Best wishes for your new job!

Having said this, just be sure that there is no violation of a non-compete agreement. You may even want to run this by an attorney just to be safe.

Are you required to tell your current employer (from which you’re resigning) who your new employer is going to be?

In some cases, my current company requires you to sign a non-compete, but I don’t think I signed one. Also, the new firm offers SOME similar services as my current company, but I would not consider them a direct competitor anyway. In general, I think it’s none of my current company’s business where I go next – is this a fair statement?

Thanks for your thoughts!

I understand that some employers do not respect the employment relationship enough to honor the two weeks notice and may terminate me immediately upon my notice. But I do not believe that my goal when leaving a company is to preemptively trash the relationship before my employer.

The two weeks notice, in my opinion, is not a nickel beer concept. I have not yet taken the more commonly emerging belief that all employers care nothing about their workers and, therefore, I should care nothing about my employer. This dog-eat-dog mentality, I believe, contributes to ever growing problems in the workplace long before one’s employment has ended.

I will give you this…if an employer has a clear record of terminating employment immediately when a worker gives notice, then two-weeks is unnecessary. But short of this, I will continue to work with my employer in the same way that I expect them to work with me. Will I sometimes be disappointed? Sure, but I’ll accept that as part of living life in a manner that respects relationships and honors commitments.

BTW, I did read your article and the many comments that were left and responded to. And, although I respect your opinion, I find it to be a pessimistic view of the employment relationship. I do not subscribe to the idea that employment is simply a means to a paycheck and the relationship be damned. Your position, as best I can tell from your writing, is based primarily on your view that employers just don’t care about the employee. I would suggest that you may have worked for the wrong employers.

I suggest you read some of my articles as well as the 100s of comments after them as to why Two-week notices went out with nickel beers.

Here is the first one with several 100 comments since it was first wtitten in 2005:

http://wistechnology.com/articles/1757/#jumpToComments

there are others at my blog as well as on the Net.

http://www.carliniscomments.com

As to still getting paid for another two weeks if your employer says they want you out the day you resigned and not two-weeks later, you WILL NOT have any leverage to getting that two-weeks money. You’re gone.

You will get accrued vacation pay – that is all they are obligated to pay you. You may try to negotiate it, but you will not get it.

Many comments to that effect after my articles – EMPLOYERS ARE NOT OBLIGATED to pay you that two-weeks. As you stated- if you have a contract, that’s different but as they say – if it’s not in writing, they don’t owe you anything.

And as to “Keeping good relations” that’s a two-way street and based on 100s of people’s experiences, companies only see YOUR obligation and not anything from their side.

It is unfortunate, but there has been a paradigm shift in what is considered customary.

Companies always say it’s for business reasons that they are letting you go and that there should not be any negative feelings. Well, when the shoe is on the other foot, anyone resigning with a one-day notice should not be looked at negatively. It’s business.

Sorry about the negative reference the short-time manager gave the HR department. I would suggest that you get written references from the other managers you worked for in the company and share those with HR Director. Also point out that the bad reference came from a manager who doesn’t really know your work and the fact that there is no negative report from that manager in your personnel file (I assuming there is none).

Simply make your case as you did here.

I wish you the best!

Peppermint, thanks for sharing your thoughts on this topic. There are many who feel as you do that it doesn’t matter how you treat the corporation and the coworkers you have been with when you are leaving. As you see in the article, I take a very different position. First, for selfish reasons…I don’t want a reputation as someone who leaves people or corporations hanging. That reputation may hurt me in the future. Second, I want others to know I respect the work they have to do to fill in after me and find my replacement. I would never treat one company poorly because of bad treatment from an unrelated company. I don’t see how being a respectful employee and person make one a “corporate tool”.

When laying people off, the company I worked for did not give any notice to the employees they terminated. When I gave my 2 weeks notice in the past, I was walked out of the building immediately. People should put themselves before the corporation they work for. You are just numbers on a report to them. They don’t care about you. If you are lucky enough to work for a company that really treats you good, then what I am saying does not really apply to you.