Recently I was talking with my nephew about his job working at a cookie manufacturer in the midwest. I asked, “How is your job at Cookie Company Inc?” “Ah yeah, I kind of quit that job. I put in my two-week notice and handed it to my boss and he said yea this isn't necessary. He told me I could just leave now.”
“So did he give you two weeks pay?”
“Nope. I just punched out and that was it. I was just trying to be courteous.”
I told him to keep giving his two week's notice! That is what all professionals do and all employers should honor that as your commitment to carrying out your project to completion.
Have you ever experienced anything like that? Where you put in your notice and basically are immediately fired
Advantages to giving two weeks notice:
- Gives you time to finalize your work
- Allows you to end on good terms with your employers
- Gives HR/IT time to do all the out-processing
- Allows fellow employees time to say goodbye or host a going away party
- Gives you the opportunity to network
- Gives your employer time to make you a counter offer
Disadvantages to not giving two weeks notice:
- You could get fire immediately
- Leaves a bad taste in your previous employer's mouth
- The previous employer might give you bad references in the future
My heart really went out to my nephew for getting burned by putting in his two weeks' notice. His heart was in the right place, but apparently, his employer didn't think so. It is always shady when your employer under cuts you and rejects your two weeks notice and just dumps you.
I'd be interested to hear if other people have had this happen. Where you've put in your two-week notice and then just get fired on the spot? How did you handle it?
4 Comments
I understand when the company policy is to make you leave on that same day, as a disgruntled, leaving ee can be toxic, but they should pay you severence.
In my experience, middle mgmt. bosses rarely know company policy. Twice, after being told to leave immediately, I contacted HR and send them a copy of my resignation/2 week notice letter. Both times the “boss” was told he could not tell me to leave. The first time, that boss called me into his office, cursed me, and told me my new office would be a closet, I would be pushing paper everyday for 8 hours, with min. breaks, for the next two weeks. So I just quit. The second instance, when I notified HR, I told them my boss was acting hostile, so I wanted to exercise my rights to not speak with him directly. HR and a company officer walked me through my severance and I never had to talk to my boss again.
I put in my two weeks notice and, without conversation or notification, I was left off of the schedule for those two weeks. This manager was VERY passive-aggressive and, to be honest, did not care for women. It was only a part-time job, so I wasn’t left hanging like your nephew. Just because you aren’t the boss doesn’t always mean that you are the one with less professionalism.
Yup, I’ve had this happen! I finally had the guts to quit a job at a company that was performing poorly financially and that had a toxic culture. I gave my notice and they said, “Yeah, you can just leave now.” Mind you, this was at a professional job where I had lots of unfinished work and no replacement. I felt like it was their way of “getting back” at me since it really did hurt them to make me leave immediately.
It’s always a best practice for employee and employer to honor a two week’s notice unless something really wonky is going on.
Interesting topic. I think it somewhat depends on the job and prerogative of the employer. There are some jobs where once you quit they could get someone in there to replace you within the hour or next day. Whereas others, may require you to stay on to find a replacement / complete projects as you say.