Authored by: Principal Consultant, Jennifer Tarnowski
Authored: November 2021
Edited: December 2021
There comes a time in every career when the doubt creeps in about whether to stick with a particular employer. While there are plenty of blog posts about figuring out whether to leave and how to write a resignation letter, there are also a few things to know about the exit process from the employer’s perspective.
If you are driven in regards to your career and really care about how your work is received, you may particularly worry about leaving your employer in the lurch. Sometimes that worry happens especially if you know there might be big projects coming down the pipeline or you know that it might be difficult to recruit for your position and it may be open for a while. Here is the reality. There will always be another big project. If you were a uniquely capable employee or in a particularly difficult to fill position, it will always be difficult to fill that position. So, when you have decided it is time to go, you do not owe your employer anything other than a professional exit.
How to Exit
2 weeks notice is standard. If you stop taking on new work once you give notice, it is also more than enough time for anyone in a position below a senior managerial role or executive role to document and pass on relevant details to team members to ease the transition. For senior managerial roles, 4 weeks is better for the organization’s transition time and your supervisor may ask you if it would be at all possible to stay on longer if you only give 2 weeks notice. For executive roles, 6-8 weeks (or more) is likely expected. For these types of senior positions, if you have a new employer lined up, plan ahead on your start date to provide these longer transition periods. However, no matter how much notice you provide, if you keep taking on new work during this time, you may feel rushed and work non-stop until the very last moment.
Thank your employer for the opportunity on the way out – supervisors, mentors, and key coworkers whom you interfaced with on a regular basis. Let your team know how much you appreciate them. You can even try to leave the door open by mentioning that you are looking for a particular experience at this point in your career, but hope that one day your paths may cross again. You never know what can or will happen in 5, 10, or 15 years. Maybe the C-suite gets replaced and all those bad managerial problems fizzled away with the disappearance of the people who caused them. Maybe in the future they will be hiring for a more experienced role and at that time it might be a good fit for your experience level, with the added plus of prior knowledge of the company. Maybe you will wind up somewhere else that is worse (yes, sadly, it happens) and you will need references from your former boss and coworkers to get out of said worse situation into another new opportunity. Choose your exit actions wisely.
Reality of an Exit
While you may give 2 weeks notice, be aware that an employer legally can terminate you as soon as you give notice. It might be a good idea to review your offer letter or employee handbook to understand the terms of your employment. If you are in an at-will employment situation, with no contract or union defining the terms of your employment, your employer has no legal obligation to accept your notice period terms. They are free to say goodbye the second your resignation email or letter hits their inbox. Some may even try to do it on the spot if you give your resignation verbally. Be sure to write out the gist of your resignation before the conversation happens and have it ready so you can hit send as soon as the conversation with your supervisor is over. Lengthy letters are typically not needed or expected anymore. A two sentence email will suffice for your HR department.
While instant termination is a possibility, many places will not terminate instantly because they understand the need for a transition period or they genuinely liked you and do not want to damage the relationship on the way out. However, if you are terminated from their systems and pushed out on the day you gave notice in an at-will situation, you most likely do not have legal recourse for wrongful termination or a retaliation claim because you terminated the relationship with your resignation. The biggest exception is a concept known as constructive discharge, but it requires mountains of documentation to prove that a hostile environment (by the definition of law, not just working with rude people or someone who constantly disagreed with you) was the reason for your resignation. A more nuanced exception is the concept of an implied contract if the employer specifically documented (e.g. in the Employee Handbook) that a notice period is required for all resignations. Basically, aside from a few specific exceptions, once you inform your employer that you no longer wish to work for them, you are a guest who can be asked to leave at any point until your last day.
If you wound up unceremoniously dumped after resigning and it came as a shock, you might want to do a little reflection on why that happened. However, if there was palpable animosity and that is why you chose to resign in the first place (but no legal standing for constructive discharge), it would be wise to put the experience behind you. Use the unplanned time off to get into the right mindset so you can make a good first impression at your new job. Ideally, you have not resigned yet, so the reality of potentially losing your notice-period paycheck means you should check your financial situation against the number of weeks you might be without a paycheck. Plan ahead with your savings to account for that gap time, just in case.
In Sum
You only owe a professional exit. Your employer is not required to keep you as an employee for any set period of time after you resign. Be sure to pre-plan financially for your notice period or employment gap. You can determine what notice period is best for your situation, but 2 weeks is fairly standard for any position below senior management or executive roles. Now that this chapter is ending, walk into your next position with your best foot forward.