How much notice do I have to give?
Legally, as long as you’ve been at your job for over a month, you have to give at least one week’s notice. Although your contract can specify longer – usually at least a month. So be sure to check your employment contract beforehand.
While it’s tempting to think you’ve got nothing to lose if you simply stop coming to work, that really isn’t the case. Failing to complete your notice period could land you in court. To avoid this, book an appointment with your boss and, in the nicest possible way, tell them you’re leaving. Get the exact details of what they expect from you before you do.
Can I leave before my notice period?
In short, not really.
“Leaving before your notice period has finished is considered a breach of contract,” says Sue Terry from Acas. “Companies can actually take former employees to the civil court for leaving before their notice period is up.”
Not to mention, doing the old Irish goodbye ahead of time can also affect your reference. “Future employers will often ask for references from previous employers, and they need to be factual and fair,” says Sue. “Just bear in mind that if you leave before your contract expires, then it could be put on a reference.”
How to leave early after giving notice
“In some jobs, such as sales, they may want you to leave early. They’ll still expect you to give notice to leave the job but they may waive the notice period. This is cause they’re afraid you might take customers away,” explains Sue.
If you’re moving to work for a competitor, you may also be asked to leave to prevent you accessing confidential company information. Otherwise, if you’ve finished whatever you were working on, your employer may just be nice and let you go early. Plus, it also saves them paying you when there isn’t the work to give you.
It’s worth noting that if you leave early, you won’t be paid for the time you don’t work. The only exception is if your employee has asked you to leave (in which case they’ll pay you in lieu of notice).
Working out your notice period
Just because you’ve given notice at work, that doesn’t mean the terms and conditions of your employment contract have changed. This applies for both you and your soon-to-be-ex boss: you still need to work the hours contracted and your employer still needs to honour any sick and holiday pay. You should also know that your outstanding holidays can be taken as part of your notice period.
Remember, an employer has a duty to treat you fairly up until the day you leave. So if you suddenly find yourself being bullied or discriminated against because of your decision to leave then you have grounds to take action against them.
How to give notice to leave a job
Generally speaking, you can give notice that you’re leaving in one of two ways. You can either formally resign by giving notice verbally, directly to your employer, or you can write a resignation letter/notice letter. The route you end up going usually depends on the work environment and the relationship you have with your boss. But regardless of how you resign from a job, there are some simple do’s and don’ts that it’s best to follow when giving notice at work.
Do:
- Draft or write a simple letter of resignation using resignation letter templates or letter samples, starting with something like ‘please accept this letter of resignation’; even if you’re going to have the conversation in person. It’ll help you work out what exactly you want to say and can be used as evidence if necessary.
- Try to leave on good terms – even if it’s the last thing you wanna do.
- Check if company perks still apply in your notice period. Your contract, company handbook or intranet should spell this out for you
- Make sure that you’re leaving as smoothly as possible – you may need to write handover notes or help train someone else. Maybe even leave your email address in case your replacement has any questions.
Don’t:
- Swipe the company’s confidential information. For example, your contacts book or client list. It’ll just end up coming back to bite you in the ass
- Be a moaner – sure, you’re fed up with the place but your colleagues still have to stay there
How to resign with immediate effect
If you’re wondering how to resign with immediate effect, for example due to medical reasons or a family issue, it’s pretty simple. All you have to do is write a formal letter of resignation. From there, your boss can’t refuse your resignation or do anything to stop it.
If you’re comfortable discussing the specifics of your situation it may help your case to include them. Just keep in mind that it might be against the terms of your contract of employment to leave immediately. Luckily, your boss can excuse you on compassionate grounds.
On the other hand, if you constantly dream of storming out because you absolutely hate your job, keep it as a dream. It’s really better to try to stick out your notice period. That way you can avoid any bad blood and/or bad references.
Garden leave
Depending on your job, you may be asked to take garden leave instead of working a notice period. Unfortunately this isn’t quite the same as resigning with immediate effect. Basically, garden leave is a period of time in which you can’t start a new job AND you have to take leave from your old one. Generally this only applies to jobs in finance and similar roles where there’s a big risk of leaking information to a competitor. It’s also worth mentioning that your boss might still ask you to work whilst on garden leave. It’s totally up to your employer to decide.
Should I do an exit interview?
Some employers conduct exit interviews as part of company policy. Others may offer you one for a number of reasons. Keep in mind, you’re not entitled to an exit interview, but if you have something constructive to say then you might want to ask for one. Some things to know are:
- You might wanna keep your reasons for leaving to yourself, which you’re entitled to do.
- Exit interviews are a forum for you to offer constructive feedback to your employer. This helps them to learn from your experience of working for them.
- Some employers take the results of exit interviews very seriously, and might go to senior executive and/or attempt to change policy on the basis of what is said.
- Resist the if I-ran-the-company approach. If you’ve only been there six months, now is not the time to have a mega-ego boost.
- Prepare your comments in advance, and be specific. If you feel that your employer is doing something wrong, don’t be afraid to tell them. Give an example of how you experienced this, and how you feel it could have been done differently. But whatever you do, don’t drag others into your complaint, as they have to carry on working once you’ve left.
Published
