Six month notice period - how do I get out of it?

[Disallusioned]

Hello!

Looking for guidance and advice. Have put my notice in last week after receiving a dream job offer. New company is ethical and our values are aligned in every way. The role is beyond exciting, I want to start tomorrow type feeling.

Current role has said I'm irreplaceable and therefore must complete my six month notice period. In my resignation I offered to complete all my projects and get everything in a great place within 1-2 months.

I'm being paid a lot of money to essentially be an administrator. I have a Director role but micromanagement, zero culture, no flexibility means all of the team, including seniors, are held back and must tow the KPI line. The four areas I lead, I was asked to write strategies for 2024, all accepted in Dec 23 and now none have been. They are currently being ripped a part and over engineered. I don't even know what the objectives are anymore and it's all such a mess. My budgets aren't mine really. Everything has to be approved, I genuinely do not lead anything.

I have said to my company for my salary they could get an experienced ops manager and administrator, who would easily bust out what's expected of me. I genuinely have no idea how these people think I'm doing a good job, I've never felt so redundant in a role that everyone keeps saying I'm good at. It's bizarre.

I'm going to a competitor, they know I have no faith in anything they say or do, I'm literally doing admin tasks delegated to me and rewriting all the strategy work to the exact specification told to me. This would be doing them a favour!

Help me oh wise ones! I want to be in dream job as soon as is reasonable and practical.

Thank you!

What would they do if you just left?
Would they pursue breach of contract?

Work the notice you want (maybe with an extra month for good measure), leave just after payday. They can't physically keep you there.
Run it by your new employer.

I was once told, after staying to complete a lengthy notice period, that they couldn't have held me to it so I could have just left earlier!

I think the reality is you would be risking breach of contract but how likely is it that they would follow up?

The safest way is to work it but do what you need to do and don't engage with thinking about how different it could/should be. Make sure you book in all remaining annual leave before the end of contract.

Gosh I’ve never heard of a 6 month notice period before. I guess this is a cautionary tale to negotiate this before you start the job. What are the chances that any new job would wait 6 months!

Could ACAS give you advice on your contract?

Can you be overt in that you're going to a competitor and being involved in future developments for current company is a conflict of interest and it might not be in their best interests for you to know so much about their strategies etc going forward.
Just plant a seed of doubt, they might put you on gardening leave

I'd analyse the next two weeks work and point out that a temp could do [x% of] it, and it was a conflict of interest to have someone retyping their strategy notes as I was going to a competitor so I'd be leaving on X date as detailed in my resignation letter. I'd also request that no more strategy documents were put past my desk for those reasons.

I’m afraid all the detail about how you feel about the two jobs is irrelevant. You will have to look at it purely from a contract negotiation point of view.

Have you spoken to your HR department to see if there is any room for negotiation? Have you offered them any solutions?
Do they know you are going to a competitor? At the level you are at I would not be surprised if they even put you on gardening leave.

I presume the new job know about the 6 months so they are happy to wait?

I agree @SgtJuneAckland . A lot of the people I've known to make such a move, have been put on immediate gardening leave as soon as they've handed in their notice.

But a six month notice period works both ways. They're bound to pay the OP for the next six months, should she wish to enforce it, whether or not she provides them with any useful work. Worst they could do is put her on a disciplinary path if they aren't satisfied with performance. But they're unlikely to terminate her employment without notice unless they have a good case for gross misconduct.

So it's not necessarily in their interests to hold an employee who's leaving for a competitor to such a long notice period, as she could make life very difficult for them, as well as take a competitive advantage with her when she leaves.

So I'd put to them a one month notice period to tie up loose ends and then plan to start the new job immediately/shortly after Easter, depending on whether you want a break between jobs.

I recently left a role as a PA for a company with 6 month notice period for senior management - utterly ridiculous. Truth of the matter is if you left early you might get a letter from their solicitor reminding you of your ‘obligations’ but in reality they can’t hold you to anything.

I have 6 months too - in some industries and roles it's pretty standard and can be 12 months. When I left my last role I spoke to my new employer and they said - try and negotiate it but if you can't then we'll wait. I went back to my current employer and negotiated to leave at the end of the financial year which was 3 months later. Perhaps try reaching something mutually acceptable with the threat of walking sooner if they don't agree to it?

What does your contract say?

Just a thought…. If they were likely to pursue breach of contract, is it possible they too might be in breach of contract for turning a director position into an admin role?

I think my 3 months notice is ridiculous, 6 is a nightmare.

Are you in a customer facing role? I say one colleague get his notice period overlooked as he started telling everyone very loudly in the phone that, we was starting with X company in 12 weeks and would it be OK to remain in contact with them after he moved? (I suspect there wasn't even a customer on the line half the time!)

Needless to say, they let him go early. Would that work?

A six month notice is ridiculous. It basically prevents you from seeking new employment.

I would tell them you are giving them 1 or 2 month notice (whatever works best for your new role) and the reason is that your job does not reflect what you were recruited to do.

If they make noises about suing you for breach of contract you can point out that they are also in breach of contract because the job you signed up for is not the one you were given.

I have a 3 month notice and I have no intention to do it when I find a new role. Like you the job was misrepresented and they hired me on the promise of remote working then tried to revoke that 6 months in the job...

Hey,

Thank you all so much for your responses.

I'm not sure if they would pursue breach of contract, but I can't rule it out. Another director left 18 months ago who had invested his own personal money into the business. Allegedly they absolutely screwed him over and he lost a lot of money. The source of this information is trustworthy and he still is in contact with the person. I obviously don't know the other side so can't say for certain.

I am going to call my line manager in the morning and have an honest conversation. I've already left in my head anyway and surely they don't want someone working for them that doesn't want to be there.

I'm really keen to not burn bridges or leave on a negative, especially with my line manager. This honestly will annoy him and I guess that's the leverage he has at the moment.

What gets me is that I'm going to a competitor; why would you want me to have access to your database for six months?! I have strong professional ethics, so they know I wouldn't steal anything or use it improperly, which I think is the reason.

Thanks again everyone, greatly appreciate it.

If you are going to a competitor does gardening leave not apply?

I think that notice periods are to protect you as the employee and not the employer.

If you got hit by a bus tomorrow, they'd have to manage without you. If they can't, then they haven't planned properly.

I'd discuss it with your new employer to see what they say. They might not want to employ somebody that just walks away from a job or they might not care. They almost certainly won't want to wait six months, so I'd explain the situation and see if you can agree on something shorter, such as three months, and then just tell your employer you're leaving on a specific date (immediately after payday).

Have you signed a contract to give 6 months notice? If you have you'll have to work the notice out.