Hand in notice by email when on mat leave?

[LavenderFlowers]

Hi all,

Hope you're having a nice weekend.

I'll firstly mention my employer didn't top up maternity pay so I won't have to pay anything back. I have been interviewing for part time positions that match the childcare available. I've also split from partner during leave so my personal circumstances have changed.

Is it really bad to hand in my notice by email while on maternity leave? I plan to give six weeks notice rather than the four required.

My company has been taken over by a new owner since I left. I've sent two emails about my annual leave and updating my qualifications (I studied during maternity leave) and they didn't reply.

It feels really cold so I'm tempted to just hand in leave by email as I'm not even sure who to call anymore.

Would that annoy an employer? I am worried about a future reference.

It makes no difference.

Keep it basic.

I hereby wish to give 6 weeks notice of my intention to leave x company - my final day being z.

Thats it

I wouldn't give them 6 weeks notice. I'd give them the 4 you are obliged to do.

I would also put a read receipt on the email

They don’t sound particularly engaged with you. It sounds like you are a bit out of sight out of mind.

I would try to phone them first. If I couldn’t get through, I’d send an email resigning with reference to the attempt to speak.

Yes, I would just send an email. Totally fine to do that.

They've been really unengaged. The only email they've replied to during my leave took them five weeks to respond

I was a big part of a senior team before leave and have felt very forgotten. Has made me question my contributions to the company

I have an email address to a new HR person but no phone number or should I try phone owner directly? I have her phone number from an email months ago

I would also give them the required notice rather than more and think an email in the circumstances is totally acceptable. I would also send a hard copy letter by post (and allude to it in the email).

Hopefully they wouldn’t be so unreasonable but it’s possible (or it used to be a few years ago - I’ve been out of HR since 2018), for an employer to counterserve notice to an employee. So in theory, you give them six weeks and they then counterserve you four weeks, reducing your notice by two weeks. But if they’re not currently paying you anything, it probably doesn’t make much difference anyway (although may mean you would lose a day’s accrued holiday leave or similar).

I've been in the same job for twenty years so don't really know but I'd presume that an email is how most people hand in their notice?

@flipflopsandsun normally you might arrange a meeting face to face to speak with a manager/boss or speak with HR