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OT: Notice periods.
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Say, hypothetically, somone who happens to be me had basically had
about as much as they could handle with a job they were doing and were
contemplating chucking in the towel.
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Guernsey's turning out to be better than Didcot then, eh?
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In every single way, yes - seriously. A job is a very small part of
life. Guernsey is fantastic outside the job. I don't miss England at
all.
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Give my regards to your mrs.
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No point - she's moved on from having an opinion to not remembering who
you are.
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Has she forgotten me too?
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Er... I think it's more infamy than memory - in other words she
probably wouldn't be able to pick you out of a lineup, however does
remember your "accidental" wrong turning.
Does that help?
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What's the deal with (pre) booking holiday in a notice period? that
might be a way of at least shortening it a bit.
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Straightforward so far. However, I don't fancy working the notice
period - I just fancy walking out.
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Give notice.
Pull a sickie (that's not a euphemism).
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I really wouldn't do it. If I was your boss I would not be happy on all
sorts of grounds - it isn't just about employment contracts. It's also
about the effort in establishing what went on, why, if you'll return etc
etc. I had an employee do this to me and it took an inordinate amount of
time and effort to comply with due process - time and effort I could ill
afford to spare. You will do yourself no favours.
It's been said by others but you have to be very careful not to burn
your bridges. You never know who may turn up at what point in your life
/ career and there is no point giving people "ammunition" if you can
avoid it. BTDTGTTS.
Much as it will probably drive you slightly nuts the best course is to
work your notice in as professional manner as you can muster. If you
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I did something similar, years ago. Got put on "gardening leave", paid.
My new employer took me on "in a freelance capacity", so I got
double-bubble for a month. Nice.
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Of course, this isn't always possible. Whilst on gardening leave, you
are still under contract, most of which prevent moonlighting, which is
what you did.
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Actually, I told them that I had a freelance side, which they knew. I
told them I would not be sitting at home for a month, but would be
working freelance, and assured them that it would be non-competitive, as
ever.
And they said this was fine. Naturally, they didn't know that I was
freelancing for my new employer.
But yeah, point taken.
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Mind you, what's the worst that could happen.
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*ding* Not quite the same, but I was askes to leave when been made
redundant [no gardening leave] and blagged a new job inside a week[1] of
being made redundant.
[1] Starting the next day.
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My old cricket captain was made redundant on the Friday, and started a
new (better) job on Monday.
Good job he picked up ~£50k to tide him over a troublesome weekend,
playing cricket.
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And I thought collecting £15k for three weeks was good.....
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think it will be a struggle then there is really no harm in explaining
your feelings in a logical manner and asking if there is some compromise
available by which you can leave earlier than your notice period. If you
don't ask you don't get.
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Don't just walk out. Deduct outstanding holiday entitlement from your notice
period first. Then tell them that you would like to take unpaid leave for
the rest of your notice.
If they don't go for that, I'd spend a few days writing up handover notes
for your replacement, then a few weeks beating your best time on Solitaire
:-)
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What are the implications of this?
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Breach of contract normally, walk in & tell them you want out due to health issues, dont just walk out.
You might even get some sympathey pay etc!
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It'll be hard to keep what you did a secret, and it'll probably be a
black mark against you when you look for employment elsewhere, however
justifed you feel in what you did.
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The situation would have to be pretty dire to warrant that. Even though
I was sick of the last place I still worked my notice, handed
everything over and left as amicably as I could (which was no mean
feat).
I'm now finding people that I came into contact with during that time
are emailing me, so I'd really think twice about just walking.
Hand your notice in, be professional and remember that you're leaving
and they're all still stuck with it.
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Worst case, you'll be in court for breach of contract. It is unlikely
though.
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Don't. However badly they've treated you, and however you feel, leave
according to contract, and without yelling and screaming.
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Not a good idea.
You could always hand in your notice and then go on the sick for a bit.
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Zero chance of a reference, complain to the agency that placed you..
meaning they might not work with you ever again. Bad reputation..
Better to hand your notice in and treat the next 4 weeks as an exercise
in character building.
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4 weeks? Are you sure about that?
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Even if your contract says longer? I'm on three months.
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I'm pretty sure that no empoyer can enforce a notice period that long.
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I'm on three months (generally negotiable though). But I'm in France
too. However, it works the other way round too. If the company binned
me, they'd have to give me three months notice.
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Let's say for example that you come to me for a job and you tell me you
have to work out 3 months notice. I'd be taking on the slightly less
qualified/experienced person who could start in 2 weeks time. No
employer can reasonably expect you to be on 3 months notice.
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Depends at what level you're looking at I suppose. If you're at a
manager/director level, then the new company would have to bite the
bullet. When I changed jobs this year, luckily I had 6 weeks holiday
(don't ask) owing to me, so I only had to work 6 weeks notice.
In the UK I thought it depends on how you're paid. Weekly = 1 weeks
notice, monthly = 1 months notice, etc.
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This is not the way it works, contrary to common belief. It makes no
difference if you're paid hourly or yearly.
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I'm on three months notice - standard conditions for my grade. If I was
moving to a job where commercial confidentiality came into it then I'd
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Like, for example, if you were going to work for one of the *other*
London Underground Railway networks?
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Err more like if I was going to work for one of the many companies that
supplies LUL. I am in contract management and privy to a whole load of
stuff.
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be on gardening leave or moved to do something less sensitive.
While I understand what you're saying I think you'll find an awful lot
of people in more senior positions are on longer notice periods. If you
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I asked for 6 months in my current position. I wouldn't expect to be asked
to work it out if it came to it, but would if I had to - which is highly
unlikely. Realistically, the only thing it achieves is protection against
my employer going bust -
so they didn't have that big a problem affording it.
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Eh? How does that work because if your employer went bust wouldn't the
receivers pay you the minimum they could legally get away with; whatever
your personal contract said?
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Yeah, you're right, chose the wrong words - what I meant was that it gives
me additional protection if they want to make me redundant - apart from
that it's of little value.
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as the prospective employer are going to choose second best just because
of notice periods then I'd wonder how you would survive in business. If
someone is good then you'll wait to get them.
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As am I. Just to muddy the water:
Given what's transpired, my solicitor advises me that I can leave
without risk of legal recourse, but my blustering, bullying current
employers appear to be unaware of that.
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Ahh, if you'd signed that then yes.
guidance/page18474.html
Personally I'd not agree to a 3 month notice, so would negotiate with
the employer down to a month from either party.
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I've given my employers six months notice, to give them time to find a
replacement before I leave.
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I doubt that you'd get the option with most large employers.
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You're probably right, especially given the inflexibility of HR
departments, but of the 3 large employers I've worked for, all had 1
month notice periods.
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I've got loads of those in my contract, along with a funky intellectual
property clause that means all my ideas belong to my employer.
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I had one of those in my previous contract so effectively drawings etc
for all the equipment I designed were theirs.
What a shame that the CAD package they were drawn on wasn't theirs
and wasn't licenced to them. The same went for a few thousand pictures
of equipment set up on site that would have shown how the machines
went together if drawings couldn't be found.
I don't care because I've kept copies of drawings for all the machines
and mounting fixtures so my present employer can always manufacture
their own versions if they want to.
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Our IP clause is very carefully worded. If I do anything at anytime
on company equipment, it's the company's. If it's in company time,
it's the company's, irrespective of what I use to create it. It's
only mine if it's in my time, on my equipment.
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That's actually quite good.
The last one I saw said that *any* IP belonged to company while I was
in their employ - even if it was done at home on my own kit.
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That's how mine is worded too. Although it does allow me to request a
personal IP release if I come up with an idea that's not in competition
with their business interests.
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It was written like that because a lot of our guys, including the
technical director, freelance in their spare time.
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Pesonally a three month contract suits me well; no one's going to expect
me to start at less than three month's notice plus all I've got to do is
say I'm going to a competitor (as mentioned elsewhere) to get myself
placed on garden leave for a nice relaxing break...
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In the field you're in I can see that making sense, but in my field 3
months can often be the full lifecycle of a project, and a lot of
recruiting is driven by projects.
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Has some benefits; if one gets made redundant, one gets more dosh. So I
don't mind it overmuch.
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You'll be in breach of contract and they would be entitled to claim any
costs they incurred as an organisation.
They do have a duty to mitigate those costs but they can be
substantial.
The cases I've dealt with where people have breached their contracts in
this way have been fairly successful. If you've given at least four
weeks notice the tribunals tend see this as reasonable and it becomes a
cost/benefit exercise for the employer.
What does your contract actually say?
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Financially, I can seem them not paying the notice period - quite fair.
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They stop paying you the moment you cease work.
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Can they also not pay for work already done? Anything else they can do?
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No - they must pay you any monies owed, in a reasonable time scale.
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Mention the details of your sudden departure on any future references.
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For reference, I actually don't care if they don't pay me - I just want
to know they can't take it any further than that.
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They wont pay you, although they should unless you are gibbed for gross misconduct.
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Professionally, it's not ideal - obviously will burn some bridges etc
(and this being where it is this potentially has more impact than it
would elsewhere) however psychologically I'm likely to stab someone
rather than do the period.
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LOL!! - I had the exact same thing, I walked in & told them i was leaving, if they wanted a fight i would
give them one due to various reasons. I also told them it was for health reasons, what i didnt tell them,
it was for thier health reasons!!
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Look:
The Big Red Line shows where the 72nd character is.
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Why not tell them that you are at breaking point and see what compromise
can be attained?
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For once in my working life I'm glad I've never seen a contract.
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You as well? There's a surprise.
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Contract doesn't have to be written, or signed. Completing work for pay
forms the contract.
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In which case my notice period can only be the statutory required by
law, as I've never seen nor signed anything to the contrary.
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