Leaving job in 2 months - they're looking for letter of resignation now?

LpPepper

Hi,

As title says I'm finishing up at my current position in about 2 months time as I'm heading to Oz on a 1-year working holiday visa.

I told my manager a few months ago that I was leaving for Oz in the new year and all was fine. About 2 weeks ago he asked if I had a general time line of when I planned on finishing up and I said about 2nd/3rd week of December.

This week he has asked me to do up a letter of resignation confirming the dates so he can give it to HR. According to him HR have already interviewed people to fill my position and they may be starting in a few weeks time (we're short staffed as is).

My question is whether or not this request to provide a letter of intent to resign is to give them an excuse to let me go now or is it just to give HR something concrete so they'll have an idea on timing etc?

Thanks.

closifer

This would be quite normal. You just write a brief letter with your finish date included.

Sup08

The letter can be just a to whom, I will resign on, regards.

Just the bare details of dates.

BrokenArrows

Its normal practice to ask for a letter confirming your intent and a specific date.

Consider the alternative where you dont supply a letter and then deny that you ever said you were leaving!

I love Sean nos

What notice period is specified by your contract OP?

I wouldn't give any more than that. There's no benefit to you from it.

Tenigate

I love Sean nos wrote: »

I wouldn't give any more than that.

The op already gave notice.

P_1

Some places remove benefits once you hand in notice (such as taking holidays and sick leave) so it might be in your interest to give the notice when you're within a month of your end date.

I love Sean nos

Tenigate wrote: »

The op already gave notice.

That was a silly thing to do.

Tenigate

I love Sean nos wrote: »

That was a silly thing to do.

hm, yes and no.

In a year's time, the op may return to Ireland and be happy to return to this employer. The employer will remember the orderly handover, plenty of notice, and time to train in the new employee.

Compare that to an employer who receives only statutory notice, doesn't get the opportunity to hire or cross-train a replacement employee, then learns the employee went to Australia.. something that would have been planned months in advance. That's not leaving on good terms. It's not illegal, but I'd think twice about rehiring or even recommending that employee to another employer in future.

As for the request for a letter ... I'm a bit divided on that. The employer may use it to terminate employment early. More likely they want it for a bureaucratic reason like permission to hire a new employee, or some busy-body in HR who thinks it's the thing to do.

TG1

Tenigate wrote: »

As for the request for a letter ... I'm a bit divided on that. The employer may use it to terminate employment early. More likely they want it for a bureaucratic reason like permission to hire a new employee, or some busy-body in HR who thinks it's the thing to do.

Or some poor HR person who is is just trying to get all the required leaver documents together for audit purposes...

Op it's a totally normal request, once you resign it's usual that a company will want it in writing so the whole thing is documented. You seem to have been very cooperative so far about the whole thing which will be appreciated so I would suggest not ruining the good will you are building up by getting hung up on what is normal process.

the_syco

Say they can afford X amount of staff.
Until you say in writing that you're going, they can't replace you.
Once they have a date, they can get someone in, and get you to train them up.
So they may have you train them in over a month. How hard is your job?

CeilingFly

P_1 wrote: »

Some places remove benefits once you hand in notice (such as taking holidays and sick leave) so it might be in your interest to give the notice when you're within a month of your end date.

What a load of codswallop.

54and56

I love Sean nos wrote: »

What notice period is specified by your contract OP?

I wouldn't give any more than that. There's no benefit to you from it.

And that right there is the type of 1970's Arthur Scargil attitude which we need to bring back because it is so helpful to everyone.

54and56

I love Sean nos wrote: »

What notice period is specified by your contract OP?

I wouldn't give any more than that. There's no benefit to you from it.

And i bet you'd be the very person whinging and crying of the employer adopted the same attitude on redundancies and paid only what they were contractually obliged to.

Neon_Lights

I did the same op, heading in the middle of November.

I just gave 3 months notice so the company were well informed.

If you need any tips or tricks let me know about the visa or what I did leaving work.

Be prepared to have an exit interview too, be very high level and nice, objective if fair to do so (you won't close any doors that way if you need to come back)

exaisle

LpPepper wrote: »

<snip>

About 2 weeks ago he asked if I had a general time line of when I planned on finishing up and I said about 2nd/3rd week of December.

<snip>

"about 2nd/3rd week of December" is too vague. If you're giving notice, your employer is entitled to know the date on which you propose to leave, not just a vague indication, which is what you originally gave.

amtc

Just state your last day of service will be xx December and you would appreciate to receive your outstanding pay and holidays plus a written reference. Thank them for your experience and wish well in the future. Perfectly normal as it's time of year when budgets done and tax.

Paulzx

P_1 wrote: »

Some places remove benefits once you hand in notice (such as taking holidays and sick leave) so it might be in your interest to give the notice when you're within a month of your end date.

That's nonsense. If you have built up holiday entitlements nobody can just "remove" them

Neon_Lights

Paulzx wrote: »

That's nonsense. If you have built up holiday entitlements nobody can just "remove" them

They can dock sick pay though.

I love Sean nos

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

And that right there is the type of 1970's Arthur Scargil attitude which we need to bring back because it is so helpful to everyone.

Feel free to list out the benefits.

P_1

Paulzx wrote: »

That's nonsense. If you have built up holiday entitlements nobody can just "remove" them

What I meant was that after handing in your notice you then can't book holidays.

CeilingFly

P_1 wrote: »

What I meant was that after handing in your notice you then can't book holidays.

But you're leaving, so it doesn't come into it and no matter what your contract of employment applies until the last day.

Giving a specific date is basic manners.

Act an eejit and it can come back and bite you as a previous person I employed found out.

I love Sean nos

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

And i bet you'd be the very person whinging and crying of the employer adopted the same attitude on redundancies and paid only what they were contractually obliged to.

Contractually or legally? Regardless, no one has mentioned redundancy, so your comment is meaningless. Feel free to respond to my actual post, giving reasons why the OP should give more notice than required and how it will benefit him.

54and56

I love Sean nos wrote: »

Contractually or legally? Regardless, no one has mentioned redundancy, so your comment is meaningless. Feel free to respond to my actual post, giving reasons why the OP should give more notice than required and how it will benefit him.

Fair enough so:-

1. It'll demonstrate goodwill to the business owner/business management which will positively influence the reference they give him in the future.

2. It'll leave a good impression which will reflect well on him when he returns from his year off and may want to go back working for the same company.

3. It'll make for a smoother transition of his role which will benefit his colleagues and likely result in their opinion of him being improved. If he's in a trade or specialist type role it's important that you manage the rep you have within your peer group. If you're considered to be a mature, co-operative and helpful person doors will open for you, if you're considered to be a jobs worth who does the minimum necessary doors won't open so easily for you.

4. Being helpful is a positive thing to do and (in general) makes people feel good and positive about themselves which in turn helps our individual mental health.

5. By giving early notice when there is absolutely no downside for the OP rather than waiting until the last second to give the minimum notice required per his contract the OP avoids being remembered as a complete self serving small minded w@nker

I love Sean nos

Thanks. I'll consider these one at a time.

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

1. It'll demonstrate goodwill to the business owner/business management which will positively influence the reference they give him in the future.

Dubious. Not many places give references anymore and those that do tend to give references of the "OP worked here from [insert date] until [insert date]" variety. Personal references are still a thing and are normally given over the phone.

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

2. It'll leave a good impression which will reflect well on him when he returns from his year off and may want to go back working for the same company.

His work over his time there will have a far greater impact than the length of notice given. You're assuming that the same management will still be there and when he handed in his notice will even be recorded. The letter will probably be filed away, but only the date of his employment ending will be recorded in their HR system.

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

3. It'll make for a smoother transition of his role which will benefit his colleagues and likely result in their opinion of him being improved. If he's in a trade or specialist type role it's important that you manage the rep you have within your peer group. If you're considered to be a mature, co-operative and helpful person doors will open for you, if you're considered to be a jobs worth who does the minimum necessary doors won't open so easily for you.

Again, you're speaking about something more relevant to his work performance than his leaving notice. If his employer needs more time to manage his leaving, then they should have either put it into his contract, or be willing to negotiate with him when he gives his notice. Also, depending on what his actual role is, once the OP has announced his leaving, his employer might have a policy of getting him out asap.

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

4. Being helpful is a positive thing to do and (in general) makes people feel good and positive about themselves which in turn helps our individual mental health.

Ah, you're grasping here. :pac: He's not leaving them overnight, he's giving him in contractual notice, which generally starts at 1 month and increases as per length of service. He would get this same benefit from doing a good handover during his regular notice period.

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

5. By giving early notice when there is absolutely no downside for the OP rather than waiting until the last second to give the minimum notice required per his contract the OP avoids being remembered as a complete self serving small minded w@nker

The obvious downside to the OP is that he has to have whatever arrangements he needs in place earlier than he would have otherwise. Any changes in his plans, because he's making them earlier than he might have otherwise, could leave him out of work. That's a pretty big downside.

No one is going to think of the OP negatively for giving his contracted notice. People do it all the time. It's perfectly normal.

54and56

^^^^

Sad.

seannash

I love Sean nos wrote: »

His work over his time there will have a far greater impact than the length of notice given. You're assuming that the same management will still be there and when he handed in his notice will even be recorded. The letter will probably be filed away, but only the date of his employment ending will be recorded in their HR system.
.

Just on this, most HR systems now a days have notes on previous employees, even very basic one have is this candidate eligible for rehire box.
Performance reviews are done through these applications also so there's a lot more recorded on these systems than described above.

Now this doesn't mean that these things are looked at but it is potentially available.

I love Sean nos

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

^^^^

Sad.

That's it? That's your response?

CeilingFly

I love Sean nos wrote: »

That's it? That's your response?

I can't think of ant other response myself.

Sad - very much a working class union attitude you have. Big boss v the worker.

Real 70's attitude.

Thankfully most employees have basic level of decency

I love Sean nos

CeilingFly wrote: »

I can't think of ant other response myself.

Sad - very much a working class union attitude you have. Big boss v the worker.

Real 70's attitude.

Thankfully most employees have basic level of decency

The notice period detailed in the contract was put there by the employer. If they wanted more, they had every chance to make that clear. I don't understand how meeting the expectation is somehow wrong. This is basic contract behaviour. At the point of resignation, either party can still open a negotiation to extend or reduce. Any employer that then took the hump over receiving the notice that they had asked for, in writing, is behaving irrationally.

I've never been in a union.

For people on zero hour contracts, how much notice do you think they should give?

CruelCoin

CeilingFly wrote: »

But you're leaving, so it doesn't come into it and no matter what your contract of employment applies until the last day.

Employers can choose when you go on holidays....

Work them out and then pay the holidays out at the end.