[Closed] Negotiating a shorter notice period?

Talking about leaving when you take a job is interesting...

Yep!

Me personally, I'd not go into the job thinking about leaving so other than wondering whether I was joining a company with a problem retaining staff I'd not worry about it.

Then when I wanted to leave I'd give them two months notice, unless there are special circumstances I doubt any company would succeed in holding you to three months.

I am not a role model

You'd be crazy to even suggest it unless you really don't want the job. Cross that bridge when you come to it. In reality its unlikely to be an issue, especially in the first couple of years

I'd just suck it up and factor that into any decision I mad about leaving later. If it comes to it by the 7th week of you sat doing nothing....

Take the job under the offered T&C's, be excited, get stuck in, enjoy it and all that the job provides... you don't want to be seen as a job hopper I guess.

When it comes to moving on which may be some considerable time in the future, negotiate your way out earlier having had the best of the time up to then.

It would be a shame to not start a job because you can't decide about leaving a job you're excited about that you haven't started

My last company had most people on a 3 month notice, but would stop your work as soon as notice was given. 3 months doing nothing. ****s.

As others have said, I wouldn’t mention it on taking a new job, doesn’t look good to try and negotiate leaving terms before you’ve even started. Besides, notice period is there to protect you as well as them. if something goes wrong and you get laid off / dismisses you’ll be glad of those extra weeks

3 months is pretty standard here, where I work and the competition. More often than not, people end up working a month and then either leave or go on garden leave.

I guess it gives the company options if they need them.

Yep, I've been on three month's notice in every permie role I've had in the last 15 years. Worry about negotiating it down when you hand your notice in, not when you're starting the job.

Thanks for all the replies - makes sense!

I think everything in a contract is worth negotiating if it doesn't suit you.

In the past I've negotiated from a flat 3 month notice period to a 1 month contract for the first year, to be extended to the 3 months after the first year.

I think everything in a contract is worth negotiating if it doesn’t suit you.

No doubt, but trying to negotiate the terms of your leaving before you’ve even started hardly gives a great impression...

It's not that hard to convince employers that they'd be better off with you gone ASAP.

Don't forget its not just 3 months notice you have to give them. If you get made redundant then you get 3 months notice rather than face 4 weeks having to sort employment.

Yeah negotiating leaving terms before you start isn’t a great idea I’d withdraw any offer.

It’s not that hard to convince employers that they’d be better off with you gone ASAP.

Yep start by haggling on the notice period 😉

Don't start negotiating your notice period before you even start! Job offers can be withdrawn you know and if I offered a job to someone only for them to start haggling over leaving I may think twice.

FWIW both my two previous roles were 3 months notice. In the case of the former, I got another job and was keen to leave earlier in order to start my new role before Christmas. I spoke to my line manager and HR suggesting that I firmly believed that I could successfully hand everything over within a 6 week period. My manager took the view that he would rather have a happy Coyote working towards a mutually convenient deadline rather than a resentful one dragging out 12 weeks and affecting the morale of all those around him. The latter was slightly different in that I had been made redundant but even so they wanted me to work my three months. I did a bit of work and demonstrated that I could hand over in four weeks. I also mentioned that as my role had been made redundant, it was hardly of strategic importance and releasing me early would be beneficial to me as I would be available to take on new opportunities at short notice. Again the issue of staff morale was raised and the effect of having someone hanging round who was stressed about getting back into the job market.

It's also worth bearing in mind that the notice period works both ways. How would you feel if your employers asked you to leave and started to haggle over how much pay in lieu they wanted to give you? When it comes to negotiating an exit most companies are reasonable so I wouldn't taint their perception of you by asking about the odds of an early release before you start. HTH.

3 months notice means you acquire more rights at 21 months service not 23, as it would be with 1 months notice.  Thats assuming its still 2 years service that trigger the rights i have been out of it for ages.

3 months is standard in my industry - I've never had to serve-out more than 2.

Don't think it works like that...

My comment aimed at poolman btw.

If the worst comes to the worst, and you really wanted to leave, isn't a 3 month notice period pretty much unenforceable anyway? I mean they could try and sue you for any lost business as a result of you leaving, but you'd have to be in an unusually crucial position for that to be even viable, and even then it would probably involve more costs than they could recover. I think a lot of employment contracts are simply a cut'n'paste job, without any actual thought going what would be reasonable for each employee.

3 months is standard in my industry – I’ve never had to serve-out more than 2.

One place I was at had a leak of people quitting and all those before me managed to get out of the full notice having already taken a job elsewhere so they just agreed to let them go. I tried the same and they changed policy and deliberately held me to the full notice, with me doing crap all. Thankfully I'd managed to convince the new company to wait.

Contract life is better and worse, in that I'm normally on no notice and could technically just bog off, but then they can do the same. Though rarely my choice to leave with contracts, and even permanent jobs before. Things come to an end, times are hard or there's a takeover involved and companies start kicking people out. Usual way I move on.

Out of interest, has anyone had the "not working for a competitor" for N months in a contract? Had that with the earlier mentioned one that held me to the notice. However, again a number had already got a job with a competitor and that just made the company terminate the contract ASAP to get rid. I wonder how enforceable a term like that is though anyway.

"Out of interest, has anyone had the “not working for a competitor” for N months in a contract? "

I have it in my contract. We have a 3 month notice period, and we can't work for a competitor for 6 months. Competitor is defined very broadly as well, just a company using similar methods (even if it's not in the same industry).

It's very dodgy ground IMO. It's one thing to protect their intellectual property, but they appear to want to stop people using the skills they've acquired for another company. The company owns the work they've done, not the skills they've acquired.

We have a few people who have resigned, and they just ignored it.

Going to a competitor I’m my job means you get put on garden leave the second you hand your notice in...

everybody wins!

For balance, I was offered a job last year and was told to negotiate all T&Cs at that time as once I'd started the post it was very difficult to change them. It was quite a surprise.

The post-termination clauses were quite extreme, bordering on restriction of practice, which really surprised me. Looking back they were mostly unenforcable too. I didn't take the post for other reasons.

Yes I had the anti compete clause in one of my old contracts.  It was so broad that pretty much any job in the financial sector would have been out of bounds.  They threatened legal action twice.  My solicitor said that whilst the clauses can and have been enforced, they cannot generally be so wide ranging that they unfairly restrict the right of the individual to work in their feild.  Plus, mine sad "for 12 months" which even if the restrictions had been acceptably narrow, would have been deemed an unreasonable period anyway.

It's been interesting to see the different opinions on negotiating and other stuff to do with notice periods.  I've never had it yet, but if a company got uppity with me for discussing things in the contract with them, then that would be reason enough for me not to go there - by the sounds of it, it would be mutual with some.

Mine goes up to 6 months in September having been at the same place for 10 years. Not sure how strictly it is enforced if you change industry. I assume that can be negotiated as it seems a bit pointless. Most people who go to a competitor get 6 months paid leave as there is little incentive to fight.

Coyote - i just looked it up and 2 years is still qualifying period for claims for unfair dismissal.  Years ago i had a big mortgage and 1 years service, i was having a coffee with the hr manager saying how much better i would feel with 2 years service.  He said as i was on 1 months notice the 23 month service was the trigger point, ie, 1 months notice + 23 months service = 2 years.

Out of interest, has anyone had the “not working for a competitor” for N months in a contract?

Yep, seems to be pretty standard in my industry - and seems to be universally ignored.  I think if you are in sales and start aggressively transferring customers to you new company, your old employer might start some sort of action to prevent you from doing so..... but otherwise, where is the harm?

I struggle with long sentences but notice periods are basically unenforceable anyway so don’t lose any sleep over it.

Negotiate it as you leave, not as you join. TBH most places hiring people at the right level understand that they’ll have a reasonable notice period.

Poolman, I think you've been misinformed. The trigger for unfair dismissal is 2 years, true. However that only kicks in at 24 months. Notice period doesn't count as service. We had senior managers on 6 months notice at one place and I was on 3. Your 2 year service kicked in at 2 years, not 18 or 21 months.