Why Two Weeks Notice May Be Too Much Notice
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I quit my job yesterday. Weird, right? More on that later. And to be completely transparent, this is probably why my blog posts and online involvement have been sucking lately. So I’m sorry, especially if I owe you an email or a phone call. I’ve been emotionally drained by my not-really job hunt; but now my employer knows I’m leaving so I’m able to talk about some of the things that have been on my mind the last three weeks or so.
So here are four reasons why the two week notice rule should be reconsidered:
Emotional Divestment
During a presentation to students at the Chicago Graduate School of Business, the career center director admitted U of C has a difficult time collecting data about which students got job offers from their first choice employer, second choice employer, etc. She said this was because once a person makes a decision, the path they choose becomes their first choice, even if it wasn’t to begin with.
I believe this can be applied to quitting a job also. Once you quit your job, no matter how engaged you were, it becomes second-fiddle to your new job. And truthfully, you would rather be working there than here; the passion is gone. Which means most of your productivity will be also!
Lack of Motivation
When you quit a job, you lose more than just a position - you also lose consequences. So now that you are emotionally divested, which could happen even before you quit your job, you also have no reason to work harder or longer hours.
It’s not something you do consciously, but the symptoms of no consequences start to creep in from the moment you give your notice. Like yesterday, I left at 5:15pm when I would normally leave between 6 and 7. Or today, as I write this blog post from my cubicle, which I’ve never done before. Longer lunches, tardiness, and “good enough” work will plague the last two weeks of your employment, which is bad for your reputation and worse, bad for the company.
Post-Breakup Awkwardness
Before you break up with someone, do you call them every day telling them that you will break up with them two weeks from now? No, because that would be awkward. One of the best ways I’ve found to stay friends with someone after you break up is to have a clean break, where you get the break up over with quickly and don’t talk to the person for about a month.
Two weeks is a long time to deal with the awkwardness of breaking up with your employer. Due to your emotional divestment and lack of motivation, the bitterness of your coworkers will continue to build until the only thing they can remember about you is how annoying you were in those last two weeks.
Time To Say Goodbye
As I was going through my not-really job hunt, I was subconsciously transitioning my position to people under me. I was pushing for more documentation, cross-training, and trying to reach a good stopping point on some of my quarter goals, just in case I really did leave.
Ultimately, this was a bad decision… because now all those “loose ends” I need to tie up will take me a few hours. And I have about 65 more to go.
What to do? I won’t start anything new. I won’t pick up with a current project unless I can finish it before I leave. And part of me wants to start on my new projects at my new company anyway.
So my suggestion is to shorten the two week notice to about three days. This is ample time to wrap up assignments, which if you are truly a good employee you would have mostly done while on the job hunt anyway. This is enough time to plan a nice lunch with your team, say goodbye to the people you most care about, and not have to explain yourself to the people you probably won’t see again. And above all, this is enough time to avoid the awkwardness that comes when everyone in the room knows you are leaving your current job.
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Monica O'Brien is the founder of Twenty Set, a website about personal and professional growth and development for the Millennial generation. She has been a blogger since 1998 when blogging was still in its “Dear Diary” form and in May 2007 began blogging for personal branding and profit.
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This is a great post. However, I think 2 weeks is ample time. I recently quit my job and the notice time was 2 MONTHS (which is far too much).
2 weeks go by quite fast; 2 months, on the other hand, was far too long, and very awkward. In the end, I was a bit of a dogsbody for everything the company wanted to get done that they could load onto me in the last minute.
I should also add that 2 weeks is enough time to wrap up loose ends without starting new projects. 3 days isn’t really long enough to get much done, so why bother with 3 days at all?
I gave my two weeks notice last Friday and I know exactly how you feel. Another week to go and really I have absolutely nothing to do. Everyone keeps asking on what I am going to do.
At least it gives a company a chance to hire a replacement.
Rebecca, two months notice is a long time! I can understand why you feel that two weeks notice would be a breeze in comparison.
I think the length of your notice depends on a few things: the type of work you do, what projects you are working on, and the environment you work in. At my last job I really did need two weeks to wrap things up, and probably could have stayed longer. Either way though, the company survived without me and anything I didn’t finish before I left.
Any company can survive without one of its employees. The notice is a courtesy to the company, but I wonder if it does much good for the company. Basically, you are paying full price for someone who’s heart is only half in it. The reason I said three days is because I feel it’s enough time to wrap up anything very important. Sure, things will fall through the cracks, but that could happen with two weeks notice or two months notice too.
Thanks for the comment! Also, I enjoyed reading your blog this morning.
Thank you, Monica. Yes, the two months were a bit painful — actually, I didn’t stay the full two months, as my new work needed me before then. (As you can imagine, asking to leave before full notice time was even more painful.)
A lot depended on me at my old job, though, as I was the sole graphic designer and I was in the middle of rebranding all of the company’s marketing material. I did manage to get most of it done by the time I left. They would survive without me, but it’d be a bit of an inconvenience.
I think you’re right that a company should be cautious to pay full-price for half an employee’s heart (so to speak). But I think your heart can fall out of a job long before you give notice. Not having your whole heart in your job is a reason people start looking for another job in the first place.
Monica, I’m sorry to hear about the stress of leaving your current job. What are you doing next? I think you make some good points here, though ultimately I feel that two weeks is the most fair arrangement for both parties. It gives the departing employee a chance to be thorough in transitioning projects and the employer time to designate or hire a replacement.
Of course, some organizations accept no notice at all. The second you announce you’re leaving, security is called and you’re escorted out.
Best,
Alexandra Levit
Author, How’d You Score That Gig?
Blogger, Water Cooler Wisdom
http://alexandralevit.typepad.com
Roman, congrats on becoming an entrepreneur! I understand designating a replacement, or at least shifting assignments to other members of your team. I’m not sure about hiring a replacement though - in my experience, companies take at least a month to hire someone and then that person has to give their two weeks notice… so a position goes unfilled for at least a month anyway.
I do agree that the two week notice is put in place more for the company than the ex-employee. I just wonder if the company is getting a raw deal anyway, and also whether the two week notice actually hurts the employer-employee relationship because there is a lot of bitterness that builds during those two weeks.
Rebecca, just curious - why did you have to give two months notice? Are the rules different in the UK vs the US?
Alex, you are probably right about the two weeks notice being the most fair compromise. Employers would probably prefer a longer notice, while employees would prefer a shorter one.
I also understand why some companies would walk people out, especially if the person is going to work for a competitor, or if the company feels the person might somehow sabotage the company’s operations. Before I quit any job I always save any personal files from my PC and clear out my desk drawers of personal documents, 401K information, health benefits information, etc. Just in case!
And to answer your question, I’m actually going to work for Brazen Careerist. Most readers probably know what that is, but for anyone who doesn’t, Brazen Careerist is the gen Y network that Penelope Trunk launched a few months ago.
Thanks Monica. I will keep you posted since I enjoy subscribing to your blog. Looking forward to learn about your transition to Brazen Careerist. That should be a fun job! Congrats as well!
Monica - Congrats on the new job! Will definitely be interesting to see how you like it!
Congrats on breaking free! I look forward to hearing about your new BC gig.
Hi Monica
Can see your point in some ways, but don’t really see any reason why 2 weeks shouldn’t be an agreeable timeline, nor where all the bitterness you talk about from your colleagues is coming from.
Here in the UK the standard is 4 weeks, though sometimes negotiable. I have finished up with 2 companies in the last couple of years for a variety of reasons, in both cases working the full 4 weeks. In both cases my approach was to ask ‘what do you need me to finish before I go’, then handover anything else and act as a point of support while concentrating on the bigger issues. Maybe the relationship I had with my line manager’s was better than most, and maybe my circumstances were a little better, but I still wanted to deliver for the old team and not make my leaving an added burden to their workload. Who knows when our paths may cross again?
I’m not sure why the notice is so long. It depends on the time outlined by the company in the contract. It is helpful if the company goes bust and you get laid off (you still get paid for 2 months’ notice time) — it’s a safety-net that protects both you and the company.
My current work generally asks for 1 month’s notice time.
Thanks for the congrats.
Jim, thanks for your thoughts. You are talking about burning bridges, but why is a prescribed amount of time necessary to not burn a bridge? I wonder if the notice should be negotiated based on workload.
Jim and Rebecca, I think it’s interesting that the UK requires a four week notice. Thanks for sharing!
First and foremost congrats on your new position. It’s always an exciting time to find something you love to do.
But I have to say that this was one of the BEST blog post I’ve ever read on this topic. I recently (less then 1 month ago) left my position with a company and gave 3 days notice. And after reading your post I know I did the right thing.
I was very unhappy in the position and felt undervalued and ignored in the company. I had looked for 4 months before I found the right thing for me career wise. But when I gave my notice it seem that all hell broke lose from others at the company. Even to the point where on my last day someone cursed at me. I have never cursed at any on any job and always remain professional.
So I knew it was time to go and was glad that I would never have to see any of those people again.
But if they fire you, it’s immediate
Apr 21st, 2008 at 1:51 pm
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