3 month notice period? Really??

[LEMtheoriginal]

That is our notice period. I am not a teacher nor do I work in a specific role that means they would be specifically disadvantaged if it were not filled immediately.

I can't imagine prospective employers waiting that long ?

How do people manage ?

I work in recruitment and 3 months is perfectly normal in some roles.

I am a veterinary nurse sorry not a high flyer at all and generally it is a month maximum. Low skilled?? Depends what you mean by low skill.....sadly the perception is just that. I am cramming for my first exam. I work 40-50 hours a week and am educated to PhD level. These exams are the hardest I have ever done by a country mile. We have a designated crying area at work and all suffer from bad backs.. .yet we could earn more behind a supermarket checkout.

The issue is that the 3 month notice period is far from industry standard so a potential future position would be scuppered.

If only I were in a high flying job where someone would wait for me.

Out of interest does anyone know if an employer can say they will only give 4 weeks notice but require the employee to give 6 months notice?

My previous employment contract - the employee had to give 3 months notice and the employer only had to give 1 week.

It was nonsense really. Keeping someone for 3 months when they’ve already checked out is terrible for team morale.

It’s standard in my industry. 3-12m depending on seniority

The problem only comes when you have have a notice period far over what is standard in your industry, because that does put you at a disadvantage.

Are good vet nurses hard to recruit, lem? i think people are being a bit sniffy about higher roles but if it’s hard to recruit someone good then I can see why. For example in a small practice, if there’s only one or two nurses, you’re working v closely with them and they are essential to being able to run surgery etc then yes, I can see why a vet would want to be picky about who they choose and have a longer period to avoid quick turnover.

This is the kind of thing it’s perfectly OK to Ask about when you’ve been offered a job. Talk to the practice manager, explain your worries. Remember recruiting goes two ways - you’re checkingvthem out as well as them you!

Standard in my industry for anyone on £25k + HOwEVER they have let people go before doing 3 months notice because there’s little point in keeping someone in a position when they don’t want to do the job and move on. If anything it works in the employees favour when it comes to redundancy etc.

Unless the contract allows for more, employees receive a legal minimum of one week's notice per complete year of employment, to a maximum of 12 weeks.
Going the other way, there is no legality, the contract dictates what notice is due FROM an employee. However, if an individual does not give their complete notice, there is little a company can do about it. If they try to sue for breach of contract they would have to demonstrate significant material losses arising from the breach and spend a fortune on lawyers fees to take it to court. Never happens.

Anything over about £40k a year or specialist in my company is 3 month notice.

As a recruiter, I see it a lot.

"However, if an individual does not give their complete notice, there is little a company can do about it. If they try to sue for breach of contract they would have to demonstrate significant material losses arising from the breach and spend a fortune on lawyers fees to take it to court. Never happens."

They could refuse to give a reference or be difficult about sending the p45. But yes, they're unlikely to be able to do anything about it.

I have the opposite - I’m the only person who does my role, it’s a massive skills shortage area, it would take forever to recruit - and my notice is only 4 weeks for some reason...

Just remember that the notice period works both ways - so if they ended up laying you off for some reason (I.e redundancy or capability etc) that’s the notice you would be paid. So it’s also a protection to you.

If you wanted to leave you may be able to negotiate it down.

Standard in my area for skilled staff, and a vet nurse counts as skilled in my book - technically you'd probably have to have less formal quals than me but I bet it's harder to recruit experienced people to to than my job.

It is very difficult when your employer expects three months and others don't, though - in my area it's more likely that older unis have 3 month notice periods and post-1992 unis have 1 month, so if you want to go to a role in one (I'm a librarian, lots of great roles in both types of institution) it's awkward but people understand.