Giving Notice

If I know I am leaving in 5 weeks, but I am only required to give 1 months notice, is it polite to give 5 weeks given how difficult it is to recruit my position at the moment or daft.

Either way I am leaving, it just means if i really needed too I could potententially vacate a week earlier?

Answers on a postcard to me...

Ta

I'd hand my notice is now, and if i could afford it have the week (unemployed) between the two jobs. Give you chance for a break so that you are fully refreshed for the new job.

Or hand your notice in now and take any holiday oweing to you in that week between them (so that you are still paid)

O and congrats on the new job?!

It is entirely up to you.

the minimum notice required is a month so I guess if you know you're leaving you might as well tell them earlier. It isn't your problem if they cannot find someone to replace you in time. If I was in your situation, I would let my boss know earlier simply out of politeness, and also because I have a good work relationship with her.

Oh, and dont forget to use up all your remaining annual leave

Maria

I'd hand in your notice now. If you're lucky, they may decide to give you an extra weeks paid 'gardening leave'. If you're unlucky then they'll make you work the whole of your notice period.

months notice, they wouldn't give you 5 weeks notice

When I decided to take up semi-retirement I gave my old boss 3 months notice, knowing full well he'd put me on paid gardening leave for the duration and couldn't take my company car off me for that time either.

Apparently, they can't reduce your notice period, no matter how long it is.

Originally Posted by Miss Alpinestarhero

It is entirely up to you.

the minimum notice required is a month

In law, the minimum notice required by either party is only one week regardless of pay schedules or anything written into contracts. Some contracts stipulate one month or even longer, but if it went to court (unlikely) the law sides with you.

It's the same as contracts that state you can't work for other companies within the same field for x amount of time after you leave. You can go and work for who you like when you like, and there's not a thing they can do about it. I tested this when I left an old job after an argument with the boss and started my own company doing exactly the same thing. I got solicitors letters telling me I was in breach of contract, and all I did was photocopy them and scrawl "SEE YOU IN COURT" across the photocopy in black marker pen before sending them back to the solicitor (It was costing the firm something like 50 quid a pop to have the solicitor open my letters to them, so I was quite happy to keep doing it). After the third one they stopped sending them and I heard no more about it. That firm went under, while I sold out to a larger firm 5 years later.

Originally Posted by Lozzo

In law, the minimum notice required by either party is only one week regardless of pay schedules or anything written into contracts. Some contracts stipulate one month or even longer, but if it went to court (unlikely) the law sides with you.

It's the same as contracts that state you can't work for other companies within the same field for x amount of time after you leave. You can go and work for who you like when you like, and there's not a thing they can do about it. I tested this when I left an old job after an argument with the boss and started my own company doing exactly the same thing. I got solicitors letters telling me I was in breach of contract, and all I did was photocopy them and scrawl "SEE YOU IN COURT" across the photocopy in black marker pen before sending them back to the solicitor (It was costing the firm something like 50 quid a pop to have the solicitor open my letters to them, so I was quite happy to keep doing it). After the third one they stopped sending them and I heard no more about it. That firm went under, while I sold out to a larger firm 5 years later.

Sorry but this is wrong. You can agree longer periods - and people usually do. Whether they're enforceable, as a matter of practice, is irrelevant. But they are enforceable in terms of £££.

And restrictive covenants - as long as they're reaosnable and do no more than is absolutely necessary to protect the employer's business, and aren't simply a restraint of trade, then they're valid. A court will interpret it narrowly and against the party relying on it, so it needs to be well drawn and not excessive. If they are well drawn, and aren't excessive, then they are enforceable.

[Dave20046]

hand in your notice as early as. I had a no notice contract but worked a month out of courtesy and made it clear in my resignation letter. God knows why I did that as I got no thanks and could have worked an extra month at my current job for 4x the pay!

Originally Posted by Ed

Sorry but this is wrong. You can agree longer periods - and people usually do. Whether they're enforceable, as a matter of practice, is irrelevant. But they are enforceable in terms of £££.

And restrictive covenants - as long as they're reaosnable and do no more than is absolutely necessary to protect the employer's business, and aren't simply a restraint of trade, then they're valid. A court will interpret it narrowly and against the party relying on it, so it needs to be well drawn and not excessive. If they are well drawn, and aren't excessive, then they are enforceable.

In nearly 20 years of hiring and firing sales people I've had no end leave with one weeks notice, numerous people leave to go and work for competitors and not once has any HR dept come back to me and said "we're going after him because he's in breach of contract". On those occasions when I've questioned this I've been told what I wrote above, that the contract may stipulate such and such, but enforcing it is a different matter altogether. To the HR Depts it's just not worth the bother.

I have never encountered one person whose restrictive covenant has been enforced upon them after they have left to work for a competitor. everybody in the sales environments had completely ignored them, and it's a well known fact that the first people they contact in their new employment is old clients. No-one takes the blindest bit of notice of them - not even HR depts.