A question for all of you with employees, either currently or in the past.
How much notice would you expect to get from the different levels (i.e. designers, shop helpers, etc.) of employees in your shop? Standard would be two weeks, but would you ask for more of certain positions? Would you send the person packing on the spot?
These are questions I am having to consider as I have given notice at my present place of employment...with my future still wide open.
Opinions, conjecture, WAG's all greatly appreciated.
Mark
Posted by Bruce Bowers (Member # 892) on :
Personally, if we had an employee who gave two weeks notice, I would send them home. I am unsure whether or not they have to get paid.
Even if they did, the two weeks salary would seem cheap if anything should happen... Hey, I figure if you gave your notice, you are already gone. I just am not going to give someone the opportunity to make the situation worse.
Employees who work week to week aren't required to give notice. Same goes for layoffs. No notice necessary. Two weeks notice is a courtesy, not the letter of the law.
Have a great one!
Posted by Rick Beisiegel (Member # 3723) on :
To me, it would depend on where they were going to be employed. If for a competitor, we would part ways immediatly. If they didn't want to share the new employment information with me, same thing. Otherwise, two weeks would be customary.
Posted by Devin Fahie (Member # 3961) on :
I let my former employer know that I was looking for another job, then 2 weeks later I gave a 1 month notice. I thought that was fair to both of us.
Posted by Wayne Webb (Member # 1124) on :
My first employer let me work the notice and asked me to stay. I went to college.
After giving and working out my notice, one employer called me at home, asked me to come back. I didn't.
My next employer let me work the notice, then asked me to stay, then gave me a substantial raise. I ended up staying.
For another employer, I worked my two weeks notice while working the new job(night shift). Then, they asked me to stay on part time and gave me a raise to boot. I worked part time for a while but quickly tired of working two jobs.
I gave my last employer a two weeks notice. Then, after determining that the signshop I was building wouldn't be ready by then, I sheepishly asked them for an extension. They told me to stay as long as I wanted so I stayed another three months or so til the shop was finished.
[ August 13, 2004, 09:52 AM: Message edited by: Wayne Webb ]
Posted by W. R. Pickett (Member # 3842) on :
..I think it's best to leave on "good terms". Who knows, you may need a referrel or other favor from them someday.
...AND, you even may end up back there...
...Ya really don't need (or want) to burn any bridges.
Posted by Checkers (Member # 63) on :
I would give 2 weeks and I would expect my employees to do the same. If they were in the middle of a larger project, I would hope they would stay to finish the job. As others mentioned, don't burn your bridges. Since you have nothing else lined up at the moment, be flexible and fair. When I moved to Pennsylvania, I gave my employer 6 months notice. It afforded him the time to find, hire and train my replacement.
Havin' fun,
Checkers
Posted by Gene Golden (Member # 3934) on :
Call me cynical or paranoid, but a lot of things can disappear or happen in two weeks. Depending on the relationship with the employee/employer - trust is paramount. If files come up missing or materials gone, who gets the blame? With that in mind though, I always gave 2 weeks notice and worked like hell. Never burned bridges and got many a referral from the sign shops I left; still do 20 odd years later!
Posted by Ian Stewart-Koster (Member # 3500) on :
It depend on the nature of the parting. One employee in 1994 I couldn't get rid of quickly enough. 2 weeks was 14 days too many, and we gave him a month's pay. Another employee we gave notice to, that we couldn't afford to keep her past a set date which was 8 weeks away, and she worked up till then. I'd still have her here if I could, she was great. A boss I had in the early 1980s I gave 8 weeks notice of my intention to leave ( to go overseas on a backpacking holiday to Europe, then to return to Uni), and he has 8 weeks to find a replacement for me to train. He brought me a real basket-case three days before I left, and I had a hopeless task of teaching him the ropes. He didn't last a month, I learnt later.
So.... it all depends on the circumstances & feelings.
Posted by Pam Eddy (Member # 1858) on :
I would think the type of employee that will steal and do damage to your business, and take your company secrets with them will do all that during the extent of their employment with you and then just not show up for work one day. The person that gives you two weeks notice is setting himself/herself up for a possible twoe weeks of misery if the employer resents their quitting.
I have seen this happen with other businesses and I guess it's just "checking out the situation" with each individual to see which way you should handle it.
