After you give your two weeks' notice, you are in an untenable and uncomfortable position. All the ... [+]
It's time to do away with outdated, useless business practices. The enticing mirage of unlimited time off, the charade of an exit interview and demanding people stay for at least two weeks after tendering their resignation should be reevaluated.
As the economy boomed back to life after the pandemic, a war for talent evolved. There were not enough qualified people to meet the demands of employers. In a hot job market, workers felt confident in frequently switching jobs, quiet quitting, acting their wage and engaging in the Great Resignation. Business leaders scrambled to find ways to recruit, retain and appease employees. Some businesses decided to offer unlimited paid time off policies to catch the attention of job hunters and lure them into their firms.
An unlimited PTO policy makes an employer look empathetic and employee-friendly. It allows workers to decide how many days they want to take off from work. The executives tout that the program offers a better work-life balance. However, there is a downside. If the program is not managed and messaged well, it could backfire.
The seemingly easy perk can quickly become problematic. If there is a lack of clarity around taking days off, direct managers may start scoffing at the idea, as they find themselves juggling schedules. If people are both remote and take a large amount of time off, there will be a lack of connectivity to projects and attaining goals. There will be pressure placed on workers not actually to take the company up on its offer. They’ll feel that taking too much time off will hurt their career, annoy co-workers who need to pick up the slack and aggravate supervisors. The result ends up with employees not using the days.
If this benefit is offered, ask how many days people take off on average. Inquire if there is data to show a correlation between taking many days off from work and penalties doled out by managers, such as denying raises, promotions and bonuses or marginalizing the person. If some managers are open-minded and enthusiastically embrace the policy, while others are not sold on the concept, it could lead to internal animosity and resentment.
Another tidbit is that unlimited PTO benefits employers financially, as workers don’t accrue value for unused days off that would get paid out when they leave their job. The company doesn't want to carry your vacation on its balance sheet and knows you won’t use all the days.
The United States ranks No. 2 for the least amount of PTO offered, according to CNBC. There is not one standard for days off. Each company sets its own policies. The number of vacation days usually varies by service length, level of seniority and what you can negotiate. In 2021, around one–third of employees received 10 to 14 days of paid vacation after being with the company for one year. After 10 years of service, workers received between 15 and 19 days of paid vacation.
It’s Not Fair To Require Two Weeks' Notice When A Company Can Fire You And You’re Gone The Same Day
Boilerplate job offer contracts usually include a clause that says your employment is “at will.” Contractually, you can be let go if the company needs to cut costs, the manager doesn’t feel you are up to the job or there is a reorganization. All it takes is one mistake until you are summoned into the human resources office and told you’re being terminated.
There is no two weeks’ notice period offered by the company. You feel forced to sign the paperwork, and then are summarily whisked out of the building, lugging your possessions stacked in boxes, and all access to your credentials is cut off.
On the other hand, if you tender your resignation, the firm demands that you must stick around for at least the next two weeks. For upper-echelon managers and executives, organizations pressure them to commit to longer waiting periods before starting their new job.
Understandably, the company would like an orderly transition period of passing on important information, data and materials to co-workers before you leave. There is a need to communicate what tasks were left undone, provide critical information about projects, make introductions to clients and share passwords and other mission-critical knowledge, so the team is not left in the dark. With two weeks' notice, you get time to say goodbye to all the people you’ve partnered with and exchange contact information to stay in touch.
The challenge is that for the next two to four weeks, you are in an untenable and uncomfortable position. Some people will perceive you as a traitor or mercenary for leaving for a bigger payday. If the company is not doing well, there may be some resentment and jealousy that you were able to escape to a better opportunity, while they’re still stuck on a sinking ship.
You are now just sitting around feeling awkward. All the work has been dispatched to others. No one wants to give you any new assignments because you won’t be around to complete the tasks. Whether in the office or at home, you’re just biding time. In the interim, there will be frantic calls asking about the status of projects and questions about where they can find essential materials or where their top customer likes to be taken out for dinner and a show.
It’s risky to have someone sticking around when they’ve communicated they don't want to work there anymore. There is the chance of espionage or sabotage, doing something spiteful out of revenge over a prior slight or derogatory statement made against you in the past. Companies are taking a significant risk keeping the person who quit around. Similar to how a company quickly lets a person go, it's prudent to allow them to leave when they feel ready.
Exit Interviews Are A Waste Of Time
When a person tenders their resignation, the employee is summoned into the human resources department for a talk. The HR representative, manager and sometimes a senior-level executive will probe into why you are leaving. It's reasonable that the company wants to learn about any potential time bombs. They attempt to unearth any potentially damaging information.
The departing employee is in a weird position. Experienced professionals know that this is a game. When they ask about the corporate culture, your boss and co-workers, you need to tread cautiously. If the person who resigned honestly brings up instances of discrimination, unfair treatment, a toxic work environment or inappropriate activities, it could cause chaos. The company would then be required to conduct a robust investigation into any allegations for fear of potential litigation and bad publicity.
Innocently telling the uncomfortable truth about your reasons for quitting may subject your manager, senior-level executives, co-workers and the company to scrutiny, audits and internal reviews of their behaviors.
You will end up being the villain. There will be resentment, and the backlash could cause the people at the company not to offer a reference or letter of recommendation.
It's a no-win situation. Savvy people know they must say nice, polite things about the company, its people and its products. They’ll be effusive in their praise of everyone, so they won’t burn bridges. These factors make the exit interview performative and don’t lend itself to an honest discussion that adds value. Instead, if not delicately managed, it could cause future challenges for the worker who naively answered the questions honestly.
