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Original poster

Have I been completely unprofessional?

145 replies

c1JSU · 10/08/2020 10:01

I secured a temp to perm role. A few days in I realised it wasn’t for me, so I resumed my job hunt while continuing my temp to perm position. I received a job offer for another role on Friday just gone. I mulled it over the weekend and last night decided that yes, I am going to accept and in fact I think I will be very good at it. I emailed the recruitment agency that I am temping for at 10:30pm last night, which admittedly is rather late. I thanked them for the position I had been temping in but as I would shortly be starting a new role I won’t waste anymore of their time as I know they need to start recruiting again. I start my new job a week today so this week will be a week off for me, so therefore this morning I did not have an alarm set. I woke at 9:30am to 9 missed calls from the agency and a text message telling me off for ghosting then! I appreciate I gave them short notice that I wouldn’t be in today, but I was only temping and didn’t have to give a specified notice period. I thought if anything leaving quickly after I knew I wouldn’t be staying would be a good thing-it means the company wouldn’t continue to waste their time training me for me to then up and leave. Have I handled this all wrong?!

OP posts:

SleepingStandingUp · 10/08/2020 11:45

@BumbleBeeeeeee

So it's okay for agencies and employers to treat temps like shit but not the other way round? If OP was being dropped by the agency she would get no notice at all. They'll find someone else, don't lose any sleep over it!

And if she said agency emailed me at 10.30 pm, didn't realise K went into work this morning, they sent me home etc then we'd all agree they were unprofessional. So no, no one is saying it's ok for op to be treated like shit

Jux · 10/08/2020 11:46

At the very least you talk to your agency and offer them a few days grace. You're not starting your new job yet so you could have done that. If you couldn't bear being in that temp position one more day then you should have got up and phoned the agency this morning and TALKED to them

ChicCroissant · 10/08/2020 11:47

I am wondering if this is a reverse, how could the OP have possibly thought this was a good way to handle it?!

I hope you never need a reference from them because it won't be good - this candidate resigned by email late Sunday night and didn't turn up for work on Monday morning.

SockYarn · 10/08/2020 11:47

I have temped with different agencies, dozens of clients over the years.

The standard practice - for office work - is for the agency to confirm on the Friday whether you're to go back the following Monday if it's a week by week thing. They would never, ever leave a message on your phone late on a Sunday night telling you not to go in the following day. Unless there was some major disaster like a fire in the building or something.

Agree with others that OP has totally burned her bridges with that client, and that agency. Temping is ALL about reputation. If OP decides to move on from her new job, there's no way that agency will be prepared to work with her again. And all the staff she's left in the lurch will remember her too - they move on to other companies, deal with other agencies, will remember her. It's really short-sighted behaviour.

BertiesLanding · 10/08/2020 11:47

OP's failure to come back and reply is in keeping with her unprofessionalism: just do a runner.

BrightYellowDaffodil · 10/08/2020 11:48

On one hand you probably haven’t done anything wrong in terms of your contract - I temped for a while a few years ago and I could (and nearly did) have just told them that I wouldn’t be back tomorrow and that would be it.

However, you could well have left the company high and dry - even with a couple of days notice that you were, say, not coming back after Wednesday, that would have given them a chance to sort things out, reallocate work and maybe even get a temp in. There was no need to do that to them unless he’d been particularly shitty.

VodselForDinner · 10/08/2020 11:48

Yes, not turning up for work is very unprofessional.

How could you possibly think otherwise?

MrMeSeeks · 10/08/2020 11:50

Yes it was unprofessional! Are you kidding??? How long have you been working?

workhomesleeprepeat · 10/08/2020 11:52

Wow yes totally unprofessional!!

I start my new job a week today so this week will be a week off for me, so therefore this morning I did not have an alarm set.

Where did you absorb this idea? Just because you start next week you have a week off and you don't have to give notice? I am kind of shocked...how long have you been working?

Well, so long as you know you'll never be able to use that recruitment agency again. Wow though. Who taught you about work??

BlusteryShowers · 10/08/2020 11:55

[quote strawberrypip]@BlusteryShowers you honestly think they would have been much better the other way round? if they wanted OP gone then she would have been. companies dont give a shit about you on an individual level.

OP found a job she wants that is permanent, that she probably has much more security and rights in and believes she would be good at. good for her, she has every right to use her time as she wants. she wants a week off to prepare for her new job so that's what she should do. the agency dont own her and should be well aware of the potential cons of zero hour contracts as well as the pros for them as an employer. a quick turnover is one of the cons. deal with it.[/quote]
You can see perfectly well that I'm not suggesting she reject the other role if it's better for her. While I wouldn't do it personally, she also could have gone in today and told them this was her last day. Of course they don't own her, but she gave them no notice whatsoever which is really inconsiderate.

OP also suggests that the role was being made permanent at there was training coming up. That doesn't indicate to me that she was being badly treated by them. It was rude and unprofessional to just disappear.

ChrisPrattsFace · 10/08/2020 11:56

In what works would you think that is acceptable? It’s very unprofessional.
I’d be black listing you tbh.

Pobblebonk · 10/08/2020 11:56

I hope for your sake you didn't give the agency as a reference, otherwise you've just messed up your new job.

LonelyGir1 · 10/08/2020 11:59

Completely unprofessional.

Also, very selfish and a bad thing to do to other humans who you’ve left without a paddle.

strawberrypip · 10/08/2020 11:59

@BlusteryShowers do you have experience with temp agencies and the manner in which they work and are intended to work? there are no contracts and no obligations. OP can and should be focusing on her new job now. she told the agency she was leaving. fair enough it was late but she still told them - if she hadnt at all then yes, unreasonable. but being that she has NO contract she owes them exactly, let me think, 0.

Todaythiscouldbe · 10/08/2020 12:00

As above. Your new employer may well ask for a reference from your last employer (the agency). I hope you havent messed up your new job as I assume you will, initially, be on probation.

EnjoyingTheSilence · 10/08/2020 12:02

Very unprofessional. Hope you don’t need to use that agency again in the future

LonelyGir1 · 10/08/2020 12:03

@Todaythiscouldbe

As above. Your new employer may well ask for a reference from your last employer (the agency). I hope you havent messed up your new job as I assume you will, initially, be on probation.

Based on this behaviour presumably it’s another temp role...and karma could mean that they do the same to him/her.

yorkshirecountrylass · 10/08/2020 12:04

So you were temping in a role and we're expected at work this morning? If so then yes you have been extremely unprofessional to email at 10.30pm the night before effectively saying "cheers for the moolah but I've found something else and don't respect you to such an extent that I don't care how short this leaves you." You either needed to hand in by (at the absolute latest) Friday lunchtime or at the very least work today to give the agency time to replace you. From the agency perspective I would never place you again, from the employer respective I've told agencies I'm not prepared to work with them any more because of behaviour such as this.

Hodge00079 · 10/08/2020 12:04

As it is temp I do not think they are owed full notice.

However by sendIng the message as late as she did she gave no notice. Yes it was good she did. Some people just do not turn up. However, the way she did it she has virtually done that.

There could have been lots of e-mails. If the title of the e-mail was not eye catching I bet it was not seen until the employer called the agency to say x not in. This is assuming 9am start.

Yes you could argue it is the nature of temp and risk employer took.

I would have at least gone in today.

Let hope it works out ok. She has burnt bridges with that agency. If agencies chat could also be blacklisted there.

NiceTwin · 10/08/2020 12:04

Do unto them as they do to you.

Would you be happy if they'd emailed you at 10:30pm and told you not to come back?
I think not.

You had left them high and dry.

I hope you don't need that agency or employer again as I suspect you will be blacklisted by them and quite rightly so.

Smallgoon · 10/08/2020 12:07

Incredibly unprofessional. You couldn't even be bothered to work a day's notice.

Choochoose · 10/08/2020 12:07

You should have at least spoken in person to someone so you know they are aware. Even if you emailed last night and then this morning phoned to say just to confirm you received my email etc. I would have worked the week, but that's more of a moral than a legal thing with temp work. But yep, doesn't sound professional to email late on a Sunday night, and then avoid calls this morning, let us hope this new job works out and you don't need to use the agency in the future.

Todaythiscouldbe · 10/08/2020 12:08

[quote strawberrypip]@BlusteryShowers do you have experience with temp agencies and the manner in which they work and are intended to work? there are no contracts and no obligations. OP can and should be focusing on her new job now. she told the agency she was leaving. fair enough it was late but she still told them - if she hadnt at all then yes, unreasonable. but being that she has NO contract she owes them exactly, let me think, 0.[/quote]
I'm not sure how much understanding you have either. A temp role can be for 1 day, 12 weeks or any other length of time. If a temp takes a 6 week contract they are, in most cases, obliged to fulfill it unless the agency doesn't have robust contracts in place with the workers. Burning bridges with an agency is really never a good idea.

GennyCrabby · 10/08/2020 12:12

It wouldn't have hurt you and it would have been helpful to both the agency and the employer for you to have given at least a day or two notice. Even just telling them at the beginning of a working day and ending at the end of that day would have been better.

I would have given a week's notice, and maybe negotiated to see if they would be able to manage if I left earlier. I get that you're not contractually obliged to, but I think you've been really shitty to both employer and agency, you've shown that you give no fucks about inconveniencing either.

KatherineJaneway · 10/08/2020 12:13

Yes you have been unprofessional. Just because you are a temp, does not mean you can leave an employer in the lurch with no notice, which is what you did.

With my last agency the agreement was you could be let go or give your notice with a certain amount of days.

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