The new company that’s hiring me just got the go-ahead with my contract, so my old company is getting my two weeks’ notice tomorrow. (I correctly used the plural possessive; Lynne Truss would be so proud of me.)
What’s the way to go about this courtesy? I insisted on it for the sake of pro forma, or tradition, or whatever. It just felt like the proper way to make a change. These are people I’d worked with for years and it doesn’t feel right to just blow them off like a booger, but the startup company we once worked in is no more. It got swallowed by a big corporation, which soon after got swallowed by a huge corporation. I’m not leaving my company; it left me already. Yet the people who have to deal with my departure still include some of my old colleagues. One thing I liked about this company (when it existed) is how we all respected one another.
The new company doesn’t care; they said I can start any time I please and while they don’t mind if I give the two weeks’ notice, they don’t want to wait any longer and they feel it isn’t necessary. Other people making the change with me don’t seem to care about it either. I guess I’m kind of old school, I consider it a common courtesy in a civilized society.
Question: Does it have to be a paper letter sent through snail mail? In the present day, wouldn’t an E-mail or a phone call suffice?
Go into your boss’ office, close the door, and tell him that you’re giving your two weeks notice. If they want it written up they’ll ask for it. I’ve always found it best to do in person. If they are a good boss, they’ll understand and wish you well.
First do it in person with your manager. Then put it in a normal paper letter. When I’ve resigned from previous jobs I’ve kept it short and simple, along the lines of:
I would like to give notice of my intention to resign from my role as __ with XYZ Company, with effect 20 February 2006.
I’m with this advice. Talk to your boss first and immediatley follow it up with a letter/e-mail along the lines Cunctator gave. No need to go into details…in fact I would advise against it. Just a simple notice of your intention to leave.
Your new employer naturally wants you to start ASAP but giving two weeks is a good policy and pretty much any employer worth working for will accept the need for it. There is usually time needed to put your affairs in order with your current job and it is best not to burn bridges unnecessarily (so no “take this job and shove it” stuff no matter how satisfying that might be to do). If your current employer really does not need the two weeks they will tell you it is unnecessary and let you know (seen it happen a few times or the time is one week instead of two or something like that). You can ask if the full two weeks is necessary if you like but phrase it so they know it is whatever works for them.
I have a few jobs I couldn’t wait to leave and/or wanted to tell off a few people before leaving but I resisted the urge to do so and played it cool. It has paid off several times since then. In other words, it is in your best interests to leave on as good of terms as you can manage regardless of your feelings one way or the other.
Do it in person (to your direct report) and by email to your direct report, the above manager and HR. Follow up with a snail-mail paper letter. That’s covering all bases and a good idea. YMMV.
Another vote for put it in writing. Be sure the dates are correct. One job I left, I still had two weeks’ vacation coming. My resignation letter indicated that I would be leaving in 4 weeks but that the last two would be my vacation. The HR person offered to just have the job end after 2 weeks and then pay me for the vacation time anyway. I said “No thank you; I’ll just leave it as it is.” Thing is, one’s medical coverage continues as long as one is an employee. So the extra 2 weeks on the official payroll gave me a chance to use my good insurance to get up to date on all medical stuff. Later the company wanted to turn down some of those, but I had my written letter. The company did not put anything in writing, so they had nothing to counter.
I’ve always had a letter of resignation in hand, gone into my boss’s office, closed the door and delivered the news and the letter at the same time. The letter, as others have said, needs only to state the fact of the resignation and the date of its effectiveness.
As a manager, I prefer to have resignations done face to face.
I suggest meeting behind a closed door with your immediate supervisor with resgination letter in hand. Let the manager know that you’ve been offered and accepted a postition with another organization. Indicate that you feel that this is a good opportunity that you cannot turn down and that you feel that its a step up rather than a lateral move.
If you resign that way with me, you get my congratulations and I wish you good luck.
Immediately after your meeting, take a copy of your letter to HR.
Letter should be short and to the point. Cunctator’s example is good.
Don’t say anything that could be construed as negative at the time of resignation. It is OK to be candid during an exit interview if it is requested.
I discourage the idea of resignation by email. Tasteless in my opinion.
Last impressions are almost as important as first impressions.
Since your question has been answered, I’m going to nitpick the grammer ;p . The correct phrasing would be “…getting my 2 week notice tomorrow”. The word being modified is “notice”. Since “week” does not own the notice, it can’t be possessive. Also, since “notice” is singular, the modifier “2 week” should be singular as well.
As a manager I agree completely. However, I think the one-line resignation letter is a little too terse. I have used something a little longer that combines my regret with leaving such a fine company and a nice group of people with my desire to seek opportunities more in line with my career objectives. The idea is to try to leave on a high note; keep it positive.
I once heard a story of a resignation letter in my former organization (to a different manager) that said in its entirety
I work offsite and it seems like a big bother to drive over to the company offices. The guy who was supposed to be my project manager has not contacted me since we were bought out last spring, and I don’t even know if he’s still with the company. They’ve been really ignoring us employees since the buyout.
So E-mail is too cheap and a personal interview is too elaborate. I’ll just snail mail 'em my letter. Thanks for all the help, everyone.
Doctor Jackson, the “possessive” case in English does not have to mean literal possession. It can be just a way for one noun to modify another. I don’t know why English teachers call it possessive, because historically it’s identical with the genitive case in other Indo-European languages. If we called it the genitive, it might not lead to confusions like the one in your post. In this example, the apostrophe on two weeks’ means that phrase specifies a modification (like an adjective) of the following “notice.”
I think this is a mistake. Figure out who to report this to, and then do it in person. It’s much easier to build bridges than to burn them. You might not want to work with this company again, but you might want to work with these people somewhere down the road.
Do it in person. And simply ask if you need to stay the full two weeks.
Sometimes they will want those two weeks to be sure there’s time to train someone new.
But if it’s the type of job that’s hard to fill, they may just want you out of there as soon as you can hand over your work to someone already on staff.
I’ve often encouraged employees to leave right away, like the next day.
It becomes very akward with the other staff.
And once or twice I’ve dismissed people who were leaving with an angry attitude.
If they are leaving over some beef, like they were passed up for promotion or got a weak review, they might try to coax others to join them at their new job. To head that off, they are escorted out. They may have given two weeks notice, but they are not owed money for time not worked. Unless they are under a union contract or something, employment is “at will”. When they are a bigger liability than asset we have no obligation to keep them on.
And if you are dependent on the two weeks pay…don’t put in two weeks. You could very well end up missing out on two weeks pay as they escort you out of the building.
Would your company give you two weeks before firing you or give you two weeks severance pay?
I could start with the new company any time. If things sour because of my resignation, I won’t miss any pay. I’ll take your advice and call first to find out who I report to these days, then hand-deliver the letter.
I’m telling you, they have completely ignored us employees for over half a year. I used to get periodic visits from the project manager, but since the merger it’s like we don’t exist any more. The only communication was to tell us our vacation time was cut in half. And they wonder why everyone’s bailing. I don’t need to explain why I’m leaving; it should be obvious to them. I just prefer to be nice about it.
While this is a possibility, it is bad advice. I have seen people escorted out the door when they gave notice, but with pay for the two weeks. If it is a huge corporation, and they fear your staying may be detrimental, this is more likely (two weeks pay in lieu of two weeks notice). They might fear you taking two weeks to steal clients and/or trade secrets.
Maybe that’s how they say it in Jawja, but up north we do it differently. First, I cannot accept 2 week, since 2 (better “two”) requires a plural noun. Now would I say “one day notice” or “one day’s notice”? Well I would always say the latter since an alternate phrase is “notice of one day” and that “of” suggests that the preposed phrase is grammatically a genetive whether or not it possesses anything. Grammar follows its own rules and not those of logic. The case ought to be called “genetive” rather than possessive.
Consider the ambiguous phrase “The city’s destruction”. It could start the phrase, “The city’s destruction by the enemy”; it could equally start the phrase, “The city’s destruction of the enemy”. The principle is that both the subject and object of a gerund are in the genetive.
I think that if the full phrase was always “two weeks notice” then it would be wrong to put a possessive there. But is it possible that the phrase is a contraction of “two weeks’ worth of notice” or some variant thereof?
But in any case, “two week notice” sounds slightly silly, IMHO.