Re: FWD: About giving notice...

["Cheryl L. Higgins" <cwhitnah -at- NETMEG -dot- NET>]

Yes Anon, I have had experience with this.  If the company I am working for
has been good to me, and not royally "turned the screws" I have been quite
considerate of them, realizeing that the convention of giving two weeks
doesn't mean they can fill my job in that amount of time.  In an ideal
situation, you might want to consider a few of the following ideas.  I am
assuming you are leaving your position to work freelance on the many
projects you have and will be marketing yourself for?

Consider talking candidly with your manager.  Most people understand a basic
change in carreer direction.  They want as much opportunity to adjust to
your leaving as they can get.  You might want to give him a date of your
leaving - say, if its January, you will be leaving March 1st, or April 1st
or something.  Many people arrange this kind of end date for many reasons.
"I'm going back to school, was accepted at Yale, so August 15th will be my
last day" kind of  a thing.  This does several things - lets management plan
for the search, for their budget, for their work. Also, lets administration
plan your "leaving:" party.

It also ensures your employment up to that date.  Once you give notice, a
company can't let you go for any reason without violating labor laws.
Sometimes a company is paranoid and really doesn't want an employee thinking
of leaving hanging around with access to company secrets.  I have given my
notice to attorneys who have offered my full salary severance of the time I
would have been there as incentive to leave that very day.  Hey.  A bit
disconcerting, but I had 3 months salary walking out the door and I could
start my new job or whatever with a nest egg.  You can also offer that, if
they seem disconcerted with your announcement.  But, once you give notice,
they can't cut you off.  Either they have to let you stay or give you the
money.

If all is well, and yet you have to leave before they might have a chance to
pick up the pieces of the trouble your leaving causes them, by all means
offer to continue their work freelance.  You can negotiate rates - probably
much higher than you are getting now, because you will be working as a sub
contractor and have to pay your taxes out of it, yourself, and your new
company has an overhead, or what ever.  You can negotiate that.  They may
even continue to retain you on projects.

If you can give them longer notice than two weeks, I say try it.  If you
can't, I say offer to sub for them until they are settled.  They'll likely
appreciate it, unless they are real poops.

Cheryl L. Higgins
cwhitnah -at- netmeg -dot- net
http://folks.netmeg.net/cwhitnah
'The hills show scalp and lift trees/ listless against no wind and less
birds/ leeching sky with bony fingers /like close-cropped hair, thin and
wired up to formless clouds/ their boles weighted, pulled down by great
shags of vine: /bittersweet, greenbriar, wild grape'  "Midwinter, coastal
New England'

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