Handed Notice In and All Hell Broke Loose...

[MyNameDefinatelyIsntJanet]

I handed my notice in at work yesterday, it did not go the way I was expecting and I need to know where I stand legally.

For context, it's a fairly senior position, a big jump up the ladder for me and it took them 6 months to find someone to hire into my role before they got me. I've only been in the role 6 months. Over those 6 months, it's become abundantly clear that I'm not the right person for this particular role. They need someone with strategic skills and I'm a technician. I'm bloody good at my job and an industry expert, but they don't need that skill, they need someone who can do the big picture stuff with clients and that's not me. I've stopped enjoying the job and I do feel that it was mis-sold to me at the interview stage, but I'm not bitter about that. I tried it, it didn't work out.

I gave these reasons when I handed in my notice but my line manager was apoplectic with rage. She called me a liar and accused me of using her/ the company as a leg up and that this had been my intention all along (I'm going to an equally senior role in a much bigger specialist agency). This is completely untrue. The job I'm going to is a technical role and much more in line with my skill set but at the same level as now iyswim.

She walked out of the room and slammed the door behind her and told me to leave the office immediately. So I did and have had no contact since.

WTF do I do now? I haven't gone in to the office today but I've been responding to client emails as usual this morning as there's stuff I need to get done.

I've since realised I was never asked to return my signed contract when I was hired and found it in my collection of papers this morning. I have signed it, but they don't have a copy.

I REALLY don't want to go back to the office after yesterday, but I have a 6 month notice period so not having to serve this would be great. I'm not sure where I stand legally. I'm prepared to hitch up my big girl pants and go back in but I'm not sure if they're going to want that so my questions are:

Legally, do they have to pay me for my 6 month notice period even though they've asked me to leave the office (they haven't asked me to leave my position yet).

As they don't have evidence of my signed contract, do I have to serve out my 6 months?

I want to hand over things properly and make sure they've got a plan for my leaving, but should I even care about this after yesterday? I don't want to leave my team in the lurch

Also, the new company is not a competitor of any kind with my current one.

Help?

What they're proposing is those conversations happen without me, are communicated to me via email and I produce work and send it back to them without getting an overview on the whole project.

Which means you won't be privy to all the nuances. Basically, you'll be working blind. I see what the MD means by not wanting you involved in the conversations, but as you are teh one who was setting up the department, that's a bit stu[id, particularly as you won't be working for a rival.

Obviously, you don't have to accept their conditions, so maybe talk about working from home 1 or 2 days a week only, you really need to be in the office otherwise.

You can negotiate early release but you MUST ensure you have it in writing that regardelss, you will be employed and paid until a certain day and that if after 3 months of working however it goes, you can opt for immediate release.

They're looking for someone to fill a 'senior' position with strategic skills on a salary of 35k? I can't imagine they'd find anyone at all never mind within 6 months...that's probably why they hired someone young and cheap in the first place. They need to be realistic about their expectations.

Call back from recruitment guy: New company can commence employment immediately if needed, they'd prefer me to start earlier if possible.

He's explained the situation to them and they've offered to have their HR director meet me for coffee in town tomorrow, think I'm going to accept that and see what he says.

I do think that both the company and some posters on here have the idea that women, particularly young ones, should be humble, grateful, obedient and self-sacrificing, even if they are exceptionally talented. OP has done nothing wrong in finding a job which suits her better than the one she is currently doing. Companies have no right to demand blind, subservient loyalty from staff: they very rarely offer it in return.

Op i really admire you. I wish that i had an ounce of your confidence and spunk. Id love to know what you do ?

Chanel exactly, although that's at the low end of about normal for the job role in companies this size and comparable with peers of mine at the same level.

Janet
If the new company can take you right away, could you offer to give up your contractual pay entitlement and walk and request an immediate P45 ?

At the end of the day, what are the chances of them suing you for breach of contract if you just go?

I think due to THEM advising you that you are not safe in the office, you cannot return there and it is up to them to keep you safe and the safest thing is to let you go with immediate effect.

AnElderlyLadyOfMediumHeight Absolutely not directed at anyone in particular. There are a number of comments saying OP should have renounced her rights to protect her employer (ie to be nice and accommodating, really, coz there is no other reason) and that at only 27 she has no reason to be that confident (or words to that effect).

I set out my thinking on the former above, and my thinking on the latter is that there are indeed industries and fields where at 27 you're barely past apprentice stage as it were and others where at 27 you can be an expert with excellent interpersonal relationships and communication skills.

I actually think OP has handled this incredibly well, raising her misgivings very early and continuing to raise them despite being dismissed. That takes guts at any age, but for a woman at 27 that is impressive.

Many people I know, myself included, would have stewed on it, raised it once when it got too bad, and then thought very long and hard as to whether to bring it up again. And then I would have left once I'd had enough.

The OP however gave them every chance to understand where the disconnect was, but when companies decide on new strategies it's not unusual for them to dismiss actual problems as mere teething troubles.

The OP is also not burning any bridges by handling this entirely professionally, and from her posts she is indeed looking at the whole picture. It's also possible that she is right with her misgivings about her role and that the CEO's strategy will succeed in the long run. But I wouldn't want to wither in a job role for a year or two until that happens. That wouldn't benefit the OP at all and that has to be her primary focus. Are you really asking her to stay in that role knowing it doesn't suit her? For the sake of other people?

The outcome of your meeting really doesn't surprise me - they cant have you knowing all the ins-and-outs details of your projects any more as you're officially working for the enemy now in terms of information, and they cant let you just go because they need someone in your role and aren't finding that easy (and with your salary info I think I see why - they thought they were getting someone young and cheap who they could train up into that role while keeping you on that same low salary for the next 20 years).

I would expect to work the full 6 months from home and have them try and guilt you into staying longer in a "consultancy/train new person" capacity. Mark off each day as it goes - you know you have a fixed end-point and hopefully that should let you get through it.

You wrote a long paragraph about why you'd do best in the office, OP, and you are exactly right, it is a total lack of joined up thinking on their part. I think you should send that paragraph (or words to same effect) to the CEO by email and say that you would prefer to work from the office from those reasons, and really it is down to the MD to ensure that conversations she doesn't want you to hear are kept private (fgs!).

I think it is also reasonable to say you will do 3 months and help them recruit if they want, and you then go to new role, because otherwise they are leaving you hanging over the gardening leave vs continue, and that isn't reasonable.

Rean exactly.

I have a skill I've worked bloody hard to develop. I was at assistant level (entry level) on £15k 5 years ago straight out of Uni and was very lucky to fall into a company who believed in the development of staff. I made a conscious decision to take advantage of every scrap of training they offered and pulled 18 hour days to make sure I could fit the training and self study around my work load. I became a technical implementational expert and was promoted 4 times before I moved on because I hit a ceiling.

I've kept that same attitude throughout that you take every opportunity you're ever given to develop and learn and you remain completely honest with yourself and others about the areas you need to develop.

Ultimately, if you can communicate your areas of development, I've found companies fall over themselves to help you improve those areas and it benefits everyone as a result.

I'm in a progressive industry which thrives because of technicians, so become and awesome technician and you'll never go unemployed. Find your industry's thing and do that brilliantly.

I’ve read the thread and I apologise for not understanding but......

You are legally obligated to work the 6 month notice period. Aren’t you? After that you can walk away.

All this talk about starting your new job sooner....you can’t! I don’t know why your recruiter is saying you can. I’ve worked in recruitment for a while. None of what you’re saying adds up!

You are legally obligated to work the 6 month notice period. Aren’t you

not if her employer decides to waive it as they don't want her around

'Are you really asking her to stay in that role knowing it doesn't suit her? For the sake of other people?'

Not at all!
There appears to have been an odd incompetence/inability or refusal to hear the message given on the employer side of this, and altogether it sounds as if OP will be well out of it.

I don't mean being accommodating so much as reading and grasping the nuances of why people act as they do (not necessarily in order to act in the way that person would want!)

Ps to Janet
By your age I'd resigned from a couple of jobs

• boss one used to "fire" me every Friday. One week I said OK and walked. He shat himself and begged me back. I went.
• boss two was a mysogynist. He paid me a LOT to come back part time and cover their arses and help my successor not to resign as well.
• boss three grovelled and I helped them out one afternoon a week on my terms for another year.

I look back on all of them as positive career moves
hold your nerve

lap but from what the op is writing here it is abundantly clear that they DO want her to stay.

And do not go off on sick/stress with this, that’s bad bad form.

I don’t think you’re going to be bouncing many ideas off anyone if you go and work in the office OP - I mean that in a loving way.

Hope the new job can take you and sort out the old workplace to your satisfaction.

talkin I need a pair of your big girl pants

@Atalune ...... but OP is just getting all her ducks in a row by looking into starting new job earlier. She's in a situation where there's a potential for a settlement agreement (or similar) ..... basically each party (OP and her employer) agree to part ways earlier / not in accordance with her contract and / or employment standards.

If that suited both parties, then she may well be available to start work earlier than 1st January.
Or maybe not.

Just been through something similar myself, and just come through the other side!

@Atalune
You can negotiate early finishes, it's pretty rare to complete a full 6 months probation period in my industry. Which i assume is what people are suggesting OP does.

They have asked her to work from home, still do the projects but not be involved in any of the conversation around it - setting her up for failure!

Op I think you're making a big drama about working from home.

At the moment, as far as your employer is concerned, it's not about your "soul" it's about managing you effectively and efficiently out of the business. It's 6 months of a potentially 50-year long career. A tiny part.

Maybe you'll produce work at 75% if your optimum and get lots of chores, afternoon naps and lunches with friends done.

So what? Unclench. It'll be over on 6 months and you'll be back.

Perhaps spend the time networking, learning a new skill or getting tested for your new role if you're that intent on it. But really, you're sounding way too intense. It'll. be fine in the long run. Trust me!

The reason i MAY be able to leave earlier is that under their proposed conditions, I would not be able to perform my duties to the standard they or my clients require, and as such they'll be paying me full wage for 6 months for a badly done job.

The grown up way to approach it therefore in light of that, would be for us to settle on an agreement whereby I sacrifice the 6 months notice pay I'd receive normally in exchange for them agreeing to terminate my employment early. It saves them money and me time, everyones a winner.

However, if they feel I'm still valuable to them even working at a sub-standard level and my continued employment is critical to their business (and the financial loss to them would be greater if I left early), then they won't agree to terminate my contract early and I'll be kept in role for the full 6 months.

Is co-working an option, so that you're neither working in their office nor on your own at home?

Can your recruitment guy rustle up someone to replace you, thereby releasing you from the contract early?

I'd be wary of talking to the new place about starting early until you know that it is looking possible. Right now, you are obliged to do 6 months unless they find someone else, which they don't sound likely to do...