Not too many jobs out there where the employer will say, “Sure, I can wait two weeks to put you on while you wrap things up at your old job.”
I find it bizarre that so many people have an attiude that they want to “get” their employer. I can understand if your boss is abusive and the company refuses to take action to correct it. But a lot of people just seem to have this mindset of “screw my boss for telling me what to do in order to collect my paycheck!”
I would check with a lawyer on that. Your vacation time is money that is owed to you. They can’t just arbitrarily not give it to any more than they can decide to not pay you for 2 weeks you worked.
While I would say it’s usually best to give two weeks notice yes, I think there are exceptions. The hostile work environment scenario is one. Another is when a much better positions says “we want you to start TOMORROW, we won’t wait two weeks” and thus giving two weeks notice will hurt the employee substantially. When someone is paid only minimum wage it’s pretty clear the employer doesn’t value their time or skills much and thus why would such a person value the job much either?
Well, what about if that applicant says “I’m leaving my old position because, despite excellent attendance, a willingness to work late, and working all overtime requested my current employer just didn’t pay me for three weeks. And I still showed up to work rather than just quit in a huff, I have given them every opportunity to fulfill their side of the employer/employee relationship. I don’t just simply quit without extremely good reason. I would be happy to start immediately for an employer who does not engage in such shenanigans.”
That is, in fact, my current situation (although the employer has paid me some of what I am owed I am still owed money). Because some money is still coming in I’m willing to show up while looking for a new job but, frankly, as far as I’m concerned they’ve broken any form of “contract” we had in the first place.
Would knowing that circumstance alter your opinion in any way?
I’ve never quit a job before without notice so I’m trying to find the best way to handle the situation. I’d rather give notice, but I have a feeling that if I announce such a thing the manager/owner will have such an emotional storm she’ll tell me to not come back anyway. Well, I’d still do it if it wouldn’t harm me, but if the next job is a “start tomorrow” one I may have to put the interests of my household ahead of the hurt feelings of a former employer.
That’s really more information than a hiring manager needs and just makes you sound a bit disgruntled and bitter.
As I mentioned, most legitimate employers would expect that you would give your previous employer the courtesy of 2 weeks notice, sometimes more if it’s a very senior position.
I had a panic attack that landed me in the ER, and was VERY rapidly losing weight. Not easy for a middle-aged woman to do that, either and wish I’d kept it off, too. :dubious: I only worked at that place for 6 months, and had relocated for that job, too. It wasn’t a decision made lightly.
I’m still in contact with a lot of people at my employer prior to that, where I worked for almost 7 years and left THAT job under some very unethical circumstances, but know now that they did me a bigger favor than I could ever imagined. I got a Facebook PM from one co-worker who told me that a certain employee who, shall we say, sub-specialized had quit. This employee isn’t on my Facebook friends list, but her wall is unrestricted and the scenario was like this; yes, I know people shouldn’t post stuff like this on Facebook but this is how it went:
April 5: I’m thinking about quitting.
(other posters, some of whom still work there) We can’t blame you, and I’ll give you references in the future if you want me to.
April 8: She posted that she walked into work with the intention of giving a 2- or 4-week notice, but instead, she handed them her badge, said, “I’m quitting right now, effective immediately” and got her things on the way out the door. She had worked there for 11 years. :eek:
p.s. That same employee told me in the PM that 20% of the department had left since the beginning of the year. I don’t think we had 20% turnover in the 7 years I worked there, and those were mostly because someone moved away or had a baby and decided to go part-time or be a SAHP. There were a few people who were fired, several who retired, and one person died during this time.
In between those two jobs, I did some contract work at a start-up that wasn’t paying their employees. :mad: I did get paid, because it was through the agency that contracted me, but I realized almost immediately that it was not a place where I wanted to sign on as a permanent employee for this and lots of other reasons.
That sounds like an unfortunate situation, nearwildheaven****. And Broomstick****, is there legal action you can take against your employer for withholding your pay? They shouldn’t be able to get away with that. What is their reason for not paying you?
Anyway, since starting this thread we’ve had a few more people quit without notice- and these people were paid well above minimum wage. One girl walked out because we received an anonymous call that she’d been using racial slurs. She convinced one of her friends to stop showing up as well. Another guy, who was about to get a raise, didn’t show up because he didn’t want to transfer to another store.
Sounds like most people have it right here. In my world (TV news) there are special considerations:
First, it’s a very small society where your reputation is everything. It is often the case that if you are spotted going into a newsroom for an interview phone calls are made by staff back to your old station for the dirt, and before you leave the news director’s office the room knows pretty much everything there is about you.
Advice I give new media folks is “Your reputation, once earned, will always precede you and cannot be changed.” The cannot part is a little harsh, but it is important for folks to realize that you have to be straight up from the start in this business.
That said, life is different for different employees. Behind the camera we generally abide by the 2 week rule but that can be bent with lesser consequences. On air people are unique: they have specific contracts of one or more years, and if they are to be let go that will happen at the end of a contract. If an on air person is not going to be renewed they will know it well in advance. And to be clear, on air people are paid very, very well (in this market) in return for said uncertainty.
That said we had an on air guy where I work a couple years ago take a walk in the middle of his shift during the holidays. His contract had not been renewed but he still had a few days left on it. He may have thought he was ‘screwing the man’, but instead he was screwing the two other people qualified to do his job - they had to suddenly come in from their well earned vacation and cover the job he walked out on, no choice.
That behavior I find reprehensible. Problems with management should not morph into screwing innocent coworkers.
In professional environments, it’s generally considered good form to give 2 weeks notice, and then basically slack off for the last two weeks while you make sure any replacement person is up to snuff.
Some people will view any deviation from the 2 weeks notice as horribly unprofessional, regardless of the circumstances though. I personally don’t fall into that category.
Case in point- a couple of years ago, we’d hired a contractor to do some business analyst work and light database work, and as things worked back then, he instantly was overloaded and busting his ass, and after his 90 days were up, he was month-to-month, and had been promised a full-time job, but mgmt wasn’t following through on that, because the people in those positions back then were lazy shits.
My wife was pregnant at the time, and when she went into labor, I said “Uh… baby coming- see you in 2 weeks.” and took a couple of weeks off. This contractor guy was my backstop, so to speak, but since we were both overloaded, he never really got a chance to get very involved in the complicated processes that I developed and oversaw, other than the day-to-day monitoring.
So the process takes a dump about a week into my time off, and the contractor did his damnedest to fix it, but was stumped, and getting a lot of pressure to fix it ASAP, and also getting pressure to do the other stuff he normally did ASAP, and he just snapped, and told them to screw off, and walked out the door.
I can’t say I blame him a bit- they overworked him, gave him stuff he wasn’t quite qualified to do, and then chewed his ass when he couldn’t do it all, and to boot, wouldn’t come through with what they had promised him. Is it any wonder he just told them to shove it?
Anyway, others in the department were grousing about how “unprofessional” it was and how it left us in a bind, etc… which amazed me.’
So to sum up, I’d say that if the company’s doing right by you, and you’re leaving for something better, then 2 weeks is a good courtesy. If they’re dicking you around, and you’re severely unhappy, and you get something better, then no, 2 weeks isn’t a requirement.
It’s a courtesy, plain and simple, and you only owe courtesies to those who reciprocate.
As we all found out a couple days ago with that viral You Tube video, using profanity on the air on your first day will be a black mark, don’t you think?
Employers’ reputations follow them, too. About 15 years ago, I had a job experience that was so horrible, I briefly considered surrendering my professional license. I don’t want to do that now, and I currently have no intention of ever working in that field again!
Anyway, about 5 years later, I was interviewing for another job and was asked why I left Employer X after 4 months. I kind of hemmed and hawed, and he said, “You can tell me the truth. I have been told many times that Employer X is a very difficult place to work at.”
I found out later that the woman who followed me at Employer X simply walked out in the middle of her shift. THIS woman has a child with a permanent disability, and her husband has been a SAHP and his primary caregiver all these years, and she is not the kind of person you’d expect to do anything like that anyway.
All RIFs I’ve ever been involved with (not on the getting kicked out end) had people leaving immediately. There was seldom cause - or even if we were happy to see someone go, that was not brought up. You do not want someone who is getting let go anywhere near your computer systems. There was a termination package, partially to have people sign away their right to sue for money and partially for our reputation, but you’d still want people out immediately.
Don’t remember if I said this last year, but when I quit, and gave two weeks notice, my last two weeks were great. I left at 6 pm instead of 9 pm and had no stress. But it is not your job to ensure that the replacement person is up to snuff. That would be hard enough if you were staying. Being available, answering all questions, putting things in order sure, but it is management’s job to make sure your work can be taken over. And if they were good managers this would be done long before you left, because any of us can get run over by a bus at any time.
Your story illustrates a principle that is overlooked these days. Factories do not run at anywhere near 100% capability, because if they do and some machine goes down, which will happen, they are screwed. Offices shouldn’t run at 100% either. If managers put everyone to the limit to save money, things will collapse when someone leaves for any reason.
Yup, that was bad, but mostly bad luck. Newsies are generally more profane than most would imagine, and we have to be careful to shield folks from our ‘in house’ language.
One thing people in this job need to remember - every microphone is always hot. We had a sports gal at my first station way back when while sitting there at the end of the show as credits rolled with the fake smile plastered on whisper through her teeth to the anchor “Bet they left the fucking mikes up!”
Yes. Yes they did. Not fired, severely reprimanded.
For our young anchor there he will get another chance. Better to make that mistake in the middle of nowhere, Youtube or not.
This, pretty much. Does the company just tell its workers not to bother coming in tomorrow? Or does the company try to work things out first? Courtesy and loyalty and respect should flow both ways. For a long, long time now, companies have been treating people like toilet tissue. Use and throw away. Then the companies are surprised when their workers are not loyal.
A lot of offices do run this way; they call it “running lean” and are proud of it. What actually happens is that people burn out and disappear for unknown lengths of time for stress leaves, and it gets worse for everyone left behind, and it turns into a cycle of overwork and stress for everyone, and most people end up quitting. But the people making the decisions never seem to put the cause and effects together. 
Actually, in most states your employer does not have to pay you for your vacation time. I just found this out – I was laid off recently and was told that I would not be paid for my remaining vacation. I Googled it and found out it’s all according to state law, and in my state, the employer does not have to pay out your earned vacation time. It’s shitty.
Hmm, every job I have ever accepted (except my first, of course) and every company where I have hired employees expected that there would be at least two weeks between offer/acceptance and start date. With higher level positions 4-6 weeks is not uncommon.
When I took a job at a call centre after my maternity leave benefits were running out, I knew I would probably get a nursing job in April or May. This was a very temporary job and I knew it, but it was more than minimum wage and I could start right away. I worked there for three months. (Despite having a welfare worker tell me I didn’t need to look for work! I still made more working part time than staying home on welfare.)When I attempted to give two weeks notice, I was “let go” because they didn’t want to train me on a new campaign. It was bull, but I didn’t really care. I was going to work the nursing job orientation around my schedule at the call centre for two weeks, but suddenly I became available to work at 2.25 times what I had been making.
I still think notice is proper, but I have heard of others who have also been let go for giving notice.