Two Week Notice Backlash

RCW

Quite Involved in Discussions
#1
I recently found out that an employee in my company gave her ?two-week? notice?. However, after speaking with management, they convinced her to stay on with the company. I remember reading way back when that if an employee intends to give notice, then they should follow through on it. Staying on after giving notice labels one as a ?flight risk? and a person who cannot be entirely trusted.
The focus of the article was aimed at the employee, but I?m looking for any comments on why it?s not beneficial to the company to bargain either. Now the door is wide open for other employees to threaten to quit and throw into management?s face -- ?She was going to quit but you caved into her!?

Any comments on this? Anything similar happen in your company and if so, how was it handled?
 
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G

gbcqc

#2
I my experience (or was told by a friend who's friend knew somebody...) the person who decided to stay is taking the biggest risk. The company now knows she is looking and they will be looking for her replacement and once they get that person, they will no longer need her services and let her go.
If someone else brought up “She was going to quit but you caved into her!” the company response may be she was more important to keep than you are. That person may find out quickly how cruel and uncaring companies really are.
 

Michael_M

Trusted Information Resource
#3
I believe employment is a two way street. I have seen people use the two week notice as a bargaining chip to get something (usually more money). I have seen management cave in and I have seen management say "good luck". I think it mostly depends on how important the specific person is.

Me personally, if I give my two week notice and the company I worked for offered me $1,000,000 a year and I think I would still decline to stay. There is a reason I went looking for another job (typically not for money). On top of that, the company I would be going to is now put in a bad place as they selected me to be hired. Now they have to go back and redo the process.
 
M

MIREGMGR

#4
Companies pay what employees will accept to stay. If an employee doesn't ask for more, they won't get more. An employee that threatens to leave will be evaluated as to whether they're worth enough to get them to stay.

It's not "caving in". It's employee-vs-employer negotiations. That's how employment works.
 

ScottK

Not out of the crisis
Staff member
Super Moderator
#5
I think getting as far as giving notice is too far if you really don't want to move on.
I've been in the shoes where I was exploring other opportunities because there was no progression going on in my job. I got an offer from a competitor to see what they though I was worth and took that to my boss. He matched it so I stayed.
I never accepted the offer and I didn't give notice.
Had I given notice I bet it would have taken another path.

oh - and I ended up leaving about 6 months later anyway.

Lesson was - if you think it's time to get out, then get out.
 

WCHorn

Rubber, Too Glamorous?
Trusted Information Resource
#6
Other considerations include: Are they going to a competitor? Do they have access to confidential/proprietary information? If so, I believe termination the day of notice is in order, regardless of the pain.

Each instance is unique and different responses may be appropriate, but generally, dissatisfied employees are a dark cloud on the organization and termination is an opportunity for improvement. If the employee is moving on to a better opportunity, then congratulate them and get a replacement.
 

Jim Wynne

Staff member
Admin
#7
I've always considered giving notice to be an act of bridge burning. I've never done it without being absolutely sure that I was going to leave.

As far as the company is concerned, they should do whatever they think they need to do. If they really want to keep someone, I see no problem with making an offer. Anyone else who does it should do so with the idea that every situation is unique, and just because one person gave notice and was asked to stay on doesn't mean the same thing will happen when someone else does.
 
L

lfrost

#8
I have worked at businesses where the practice was that when an employee "gave notice" they would terminate that employee that day. The thought was that if they were going to leave to let that employee leave before there could be any "mischief done."

I have heard of others who gave notice and used the "notice" to obtain a raise. I have always felt that this is a gamble and something that would turn sour quickly if you loose the control of the situation. I have always thought that the one that really controls the situation is not the employee but the employer.

When I would look for another position, when employed at another place, I would do so on my own time as I feel that while working for an employer they should receive from me the job I was hired to perform for them.
 
D

DRAMMAN

#9
You should never give notice without being prepared to leave. You also have to think about how good of a company you work for. Great companies that are well managed simply let people go when they bring up another offer.
 

Wes Bucey

Quite Involved in Discussions
#10
My thoughts:
I've written an awful lot in the last ten years about employment situations over in another Forum specializing in this topic Career and Occupation Discussions for a total of 514 posts (Search: Threads Started By: Wes Bucey ; Forum: Career and Occupation Discussions and child forums Showing results 1 to 35 of 514) [this only counts comments in threads I started]

Jim Wynne capsulizes the gist of them when he says
I've always considered giving notice to be an act of bridge burning. I've never done it without being absolutely sure that I was going to leave.

As far as the company is concerned, they should do whatever they think they need to do. If they really want to keep someone, I see no problem with making an offer. Anyone else who does it should do so with the idea that every situation is unique, and just because one person gave notice and was asked to stay on doesn't mean the same thing will happen when someone else does.
Now, perhaps the OP in this thread misinterpreted a "conversation which included talk about quitting which was really a pay or promotion request negotiation tactic on the part of the employee" as "giving notice." As Jim writes, "giving notice" is the act of finality, preferably written, as a prelude to making arrangements to get final paychecks, 401K, and insurance matters in motion prior to walking out the door for the last time.

Once an employee has given formal, written notice, he should be prepared to be ushered to the door unless it is meant as a "retirement," in which case, the employee is leaving on good terms and may, as part of notice, indicate a willingness to bring everyone up to speed before he leaves.

An employee's motives for resigning can fall in a range from
  1. take this job and shove it
    to
  2. My family business needs me and I'm sorry to have to leave.
and everywhere in between and thus may have different reasons for accepting or refusing a request to remain for a period.

An employee who has accepted employment elsewhere and is resigning to take that job creates an ethical dilemma if he then subsequently changes his mind. Employers who learn an employee is leaving to work somewhere else may rightly count that employee as "dead man walking" and actively begin to hunt for his replacement if they are able to persuade him to remain past the two week notice.

In the instance OP gives, I'd really like to hear the Paul Harvey version of "the rest of the story."
 
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