Employer wants to change my notice period to 3 months

chroniccharlie

I'm hoping someone can help

My employer sent me an email, followed by a letter earlier this week, stating that from 1st July they wish to increase the current notice period from 4 weeks to three months for both employee and employer.  

I work as a Quantity Surveyor in quite a senior role, and I've been with the business for 11 years.

My employer has stated that the reason for the proposed change is as follows:

"We have established that the current notice period of 4 weeks does not reflect or recognise the seniority of the roles within you grade banding and the reason for the change is to bring your notice period in line with the seniority of the role that you undertake for the business, a variation which we believe will benefit both parties."

I'm struggling to see how the change benefits me. My current contract says that my employer must give me 1 weeks notice for every year of employment, up to a maximum of 12 weeks. So in that case, I'm already on 11 weeks. 

Agreeing to this change only seems to benefit my employer. Am I missing something? Is this an opportunity to ask for a pay increase?

Thanks in advance

Dakta

I don't think it's designed to benefit you, sounds like a minor change if you're at 11 weeks anyway that rounds things and keeps you in line with similar positions. The extra week will of course give them more time to arrange affairs if you leave.

Changes don't have to have a mutual benefit, though that said imho this is minor unless you're heading into a situation where the weeks going to have impact? 

MattMattMattUK

chroniccharlie said:

I'm hoping someone can help

My employer sent me an email, followed by a letter earlier this week, stating that from 1st July they wish to increase the current notice period from 4 weeks to three months for both employee and employer.  

I work as a Quantity Surveyor in quite a senior role, and I've been with the business for 11 years.

My employer has stated that the reason for the proposed change is as follows:

"We have established that the current notice period of 4 weeks does not reflect or recognise the seniority of the roles within you grade banding and the reason for the change is to bring your notice period in line with the seniority of the role that you undertake for the business, a variation which we believe will benefit both parties."

I'm struggling to see how the change benefits me. My current contract says that my employer must give me 1 weeks notice for every year of employment, up to a maximum of 12 weeks. So in that case, I'm already on 11 weeks. 

Agreeing to this change only seems to benefit my employer. Am I missing something? Is this an opportunity to ask for a pay increase?

Thanks in advance

For clarity, is the way that it is worded means that if they give you notice then it is 11 weeks, but if you give them notice you only need to give four weeks?

Normally changes to notice periods would be done as part of a promotion to a new seniority level, that is the only time I have seen them done in the past, but your employer might have realised that should have happened with you and has not. For someone who is fairly senior three months would be fairly normal in most sectors with a garden leave and PILON option in the contract, as well as a clause that it can be shorter by mutual consent.

Have you had a pay rise in the last twelve months, are you expecting one and would you normally ask for one anyway?

GrumpyDil

Think you are missing the point slightly. OP currently gets 11 weeks notice but only has to give four weeks notice. The change would mean he would have to give 12 weeks notice to leave. 

OP in my company as the roles get more senior it is standard to change the notice periods to reflect that seniority. That said it is normally tied in with a promotion so refuse to agree to the extended notice period and no promotion. In your case i can see no promotion tied in as the carrot. 

You could argue against accepting the increased notice period or see if the company will give you a pay increase to agree. 

[Deleted User]

I don't understand how this change benefits you at all, perhaps ask how they believe you will benefit.

Be prepared for them imposing  their will on you and making a unilateral variation to your terms of service.

Grumpy_chap

chroniccharlie said:

I'm hoping someone can help

My employer sent me an email, followed by a letter earlier this week, stating that from 1st July they wish to increase the current notice period from 4 weeks to three months for both employee and employer.  

I work as a Quantity Surveyor in quite a senior role, and I've been with the business for 11 years.

My employer has stated that the reason for the proposed change is as follows:

"We have established that the current notice period of 4 weeks does not reflect or recognise the seniority of the roles within you grade banding and the reason for the change is to bring your notice period in line with the seniority of the role that you undertake for the business, a variation which we believe will benefit both parties."

I'm struggling to see how the change benefits me. My current contract says that my employer must give me 1 weeks notice for every year of employment, up to a maximum of 12 weeks. So in that case, I'm already on 11 weeks. 

Agreeing to this change only seems to benefit my employer. Am I missing something? Is this an opportunity to ask for a pay increase?

Thanks in advance

It is not unusual for more senior staff to have to give 3 months' notice.
It would also not prevent you moving on insofar as if you are the correct person for a role a potential new employer would understand and wait the 12 weeks.

JReacher1

It’s hard to recruit at the moment so they are basically making it harder for you to get another job by putting you on a long notice period. 

They should really give you an incentive to agree to this so personally I would ask for a payrise. 

diggingdude

My advice would be don't agree to it. I have a 3 month notice period and it makes it difficult to apply for non similar jobs as your average employer wants someone starting in a few weeks normally.

Sandtree

arctic_ghost said:

I don't understand how this change benefits you at all, perhaps ask how they believe you will benefit.

Be prepared for them imposing  their will on you and making a unilateral variation to your terms of service.

Firstly, its probably a generic letter that has also been sent to the new guy who goes from being served 4 weeks notice when they want to downsize to 12 weeks.

There is also a marginal benefit to the OP in that if they made him redundant/fired him with notice etc that he'll get 12 weeks pay not 11 weeks before being off.

diggingdude said:

My advice would be don't agree to it. I have a 3 month notice period and it makes it difficult to apply for non similar jobs as your average employer wants someone starting in a few weeks normally.

Having a 3 month notice period isn't ideal for some roles but if you are a senior manager its fairly standard and most companies will anticipate having to wait for that sort of duration but hope that you negotiate a shorter notice. Obviously if you are at a much lower level and your employer has just oddly long notice periods then it will be problematic as junior roles are more often 1 months notice.

SensibleSarah

I once had a 4-month notice period and it was really tough finding an employer that was willing to wait for me to leave, but 2-3 months is fairly standard in my industry for the seniority of role that we're talking about. In the end I was able to get my notice down to 2 months from 4 when I handed my notice in, but had to be prepared for them to say no. 

Doshwaster

I recently moved from 1 to 3 months notice. There's ups and down. Bigger payout in terms of redundancy but if you want to leave you need to find another employer willing to wait that long for you.

Very different to colleagues in the US where there is no legal period at all on either side and it is only polite to give your employer 2 weeks.