Period of notice

jessmist

Hi,
I am looking to change jobs and my current contract says 1 months notice.
But I know of another colleague who recently left and only gave 2 weeks notice. I'm just a bit confused on the notice period I have to tell my new employer and what my current employer will except.

bluelad1927

Might it have been that the other person in fact gave one month's notice and had unused annual leave?

la531983

Could be a multitude of reasons why that happened. Other than the above:

- legacy contract whereas his says 2 weeks and yours one month
- he is on a different grade of job, generally the more important the job the bigger the notice period is
- Was put on gardening leave after 2 weeks

General_Grant

jessmist said:

Hi,
I am looking to change jobs and my current contract says 1 months notice.
But I know of another colleague who recently left and only gave 2 weeks notice. I'm just a bit confused on the notice period I have to tell my new employer and what my current employer will except.

If your contract says one month, tell a prospective employer it is one month.

What lesser, notice your current employer might accept when you actually are ready to give notice cannot be guessed. by any of us

StevenB12

Notice period can be flexible I've found, it can depend on the circumstances, time at the company and in general how much they think of you/how you have been at the company. 

Most places ask for one month notice period, but a lot will also let you leave earlier if you risk losing the opportunity due to your notice period.., at one of my last employers they asked for a month's notice, but new company wanted me to start in two weeks and would consider someone else if I could do that, luckily I was able to offset two weeks notice with two weeks worth of holidays unpaid. 

All just depends on the employer 

DullGreyGuy

StevenB12 said:

Most places ask for one month notice period, but a lot will also let you leave earlier if you risk losing the opportunity due to your notice period.., at one of my last employers they asked for a month's notice, but new company wanted me to start in two weeks and would consider someone else if I could do that, luckily I was able to offset two weeks notice with two weeks worth of holidays unpaid. 

"Most places" will very much depend on the grade of the person in question. The norm for perms in my field of work would be a 3 month notice period. 

The ability to leave early is much more dependent on how the staffing levels are in your current company than concern you may lose the opportunity. No one working their notice is as productive as someone gunning for their next promotion etc but if you've already been trying to fill 2 vacancies for the last 6 months you aren't going to be keen on having a 3rd one to fill at the same time. 

Depending on your job and what you are going on to do (or if you refuse to say where you are going) then there are obvious competition concerns, particularly if you are in sales or external relationship management type roles. Companies like to think corporates buy into their brand but it can very much be they bought into the sales person not the brand so will follow where he goes. That sort you want on garden leave or restricted duties as soon as possible and ensure they work their full notice. 

jessmist said:

I am looking to change jobs and my current contract says 1 months notice.
But I know of another colleague who recently left and only gave 2 weeks notice. I'm just a bit confused on the notice period I have to tell my new employer and what my current employer will except.

You tell them your contract requires one months notice however there is precedence of people being allowed to leave early so you may be available sooner.

TBagpuss

It's not uncommon for different people to have different notice periods. For instance, where I work, more senior people have 3 months, most support stand (reception etc.) have 1 month, people right at the top have 6 months.

Also, employers may have at some point introduces a longer or shorter period so yours may be longer or shorter than another person in a similar role who started t a different time to you.

If you want to leave sooner, you can speak to your employer and ask, however, 1 month isn't very long an so tell your new employer that - and then if you have any annual leave left you can always speak to your current employer about using up your leave at the end of your notice period, so you actual have your last day 'in the office' a bit sooner and have a few days off before starting the new job.

If you are desperate to be gone more quickly you can ask if they will agree a shorter notice period but they aren't required to, and of curse of you agree that you only get paid for the shorter period so could have an issue of the new employer then doesn't need you to start early! 

Annisele

There's also the option of not working your notice period. That might not be a good option - and in some circumstances/industries it would be a terrible idea with long term negative consequences - but it can be done.

If your notice period is 4 weeks, but you mutually agree with your employer that you can leave after 2 weeks, then everybody is happy.

On the other hand, if your notice period is 4 weeks, your employer wants to hold you to 4 weeks, but you up and leave after 2 weeks, you've breached your contract with your employer. In theory they could sue you for their losses, but in practice that's very unlikely outside of specific industries. A much more likely scenario is that your breach of contract would affect the reference they gave you - and that could even lead to your new employer pulling your job offer.

All sorts of things might have happened with the colleague who only gave two weeks' notice. Maybe his contract said two weeks. Maybe your employer agreed he could go early (possibly because the employer was wanting to get rid of him anyway). Maybe he didn't work his notice period at all, and now his reference is tanked. Maybe he didn't work his notice period but nobody cares.

Is there somebody you trust at your employer (ideally not your manager) who could tell you how resignations are normally handled at your company? Union reps tend to be good for that, but if you can a rep I suspect you'd have asked them rather than the forum.