Resigned from job and no idea where I stand

[outtathere]

Morning,all.

I'm looking for a little advice on a bit of weird situation I'm in.

I resigned from my job two days ago. I sent a professional resignation letter and clearly listed what my notice period would be based on my contract, as well as my last day of work.

A few hours later I received an email from my manager acknowledging my resignation and wishing me well for the future.

Then, almost immediately, an email from the IT department asking me to book a date to return my equipment. This is fine, as I get they need to have things back, and it's better to just get it arranged.

However, the weird part is, I was also immediately locked out of all my systems and my accounts like email have been deleted.

As I said above, my notice period is clear on my contract and I had listed the exact date on my resignation letter, but it seems that my resignation has been taken to mean that I was leaving immediately.

I'm really confused by the whole thing as I was under the impression that I would either work my notice and then leave, or if they wanted me to leave right away, they would offer an option for this, such as using some holidays for that week, but nothing has been communicated at all.

I did reach out to the HR contact I had in my email, but that bounced, so it seems that she no longer works there, and I don't even have details for anyone else.

This is a massive UK company with very organised processes, so I'm really quite shocked (and a bit worried) about the radio silence, especially since the onboarding I had when I joined was very well structured.

I don't really know if this is normal, and I'm just wondering if there's anything I should do here.

Should I just wait and see if they pay me for my untaken holidays? Or should I try and find another person in HR to ask for clarification around the whole resignation/exit process?

Phone HR. It could just be an internal miscommunication or error and IT have cut you off from the system too soon.

If it’s a big organisation, surely they’ve got another person in HR to ask about it?

It might be normal in a sensitive environment or if you are moving to a competitor. Can you not ask your manager?

Speak to your manager, you may be been put on gardening leave for your notice period.

Do you work with sensitive/ proprietary information?

That sounds odd. Can you remember your line manager's email address and contact them?

Sometimes people are terminated with immediate effect but you would be told that and have confirmation of being paid in lieu, plus holiday pay.

How long was your notice period?

Phone HR and phone your manager

This is common in some companies where they worry about sensitive information,

If you can, go and physically speak to someone to clarify the situation.

@PuppyMonkey, they do, but the problem is they're a bit hidden from the employees if that makes sense.

Basically, the only time I ever heard from HR was when I applied for the job and when I was sent my contract. Everything else was dealt with through line managers and "passed on" if needed.

@GOODCAT, Luckily, I never needed to deal with them for anything, but it's actually really hard to locate an HR person as I never had any real contact with them, and the one person I did, has now left.

Sounds like you have been out on gardening leave.

From reading up on it, it seems that way. I'm fine with that, but it's just that nothing has been communicated, so I expected that I would work my notice period as normal until I saw that I was locked out of everything.

I would call your manager this morning. It is possible there is a breakdown of communications along the chain and IT have locked you out too soon.. Alternatively they are looking to put you on gardening leave or utilise payment in lieu of notice provisions your contract likely has. But you need your boss to clarify this. Certainly don’t sit there waiting.

It’s very odd that you haven’t heard from your manager. How often do you normally speak to them?

Mind you I’ve always spoken to my manager before handing in my notice (or at the same time).

Just pick up the phone!! Why don't people use the phone any more?!

There is also the possibility that IT cut you off too soon

Speak to your manager

OP is locked out of all the systems so she may not know her manager’s number!

OP, I would talk to your manager rather than hr, dial the switchboard and ask to be put through or to leave a meesage. Send them an email from your personal email explaining.

They will then come back and say, oops, cock up, I am on it with IT or confirm you are on gardening leave.

Regardless of whether or not you have another HR contact, in a large organisation you can call the main number and ask to be put through.

Or use the same email address you had for your manager 2 days ago and email them for clarification?

This is ludicrous. You’ve handed your notice in to your line manager, he acknowledged it, presumably your notice period is three months or possibly one month. You cannot now do your job for the remainder of your notice period.

Who on earth in this situation wouldn't just ring their line manager and say “hey Bob, HR have locked me out of everything, do they have the right last day or am I on gardening leave” rather than stressing over their email to HR not working.

Assume you are working from home as they have asked for their equipment back.

I agree with the other posters that it will be for security reasons. They could be concerned that you are out of the office with their equipment (and maybe access to their data and systems) and potentially a security risk.

while I agree 100% with the sentiment, many companies don’t provide a phone any more and you “call” people in Teams instead. In my company I had to get permission to have a phone number assigned so people external to the company could call me directly as is not done routinely any more.

so the OP may not be able to easily call anyone if she’s been locked out of her systems. Agree she should be able to email her boss from her personal email and ring the company switchboard and ask to be put through though.

Thanks for all the replies.

To answer some questions:

I'm not moving to a competitor, and didn't work with particularly sensitive data.

Notice period is one month.

I do have contact details for my manager, so will reach out to them.

If they've put me on Gardening Leave, that's absolutely fine. It's just more the complete lack of communication around it that feels a bit off.

Thanks for your helpful response.

As someone replied to you upthread, I don't have access to a phone number easily, and everything in that organisation is done through email.

Also, I would prefer to have a paper trail if needed.

Thanks, though. I'm well aware of how phones work and pick them up all the time.

Definitely speak to your manager so you are absolutely clear on everything. I agree that it does sound like you've been put on gardening leave.

maybe HR and your manager each thought that the other was telling you about gardening leave?

If I had to put money in it I’d bet that it’s an IT cock-up cutting you off immediately instead of entering a future date in their system. I do think it’s odd posting here though before trying to contact your manager.

Surely just walking over to your manager and discussing this face to face and asking them to clarify the situation is what's needed here. It's clearly an error in the process and your IT has been turned off prematurely. If they wanted you to take garden leave, it would be discussed with you first, along with considerations about outstanding holiday entitlement and even the possibility of payment in lieu of notice etc. Rather than second guess what is clearly a cock up, meet it head on and take charge.