Does Working Notice Work? Not Usually.
The downturn in the economy has pushed many of my clients away from paying severance and toward working notice. Employers are choosing to ask employees to work their notice rather than paying severance and letting them go immediately. One client asked me if I had an opinion on working notice. I do. It often doesn't work. Once you have decided to let someone go, you have mentally moved on. They have not. They can be bitter and demotivated and you can't really blame them. They were let go. It is tough for both parties to go to work each day and face one another.
When does working notice actually work?
- When it is short -- a few weeks for more junior positions and no more than three months for very senior positions.
- When the employee is reliable and professional. You can tell if they will be professional and reliable in the first few days after giving notice. If it doesn't go well, revert to severance and do it quickly.
- When the employee needs a place of work to help them look for another job.
When should you never use working notice?
- When the employee has a history of poor interpersonal skills. Bad behaviour is likely to get worse during working notice.
- When the employee can potentially hurt a client relationship or impact the security of others or of your organization.
As an employer, termination is a very difficult decision to make, even if it is the right decision. If you decide to use working notice try and park any guilt, anger or frustration and be pleasant and professional yourself. As much as possible, treat the employee the same as if you had not given notice. Continue to expect them to do their job while giving them plenty of time for job search and interviews. Keep the working notice short.
Sandra Oliver - April 14, 2009
Filed under:
leadership,
leading in a downturn
Sandra Oliver
Sandra Oliver Sandra Oliver is a leadership coach and consultant with more than 17 years experience in Corporate HR leadership roles. Her expertise includes change management and succession planning. Sandra is the founder of IMPACT Consulting Inc.
Comments (6)
1
Working notice is difficult on both the employer and employee and can lead to problems in the employment relationship. However, the employer is entitled to require full attendance and to impose reasonable conditions to ensure full attendance. Again, while working notice is not easy, the employer is nevertheless entitled in many cases, to provide it in order to meet its obligations. It should, of course, do so for the right reasons. For example, working notice is necessary because the employer absolutely needs to have the employee at work for a valid and important business reason. If that is so, there are ways of structuring the arrangement to increase the odds that it will go off smoothly.
By Mike Hunter on March 01, 2010
2
Thanks for your thoughtful response. I think you nailed the issue. If the working notice makes sense and the person is really needed, it works. It is tough but it works.
Sandra
By Sandra Oliver on March 20, 2010
3
Depends on how much notice you have to give, how soon you want to start your new job and how much you value your current employer as a reference.
Ok…UK law
Notice Periods.
Refer to your Terms and Conditions of Employment to find out how much notice you have to give. If you dont have one, as an indicator, if you are monthly paid, its 4 weeks/a month and if you are weekly paid its a week/7days.
If you are still unsure, generally they will revert to the statutory minimum which is one week for every year of continuous service with the Company up to a maximum of 12 weeks.
So, for example, if you are paid weekly or monthly and have 3 years service, generally the law states that you should give 3 weeks notice.
However, your contract will supercede this so if your contract says different, go with what your contract says.
Notice periods are an agreement both ways, there are there to protect both the employer and the employee. If you do not fulfill your notice terms, you will be breaking the contract (you will be said to be breaching the terms of your contract). All this means is that your employer is entitled to sue you for damages, only if they can prove mitigating loss….this is very unlikely with most jobs and will cost the employer a lot of money and unlikely to get anything out of you as an employee, but just be aware of it.
They are also entitled to write in any reference they provide for you that you breached the contracted terms which sounds a lot worse than what actually happened so may look bad.
By Mike Smith on May 24, 2010
4
This bog gives the light in which I can observe the reality. This is very nice one and gives useful information. Thanks for this nice blog.
By fishing hats on June 18, 2010
5
I have to give one months notice. If they say I have to work it and ...
By placement argent on July 12, 2010
6
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