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Employees and employers alike have the right under at-will employment laws in almost all states to end their relationship without notice, for any reason, but the two-week rule is a widely accepted standard of workplace conduct. Now Sue Shellenbarger writes at The Wall Street Journal that employers say a growing number of workers are leaving without giving two weeks' notice.
Some bosses blame young employees who feel frustrated by limited prospects or have little sense of attachment to their workplace. But employment experts say some older workers are quitting without notice as well. They feel overworked or unappreciated after years of laboring under pay cuts and expanded workloads imposed during the recession. One employee at Dupray, a customer-service rep, scheduled a meeting and announced she was quitting, then rose and headed for the exit. She seemed surprised when the director of human resources stopped her and explained that employees are expected to give two weeks' notice. "She said, 'I've been watching 'Suits,' and this is how it happens,' " referring to the TV drama set in a law firm.
According to Shellenbarger, quitting without notice is sometimes justified. Employees with access to proprietary information, such as those working in sales or new-product development, face a conflict of interest if they accept a job with a competitor. Employees in such cases typically depart right away—ideally, by mutual agreement. It can also be best to exit quickly if an employer is abusive, or if you suspect your employer is doing something illegal.
More often, however, quitting without notice "is done in the heat of emotion, by someone who is completely frustrated, angry, offended or upset," says David Lewis, president of OperationsInc., a Norwalk, Conn., human-resources consulting firm. That approach can burn bridges and generate bad references. Phyllis Hartman says employees have a responsibility to try to communicate about what's wrong. "Start figuring out if there is anything you can do to fix it. The worst that can happen is that nobody listens or they tell you no."
(Score: 3, Interesting) by tonyPick on Tuesday June 28 2016, @07:28AM
Depends on the size of the industry you're in to an extent - doing SW programming where I am you tend to bump into a lot of the same faces in different places.
Burning your bridges, or running the contract to the letter, is great in the short term, but it is (IME) generally worth handling the notice period as co-operatively as possible, simply because the co-workers you leave in the shit today may be the ones you will have to work with, or even for, at a different company tomorrow.
Being known as someone who will do their best even in a difficult situation is worth a lot when bidding for a new contract comes up.
The only exception is where you have a manager/role which is literally unbearable for the notice period, where the how and why of walking out the door will be clearly understood by the people around you (because we've all seen that situation at one time or another).
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 28 2016, @07:39AM
you tend to bump into a lot of the same faces in different places.
co-workers you leave in the shit today may be the ones you will have to work with, or even for, at a different company tomorrow.
So basically you and your co-workers are like a deck of cards being passed around by the bosses of different companies just like cards in a card game, and what you're saying is, enjoy the shuffle and don't fall out of the deck. You don't have any problem with the fact that you're type-cast as a card in a game and the game is playing you.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 28 2016, @08:04AM
THEY wrote the contract. "Running the contract to the letter" is thus the same as "doing exactly as they asked".
(Score: 2) by quintessence on Tuesday June 28 2016, @12:05PM
Don't you find it peculiar that you are concerned with burning your bridges so to speak, yet employers that grind through workers aren't?
Typically a single black mark on an otherwise impressive C.V. isn't going to mean much, especially if there is a shortage of workers (remember those times? I do) or you can justify it without seeming backbiting. Not to mention having copies of your work evaluations on hand to present so no one has to contact your previous employer.
And all of this is immaterial. If employers want something, pay for it like the rest of us do. Don't try and leverage some outdated social expectation, like a pension or a Christmas bonus, into a gimme.
THAT bridge has been burnt a long time ago.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by TheRaven on Tuesday June 28 2016, @12:32PM
Don't you find it peculiar that you are concerned with burning your bridges so to speak, yet employers that grind through workers aren't?
Not really, though it depends on the industry a lot. In a high-skills occupation, the negotiating position is far more even. Some companies get a reputation for being a bad place to work, then they find it difficult to hire skilled people. This never ends well for the company. In an industry where there are more qualified people than jobs then the balance is entirely the other way around and you can easily fire a bit chunk of your workforce and then hire replacements quickly.
sudo mod me up
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Tuesday June 28 2016, @03:03PM
I'm not surprised at this at all.
Power in any negotiation is defined by what happens if a party decide to walk away without a deal. For example, if you are shopping for something pretty to put on your mantlepiece, then you hold all the power because you can always manage just fine without one. If, on the other hand, you are shopping for food, and this is the only store for hundreds of miles, and you're hungry and without food, then you have very little power because your alternative to buying food is starvation.
And that means that in most employment negotiations, the worker needs the job more than the company needs the employee: Most workers without jobs are close to losing homes or cars or other important stuff if they don't find a job soon, whereas an employer can usually afford to be short-staffed for a while. The desperation of the employee causes them to bend over backwards for their employers.
An employees' defense against this effect is significant savings, so your alternative to working is spending down your savings a bit more. That's one reason capitalism works hard to try to convince people to spend whatever they have.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by q.kontinuum on Tuesday June 28 2016, @05:58PM
Usually I would agree. I only had one not so nice job-change, and I don't mind the bridges I burnt there. (As you can see below, due to special circumstances I managed to only let down my boss without letting down my co-workers.)
Where I live, even in probation period (usually 6 months), you have a mandatory 2 weeks notice in both directions. After probation it starts with two months and increases depending on the duration of your employment.
During my education I was working as a sw developer. The employer did lots of inhouse-projects, but I was working on customer premises together with a few others. Since pay was good, education was not paid by time and work was interesing/challanging/rewarding enough, I was in no hurry to finish the education. In the final months, my employer told me not to worry, and I could get a proper job-upgrade with appropriate pay once I have the formal qualification. So far so good.
After finally finishing my education, I talked to my employer. I did some research on usual salaries in my region. Since my boss had me working in development teams together with formally qualified, and I did my job among them without any limitations, I asked for average pay for professional with two years experience. (I was working for that boss for 5 years already, always getting glowing reviews.)
First of all, out of a sudden he mentioned that there are some difficulties hiring at that time. Then he opened to me that I'd have to get a new contract, with a new 6 month probation time (two weeks notice), after I worked 5 years for them and they knew my work-quality perfectly well. The salary he reduced by 20 percent from what I asked. Working time was specified as approximately 40h, occasional overtime included in current pay (I knew from experience that it would end up 50h). Once I got the contract (a couple of days later), the salary was reduced again, citing the previously agreed salary as "target salary, including target bonus". The new base salary was again 10 percent less than what was agreed. And I heard that the contract I was still working on was in danger of not being extended that year, so good reason for me to be concerned to lose my job within the 6 month. At that time I didn't have another option, since I had trusted them, so I grudgingly signed and voiced quite audible that luckily, the probation time would go both ways.
I went to the next floor in the same building, where another IT-company was located. Within 20 minutes I had some basic agreement what could be expected. A week later I had a technical interview, and another week later their offer. They agreed to hire me as professional with equivalent of two years full-time experience; the pay was what I asked initially for, plus 10% bonus target (which I achieved easily every year). On top I got 2 days additional vacation (together 30) and again ~5 percent of my salary on top paid into a private pension plan. Probation time was only 3 months. All with a time-tracking system, ensuring that overtime was either per default compensated with free time or, if agreed on by both sides, paid with hourly rate + 25 percent. And the special bonus: Since this company worked with the same customer as my previous employer, I could even keep my old desk for a couple of more months to properly finish my work there. (It was an interesting project, the hierarchy on customer-side was treating its developers with all due respect, and I would really have hated to let them down.)
Having a nice job:Great
Getting all the condidions I asked for, plus some: Awesome
Face of my former boss when I handed him my two weeks notice: Invaluable!
Funniest thing was when his boss called me to tell me that we could have talked instead, to solve the differences, and after that didn't catch telling me that you always meet twice in life. I told him this was a good thing, and maybe next time we meet he is aware that I mean what I say in my negotiations, and that putting someone after 5 years of faithful service on probation is not necessarily a good move. Under those conditions we could probably come to terms some day.
My next job-change I announced even before the new contract was finally signed, giving my employer enough time to look for replacement. In return they told me that if there is any delay with the new job, I could stay with them for the time being or go back on my cancellation. I still was invited to some company-parties etc.