The notice period is the time period between the receipt of the letter of dismissal and the end of the last working day. This time period has to be given to anemployee by his employer before his employment ends. It also refers to the period between resignation date and last working day in the company when an employee resigns.
Whether you have decided to leave or have been asked to, here's a list of things to do and avoid when you are serving the notice period.
Boss first, others next
If you have decided to leave, be graceful and speak to your boss first. It is both professional and wise to put your resignation down in writing only after your boss has given the go ahead. This gives him time and space to process the information, plan the next steps and even make a counter offer. Ask how your exit should be communicated to others and let him or her decide what works best. If the firm has down sized you, your boss is already in the picture. Seek his inputs and views on what happened and what could have been done.
It's about work not play
Once your departure from the company and last working day is confirmed, you can make your plans. Act with dignity as you are still in employment. Your reputation will depend on how you behave now. Be professional and avoid the folly of mentally checking out of your office during your notice period. Maintain your professional routine. Discuss and negotiate work expectations with your boss and team and then exceed expectations in both scope and deadlines. If you need time off during this period, reassure the firm on your commitments.
Knowledge transfer
Your employer may want you to complete all existing projects before you leave. However, given the limited duration of your notice period vis-a-vis the length of the project, that may not be practical. A more reasonable expectation is a full knowledge transfer to the person or team that will take over your role and responsibilities. Start off with meeting your replacement and setting an agenda for handing over information. Introduce your replacement to your team, clients and vendors and formally inform them of the change in role. Share details of your weekly progress with your boss and make sure other stake holders, including accounts and HR, are also in the loop. A great knowledge transfer will continue to burnish your reputation after you leave.
Thank yous and byes
Apart from official requirements, take time out for the professional relationships you have built. Make a list of people you need to thank personally or writing an email. Spread out your communication over the last two weeks so that you do not miss out in the final days. Prepare a nice farewell speech in case your team gives you a formal send-off party. Leave out the unpleasant memories while you share achievements, contributions by others and stories of your personal growth. People won't remember what you said but they will remember how you made them feel. So be gracious and exit on a high because your future employers will speak to former colleagues when they run a verification check on you for senior roles.
References
Towards the beginning of your notice period, speak to your supervisors, HR and senior colleagues and sound them out to write reference letters. HR managers are generally permitted to give standard experience letters. Make sure they include details of joining, relieving, last designation and, where possible, whether the firm is open to re-hiring you. Even if you have your next job tied up, seek references as long-term investments.
Documentation and finances
Obtain a clearance certificate from all concerned stakeholders. Retain a soft copy of the no-dues certificate. Transfer all personal data and contacts from your office computer to your own devices. Obtain fresh insurance covers as your employer-sponsored insurance covers will lapse once you leave. Discuss your gratuity if you have completed 5 years. Transfer your PF account or withdraw it if you are unemployed for over two months. Calculate your commissions, pending salaries, applicable bonuses, reimbursement bills and encashment of leaves with your HR before you leave so that your final settlement is error free.
Garden leave
If you are a banker or working at a strategic level then you might be asked to go on garden leave. Here you are expected to stay at home and not join another firm for a couple of months. This ensures the strategic value of the information that you hold degrades with the passage of time and is of lesser use to competitors who may employ you. When you are on garden leave, remember that you are on contract with your present employer and thus legally bound not to work or share your information or skills with any other firm.
Plan the future
You may have a job offer in hand and can choose to use your spare time to try and get something better. If you do not have an offer and need a job, then invest most of your time in your job search. If you have an interview that clashes with work hours, your present employer is likely to grant leave and support you in your job search. Finally, you may choose to upgrade your skills or study further. Use this time to explore your options and plan your finances for the study break.
During my short span of time in industry as an HR professional, we met lot of incidents where sometimes employees care for their organizations but they did not get the enough support and care from organizations and leads to a change or in some cases organizations understand their employees well but employees are not able to change their attitude. As HR professionals, we act as a medium between the employees and the organizations where we need to maintain the harmonious relation and need to work in the benefit of organization as well as employees.
Out of those a big question is on importance of Notice period pokes me every time. An employee has to serve the notice period of 1 month or 2-3 months that depends on company policies, but the main logic about this practice is to hire an employee within that time period so that previous employee handover the charge to new employee for smooth working and company’s work doesn’t suffer. As per industry norms, when an employee resigns then he /she has to serve a notice period for 1 month or as per the requirement of the organization. But my question is IT WORKS OR NOT? Means what exactly we want by this exercise/practice, is it fruitful/purposeful or not?
Most of the organizations were having the trend of 1 month notice period but today’s scenario it is coming into fashion that employees are asked to serve three months of notice period. Is there any worth of this? An employee when takes these decisions that he/she is going to put resign most of the time he/she has a mind set to leave the organization anyhow. But in some cases there is a possibility to retain the employees. But if we are going to retain employee, notice period doesn’t start because all this process we follow before accepting his/her resignation.
In my point of view, if someone has no interest to work with the companies then will he/she work with proper attention or full of his/her interest with in his/her notice period? And we people want them that they need to stay with us for maximum time period as organizations are throwing 3 months of notice period. Most of the employees come for only serve the notice period in the organization not with the mind set of working what organizations expect from them. If we don’t get any satisfactory work from them then what is the reason to give them a complete compensation for which they are not eligible in their notice period because they are not performing on that level for which we are paying them. In this case, rather to pay resigned employees, we should buy outs the notice period amount for new hires so that we can bring them to join us in minimum period of time.
In their notice period, they can go for an unethical practice also which can be harm to work or prestige of the department as well as the organization, it is rare but still it can be. In my point of view rather than to throw on them 3 months or 2 months of notice period we should focus on hire new candidate for the same position so that we can save our resources or money to spend on those employee who are not interested to be with the organization and relieve them within the least time period so that they will feel free and can go without any burden.
By this, my objective is not to blame any employee or don’t want to prove that we can’t trust on ex employee but again being an HR person my responsibility is to save and look after my companies resources and the same time to make feel employees good about organization. So, against a long notice period, one month notice period is very much sufficient for every position in every industry.
