How Much Notice to Leave a Job at a Startup?
Imagine your employee walks up to you and hands over their resignation notice to leave the job just a few months after you began your startup business/company. Perhaps he/she has worked with you for a while or it could be someone who has truly impacted your company’s growth.
However, it is, there are questions you need to ask yourself as an employee before giving out a notice to your employer. In this article, we would discuss what a notice period is and how you can determine the appropriate length of time to give your resignation.
Whether you just started working at a startup or you’ve been an employee for an organization and there are times when you feel it’s the right time to leave for better opportunities, it’s very professional to give a little notice to your employer so they can think of an alternative route to prepare for your departure, and delegate your tasks or fill up your position immediately.
What is the Notice Period?
A notice period is the amount of time an employee has to give their employee/company before leaving a job. It’s also known as garden leave. Even if an employer gives a letter of dismissal to an employee, a fair leaving notice period must be provided before their employment ends. It allows time for you to find a new job before the employer replaces you.
Your notice period starts the day after you resign, if you’ve been in the job for less than a month, you do not need to give a notice period except for the terms and conditions indicates in the contract.
The best way to resign is to put it out in writing or by sending an official mail stating;
- How much notice you’re giving before leaving
- Your last day’s expectations at work.
There are different types of notice period which includes;
- Statutory period – It’s the minimum legal notice employers give to an employee. It’s a week’s notice if the employee has been employed for a month or less but must be less than two years. But for an employee who has been employed for two or more years then two weeks is served plus an additional one week’s notice for each year of continuous complement. And if employed for 5 days and above, five weeks’ notice is served.
- Contractual notice period- This is a notice that’s already in the terms and conditions of the employment contract given to an employee, this can be longer but cannot be shorter than the statutory notice period.
- Probationary notice period- A notice period is given to an employee when on probation. It’s usually shorter.
- Gross misconduct- If an employee has conducted misconduct, you can dismiss the employee without any form of notice by terminating their contract.
- Payment instead of notice- If an employer pays the gross wages to the employee over the time of their notice period, then this means they wouldn’t be returning to work.
Why is the Notice Period Important?
- A notice period gives a better understanding between the employer and employee without having any sort of disagreement.
- A notice period allows the leaving employer to search for other jobs or career paths, it ensures that the employee remains employed before putting the current job.
- With a notice period, the employer can start searching for a new employee to fill out the vacant position left by the current employee.
- Giving your employer your end date in advance helps them to prepare for you to leave.
- The best way to leave a job on a good term is by giving a notice period.
How Long Do You Need for the Notice?
The length of your notice period depends on your job contract and the company you work for. The common length for the notice period is two weeks. If you are unsure of how to check the notice period, you can check the length of a notice period in your country or state of residence depending on the number of years you’ve worked for.
How to Submit Your Notice?
You need to be very formal while submitting the notice period. these are the necessary steps to take;
- It’s very important for an employee to decide on their departure date by providing a notice period of a minimum of two weeks.
- It’s always best to schedule a meeting to talk to your manager or supervisor, informing them about your decision to leave the company. Just make it brief, the important thing is to include your final date of employment.
- Putting it in writing is a formal way of addressing a notice period to your employer. In this way, they have your resignation filed and a reference if needed. When writing your letter, write it in a formal business way including the necessary information like;
- Your contact information- date-month-year, your full name, your home address, your state and your postcode.
– Your manager’s name, company name, company address, state and postcode.
– A statement of resignation, be concise and confident.
– Give your notice period in the letter
– Express gratitude
– Proofread your letter then end it with your name and signature attached.
- Informing your colleagues about your notice period and plans to leave is the best way to still keep a cordial relationship between your team members. If there is a person or two that’s ready to take up your duties, you could start training them about your role in the company until your position is filled up by a new employee.
- Note that your notice period starts the day after you resign. This means if you give a week’s notice period on Tuesday, your last day of employment Will the next Tuesday.
- The employee needs to complete whatever pending tasks before leaving the company. If there are assets of the company like a laptop, mouse, pen drive, ID card, keys, etc the employee needs to submit them.
Conclusion
With this article, it is very important for one to be formal about a notice period and also to pay close attention to every detail while passing the message across without causing any rift between yourself and the management of the company.
