Want to leave job immediately but contract says I have to give one month's notice

LegacyUser · 21-11-2018 08:38PM #1

Hello,

I recently started a new job (3 days ago) and already I feel like it's not for me. It's just not what it's imagined and although I have received good training, I already find it incredibly stressful and feel like I have made a grave mistake.

I really want to leave immediately (My manager is located in another country so I was planning on emailing a resignation letter as it's more convenient because of different time zones) but my contract stipulates I give one month's notice.

I have not received my first pay check yet as I have only been in the office 3 days. One of my colleagues was telling me a story about a person who worked there before me quit after 4 days because they could not handle it.

Could the company potentially sue me for damages if I resign with immediate effect? I would appreciate people's thoughts.

Thank you

MarkR · 21-11-2018 08:53PM

<SNIP>

Is there a probationary period listed? I can't imagine you could be required to give a months notice if you just started .

LegacyUser · 21-11-2018 09:07PM

MarkR wrote: »

Is there a probationary period listed? I can't imagine you could be required to give a months notice if you just started .

Hi MarkR, yes at the top of the contract it says there is a 6 month probationary period but then further down it says: "For business purpose's [Company Name] requires one month's notice should the employee decide to terminate employment."

guitarhappy · 21-11-2018 09:15PM

If you're worried about damages just stop showing up, or show up 3 hours late in your pajamas carrying a teddy bear. They'll fire you, no damages for quitting.
Unless you're in a country with legal slavery you have a basic human right to walk away from any job you don't want to be in.

Dial Hard · 21-11-2018 09:46PM

You can just walk away but I wouldn't be looking for a reference or my three days' pay.

Mind you if the job is that bad I wouldn't want either; cut your losses and go.

Honeydew3456 · 21-11-2018 10:14PM

I also would leave and not expect to get a reference or the 3 days pay. Highly unlikely the company will look to sue for breach of contract, I have often heard of people leaving jobs like that after a few days in and no consequences as a result. Good luck.

Xterminator · 22-11-2018 09:01AM

Hi Op

Its not clear where you work geographically, nor what industry your in.

But in my experience this is a small country. And people know people. If you walk out with no notice, breaking the terms of the contract you signed; you leave your employer in the lurch and you co workers too. and this could work to your detriment in the future, if you behave in a manner that does not reflect well on you.

now if they were treating you badly, walking out might be warranted, but according to your post you are getting good training, and your reasons for wanting to leave are not work conditions, rather that the work des not suit you.

The reasonable thing to do here is to tell your boss you think you might have made a mistake in taking the job and you would like to finish up as soon as possible. Tell him you don't want to leave them stuck either and thank him for the opportunity. Ask them how soon you could finish up as the stress is affecting you and you don't think you could manage a full months notice.

In my opinion this is the adult approach. IE try to leave by mutual agreement instead of just leaving them in the lurch.

witchgirl26 · 22-11-2018 09:47AM

OP might be worth a conversation with your manager rather than an email. In the first it shows that you're not trying to hide but considering how short you're with the company, they might agree with a shorter notice period for you as having you there for another month doesn't really benefit them at all. However they could enforce it and then you need to consider how just leaving will look on you going forward.

Honestly though, 3 days is an awfully short time to give a job before leaving. I've always felt a bit overwhelmed and stressed the first couple of weeks in a new job as I don't know the people, the company and getting used to how they do things on top of actually having to get work done. I'd have a really good think about it before you quit and the manner in which you do, should you decide to.

woodchuck · 22-11-2018 09:49AM

I agree with Xterminator on this. A proper conversation needs to be had with your employer instead of just emailing your notice. Tbh it could suit them for you to leave sooner rather than later anyway. Nobody wants to invest time and energy training/mentoring someone, only to have them leave a few weeks later - it's not worth the investment. So it could be win-win if you just talk to them about it.

Cockadoodledoo · 22-11-2018 09:50AM

Definitely speak to your manager. It might resolve whatever issue is there or he may waive the one month notice. I wouldn’t just quit and walk out the door.

Rubberchikken · 22-11-2018 07:50PM

contact your manager. at least youre doing the decent thing. maybe the position is crap. someone else lasting only 4 days would make you wonder.

we need to make mistakes sometimes to learn so try to salvage something from this experience before you start job search.

guitarhappy · 22-11-2018 08:03PM

I think it was Oscar Wilde who said "He was born a man, and died a grocer." Fear of the boss man, fear of what he might say or think about you, fear of the future, isn't the path to a happy life. Carpe diem!

skallywag · 23-11-2018 02:22PM

You will not be sued for damages.

Either party can usually terminate immediately for convenience during the probation period.

Chalk it down to experience and just move on.

miamee · 23-11-2018 02:45PM

They are unlikely to sue you for damages but you won't be getting a reference from them for your 3 days work. How long was the training that you got? You said it was good so I assume that you got this before you started in the office so they have put some investment into you already. I'd advise as others have said to talk to your manager, see if they can help and try to stay there until you've lined up another job (assuming that you continue to dislike it).

It can take a while to settle into a new job and it is always stressful initially while you are finding your feet.

In my opinion 3 days is not long enough to make a call on this, you must have had some idea what the job would entail while training?

Mr. Incognito · 23-11-2018 03:31PM

What employer is going to sue someone after three days.

Just leave and dont come back

LegacyUser · 23-11-2018 06:37PM

Thanks for the replies everyone. Bit more background:

I didn't receive training prior to starting. My training started on Monday. Because my boss is based in the UK, training has been done with 2 of my colleagues who have been working in the company since February. They went over to the UK to train. It's probably not relevant but I've just done interviews on the phone with both my co workers and my boss.

At the moment my gut is telling me to run and that I made a huge mistake. The job description and the way it was described to me initially sounded like it was fun and I was told my experience was relevant. Now that I've started training I feel I'm not qualified enough for the job and that I'm out of my debt.

I don't feel like I'll ever truly enjoy the job if I stay and that if I do stay, it will purely because the salary is attractive. A couple of people have advised me that it's better to get fired/made redundant than quit.

I have more training next week but I'm seriously considering what to do over the weekend. I don't know whether to arrange a phone call with my boss and inform them or to stick it out to next week and then see how I feel.

After next week, I will be working normal hours. My co workers will be finished 3 hours before me so if something happens and I need help, I will need to phone the UK office.

Any further advice would be appreciated

amdublin · 23-11-2018 10:49PM

Just leave. Ring your boss and tell him/her you're leaving

pwurple · 24-11-2018 07:31AM

Hang in there. The first few weeks of any new position has a steep scary learning curve.

I work in contracting. I change clients or project frequently , and even though I know deep down that I know what i’m doing, I ALWAYS feel like I’m chucked in the deep end with every new project/role.

It’s normal and it passes as you learn the ropes.

amdublin · 24-11-2018 08:12AM

pwurple wrote: »

Hang in there. The first few weeks of any new position has a steep scary learning curve.

I work in contracting. I change clients or project frequently , and even though I know deep down that I know what i’m doing, I ALWAYS feel like I’m chucked in the deep end with every new project/role.

It’s normal and it passes as you learn the ropes.

Sorry you're right.

My advice above was focussed on the months leave. I.e. if you've been somewhere 3 days and are definitely leaving. There is actually no point in staying and being trained etc

Op, pwurple above gives good advice

BBFAN · 24-11-2018 10:11PM

OP if you can please stick it out for another while. I recently started a new job and went home exhausted every night for the first week and felt like crying but once I got into the swing of it I realised it was actually okay, I just had to take responsibility for only my job and not the mess that had been left behind by someone else.

My father always told me to stay at least a month in any job because you really don't know before that and it turns out to be great advice.

SirChenjin · 25-11-2018 12:37AM

From a practical point of view, what will you do, if you do leave? Have you something else in mind? How will you pay the bills? You don't need to answer that obviously. Just something to consider.

It's not nice feeling out of your depth, but on the other hand, someone interviewed you, and felt that you were the person for the job. Bear that in mind.

Maybe it's not for you, but I would advise looking at what support is there, in terms of further training or whatever, before leaving.

All the best in your decision, no point in being miserable every day either!

never_mind · 25-11-2018 01:06AM

Mental health and lifestyle > job

An easy formula to live by.

AndrewJRenko · 25-11-2018 06:54AM

never_mind wrote: »

Mental health and lifestyle > job

An easy formula to live by.

That's true, though for most people, lifestyle is directly connected to job and salary.

OP - what is your plan for your next job? Maybe you should stick around until you have something else lined up?

witchgirl26 · 26-11-2018 10:19AM

OP are you worried about having to potentially call the UK? If so, then I'm going to be a bit blunt here, but you need to get over that. I haven't had a boss in Ireland for the past 4 years and most of my colleagues based in other countries. Having to pick up the phone to them for queries is the norm now and you do need to get used to that as it's the way business is working now.

If you're still on training hours and all over the place, I'd advise waiting until it settles into normal hours and see what it's like then.

If you feel like you're out of your depth but they know your experience (and it wasn't exaggerated) then they believe you can handle the job.

In terms of the co-workers going to the UK to train, they probably had to as no-one based here but your boss now thinks they can train you in here which is probably better in a lot of ways.

Ignore the people who say it's better to be made redundant/fired. Your boss won't make you redundant as they obviously need the post filled and making you redundant will mean that legally they can't hire someone else into that position. In terms of being fired - how would that be better? I think if I was employing someone, I'd prefer to see that they left a position as it wasn't right for them rather than them being fired for some random reason. It's never a solution to get fired.

I'll stick with my original advice of not just quitting with an email if you want to but having a conversation with your boss. And also maybe giving it a bit more than a few days and wait until you're out of the initial starting period and into normality.

dubrov · 26-11-2018 10:35AM

OP, ring your boss and let him know you are leaving.
There is zero chance of them chasing you for the month's notice.

No company wants someone working for them if they really don't want to be there.
With 3 days experience you are worth nothing to them anyway.

LegacyUser · 26-11-2018 09:54PM

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the advice. My main reasons for being unhappy with the job is that it involves figures on an extensive basis. It's pretty basic calculator stuff for the most part but I did foundation maths in school and find it very difficult to grasp even basic maths.
My boss told me at the start that they didn't really look at my c.v and that to them, personality is more important.
I haven't properly gotten into the swing of things yet so I'm going to wait a few weeks and see what happens.
At the moment, my plan is to hopefully stay for 3-6 months if I can. Just wondering would it be ok to put this time length on my c.v?

BBFAN · 26-11-2018 10:11PM

JobSeekerBlues wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the advice. My main reasons for being unhappy with the job is that it involves figures on an extensive basis. It's pretty basic calculator stuff for the most part but I did foundation maths in school and find it very difficult to grasp even basic maths.
My boss told me at the start that they didn't really look at my c.v and that to them, personality is more important.
I haven't properly gotten into the swing of things yet so I'm going to wait a few weeks and see what happens.
At the moment, my plan is to hopefully stay for 3-6 months if I can. Just wondering would it be ok to put this time length on my c.v?

I think if you're boss said that personality was more important that there's more stuff going on here.

Do you feel comfortable sharing what else is going on?

skallywag · 27-11-2018 08:26AM

JobSeekerBlues wrote: »

My main reasons for being unhappy with the job is that it involves figures on an extensive basis. It's pretty basic calculator stuff for the most part but I did foundation maths in school and find it very difficult to grasp even basic maths.

Did you know this before you took the position or did this aspect of the job take you by surprise? I can completely see how this would make you feel uncomfortable in the position. Though on the plus side if you do stick with it you will most likely find you math skills improving which is a plus I guess?

....... · 27-11-2018 10:16AM

JobSeekerBlues wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the advice. My main reasons for being unhappy with the job is that it involves figures on an extensive basis. It's pretty basic calculator stuff for the most part but I did foundation maths in school and find it very difficult to grasp even basic maths.
My boss told me at the start that they didn't really look at my c.v and that to them, personality is more important.
I haven't properly gotten into the swing of things yet so I'm going to wait a few weeks and see what happens.
At the moment, my plan is to hopefully stay for 3-6 months if I can. Just wondering would it be ok to put this time length on my c.v?

Can you take your boss aside and explain that you are not confident with your mathematical skills and in the interests of you not risking a mistake while you are coming up to speed, could someone check your figures for the first while?

LegacyUser · 27-11-2018 08:03PM

Hey guys,

So when my boss said personality was more important I think she meant it as part of the job as it involves sales. They're definitely a very legit company though. My boss also said that while in the job I would be taught all I needed to know and that they were aware this is my first job out of college.

In regards to the maths, no I wasn't aware that maths would be involved as it didn't mention numeracy skills in the description or interviews. But maybe that's on me as I should have probably guessed I would have to use figures.

At the moment I'm looking at staying and seeing how I go for 12 weeks as I know this role will look great on my c.v. Is 12 weeks a respectable amount of time or would 6 months look better to prospective employers?

BBFAN · 27-11-2018 09:09PM

JobSeekerBlues wrote: »

Hey guys,

So when my boss said personality was more important I think she meant it as part of the job as it involves sales. They're definitely a very legit company though. My boss also said that while in the job I would be taught all I needed to know and that they were aware this is my first job out of college.

In regards to the maths, no I wasn't aware that maths would be involved as it didn't mention numeracy skills in the description or interviews. But maybe that's on me as I should have probably guessed I would have to use figures.

At the moment I'm looking at staying and seeing how I go for 12 weeks as I know this role will look great on my c.v. Is 12 weeks a respectable amount of time or would 6 months look better to prospective employers?

I would say a year would look better to be honest.

Don't stress too much about the figures part of the job. As you said yourself a calculator or excel can do that work for you.

I'm an accountant and don't ask me to work out figures now without the use of excel or a calculator, it's just second nature. Can't do them in my head. Some people can and have a talent for it but most people now rely on technology to do it. You can put in all sort of checks to make sure you don't make a mistake.

I wish you the best of luck. Try to have more faith in yourself, the employer obviously seen something in you that's valuable and you should appreciate that in yourself.

Want to leave job immediately but contract says I have to give one month's notice

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