UKC

When someone leaves one job to start another, is the done thing still 30 days notice (if paid once a month).

It seems that for advertised positions, the employer always wants the New Start to begin ASAP. Are potential employers put off by a candidate that can't start for 30 days, until their notice period is worked?

In reply to ogreville:

It depends upon what your contract says.

Typically, in my industry, people are on one to two months notice. Typically, people won't get held to three month's notice, it's very much a negotiation. New employer's do expect that new employees will be subject to a notice period though.

In reply to ogreville:


I would hope that any good employer would allow the best candidate to work their notice period.
If they are that desperate for a new starter, then maybe they are a disorganised employer.

In reply to Blue Straggler:


What if they are desperate because the position they need to fill was previously held by a person who didn't work their 30 days notice......because their new job required them to start ASASP (that was a mouthful!!)

In reply to ogreville:

If it's a permanent salaried position and you're offered the role after first/second interview, there'll be enough administrative hoops (right to work, references etc.) to make 30 days fly by. Employer will be looking to the long term.

If it's a zero hours contract for catering staff at a festival next bank holiday weekend, it'll be too late after 30 days.

At my company, 5 years service requires 3 month's notice, but I've never seen it enforced. Why alienate someone who has decided to leave.

In reply to ogreville:

Whenever I've recruited people I've always assumed they'll need to work a month's notice (probably plus an extra week or two for contracts/references before they even hand it in). If I need someone at shorter notice I'd go through an agency and get a contractor in. It depends on the position and my priorities - is it more important to have someone in the job or to have the best/right person for it?

In reply to ogreville:

With my company, once you've been there long enough, it's 1-week/year of service, which is the better part of 3 months notice for me now.

I'd be very surprised if that was wasn't negotiable, though, unless you're smack in the middle of a big project - I'm sure one of my colleagues that left under these terms was out of the door in about a month.

In reply to ogreville:


Generally, but it depends on the contract. Some employers will consider pay in lieu of notice (i.e. paying you for some or all of the 30 days without you working them) if they feel that better suits their needs.


No, it's quite normal.

In reply to ogreville:


That isn't the new employee's problem. They have to work their notice otherwise they may be sued for breach of contract. If a new employer didn't respect that, that'd just be the tip of an iceberg that would make it clear that no way would I want to work for them.

In reply to ogreville:

I think this is probably quite industry specific. I'm an academic and it is usual to give and work the standard three month notice period.

When transferring between universities this hasn't been an issue, but I'm not sure what would happen if I wanted to leave and do something different. My new employer would have to be pretty keen on me to wait that long!

In reply to ogreville:

I'm 3 months notice as well, it's not as uncommon as you think.

In reply to Lion Bakes:

In my last position, I was contracted to a 6 month notice period which was enforced when I handed in my notice and worked out as a 6 month paid holiday (climbing road trip). Current contract is also 6 months notice.

In reply to Lion Bakes:

Same, people generally held to it too.

In reply to ogreville:

How is notice policed though ?? Surely if you want to leave you can just walk out the door. (I actually know two people who were escorted off the premises, but that's for another time)

Making someone stay 3-6 months to work out their notice could be counter productive, they're hardly going to be motivated. When I started work where I am now, (28 years ago) it was a week, now its a month. We've been taken over a few times in those years, but the contract I signed many moons ago was for a week, not a month.

Be a bit of a bummer if you were a Lottery winner and they made you stay.

In reply to Neil Williams:

In practice you can leave as soon as you wish Neil. There's little your current employer can do about it. *

. In theory they could attempt to sue for breach of contract but this just is clutching at straws. To succeed they'd have to prove in court that they suffered some loss, directly attributable to the employee leaving without notice. In practice this is harder to calculate than it seems. But even if you got over that one, the court would expect you to make good the loss and in anycase any loss/damages would be calculated on the difference between what the contract held the employee to and what notice the employee actually gave. So you get over those two hurdles and then you've got to get your money.

Bit difficult if the employee lives with little money in the bank! Which is why it is so rare I've not come across.

*But give you a less than favourable reference!!

In reply to ogreville:

I always believe in not burning your bridges. In my industry you come across many ex colleagues and leaving with a favourable impression does you well when you meet them again in different contexts and companies. So work your notice unless mutually agreed you can leave earlier / take paid holiday etc.

In reply to Blue Straggler:


It's a pain sometimes but I wouldn't want to employ someone who didn't work their notice.



Needing someone ASAP isn't necessarily a sign of disorganisation. One of my guys walked with zero notice. Not a problem thinks me, I will find someone else.
2 or 3 weeks later I have found a guy who was on a month's notice but 2 weeks in he has family problems and has a mental breakdown and turns down the job.
Okay start again. A few weeks later I find a guy on 2 months notice.
A month in he tells me his current employer has increased his wage so he is staying there.
A few weeks later I find another guy on a month's notice.
The day before he is due to start he gives back word.
All told we are looking at 4 months and a week or so short handed leaving me working 12 to 14 hour days 6 to 7 days a week, if I could find someone to start tomorrow I would bite their hand off.
As it happens the guy who had the breakdown came to see me yesterday, he is not 100% but with some help and support from us he feels he can do the job so I am giving him a shot.
4 weeks notice though so I'm still on silly hours for the time being.

In reply to Dax H:

Fair. Poor wording by me, writing in a hurry and wanting to create a soundbite. I suppose that in place of "desperate" I could have said "pushy" i.e. new employer pushing the candidate to make himself/herself available unrealistically soon.
I don't recruit but I've seen similar situations to what you describe.
I've only ever quit one "proper" job, one month notice but I had 2 weeks' annual leave to use up therefore only ten working days for me but it gave my employers the full month to find a replacement (I don't think they bothered, they just shared my workload out amongst my lucky delighted few remaining former colleagues). And I worked those 2 weeks diligently and seriously, but if I'd had to stretch it to a month or longer it would have been hard.

In reply to ogreville:
New employers will ask for the moon on a stick in the hope of getting an ice lolly

I have found a lot of companies that I speak to are putting 3 month notice periods into contracts even for non-managerial roles.

In reply to ogreville:


Anyone who simply walks out on a job in anything other than absolutely extreme circumstances is committing career suicide. 30 days or one calendar month seems to be an assumed standard but I've heard about all sorts up to 6 months for roles in very IP sensitive positions and in this particular case the person resigning was immediately put on gardening leave with full pay.

In reply to gethin_allen:


Quite common in my industry to get yourself a job with a competitor first, then just walk out. There are a lot of reasons for this, but in general, if you have a specific skill set that's in short supply, then when it comes to recruitment policies, management really can go f*ck themselves!

In reply to Jon Stewart:

Agreed. gethin's comment seems - with all respect - a bit naive.
I walked out on my first ever job (and within a week was living in a different country), it didn't harm me. Admittedly this job was the shelf-stacking graveyard shift at Clapham Junction Asda and I had only been there 4 hours (completing my first 4 hour shift), but still.....

HANG ON

They still owe me £20 for that!
It was 21 years ago though