sight.

[Deleted User]

p00hsticks said:

TELLIT01 said:

If you've wanted to leave for a long time, handing in your notice and serving the notice period should be bearable. 

In the first of the two times I was really fed up with a job, I had my letter of resignation written and just requiring a date to be added and carried it round in my bag for months before I actually handed it in - just the knowledge that I had it on me and could give it in at any point made things a bit more bearable for a while.

Your actions show something i preach often, @p00hsticks, and that is  'if you can't change the situation, change the way you think/look/see it', it can  help get you through a situation/etc.

Pajaro

Like others have said, please resign and serve out your notice period to maintain your professional integrity. Once you have resigned and are serving out your notice, your mood will immediately lift due to lack of pressure and the clock counting down to your leaving date.

I have been in similar positions and always followed proper procedure and this sometimes came in handy for references etc.