It's unethical to leave a job without saying goodbye to your employer. You can't just leave the company this way because every contract requires a notice period. When you sign an employment contract in the UK, you must give your employer a notice period- even when nothing is specified about this period in the contract. I know the notice period's whole concept sounds confusing sometimes, so I decided to answer all your queries related to it. 

First thing first, you need to understand notice period meaning

What is a Notice Period?

It is the amount of time an employee gives to the employer before resignation. It's a period between the day when an employee hands over his resignation letter and his final workday. 

An employer also gives an employee amount of time upon his redundancy and dismissal as part of his job contract termination. 

Suppose an employee is dismissed due to gross misconduct ( theft, sexual harassment, healthy or safety issues, etc.). In that case, an employer can ask the employee to leave a job without giving any prior notice. 

Why Do You Need to Give a Notice Period?

Here are three reasons behind this formality.
 

Reasons No.1 It is Required by Employment Contract

Your employee contract is a legal agreement between you and your employer. You must have to comply with law requirements. If your contract requires a notice period, you will have to follow it else; you will encounter legal problems, which no one wants.

Reason No.2 It's a Way to Keep Relation Alive

You should end a contract with your employer on a good note. Even when you don't like your employer or planning to quit because of him, you can't risk your career for this. You will fulfill this formality as it would help you stay in a good book of your employer. Later, when another employer asks for a reference or needs some recommendation, this relation with past employers comes in handy.

Reason No.3 It's essential for Steady Workflow.

Employment procedure is never simple, and you know it already. As soon as you announce your resignation, the HR department creates job descriptions and starts searching for your replacement. This procedure requires some time. 

You show your respect and courtesy by giving a notice period to your employer. Many employees plan to leave a job while a project is pending, so finding a replacement and training a new employee needs some time. Replacement won't occur over time. Even when another colleague takes over the whole responsibility, it requires time and some understanding. 

Therefore, companies require notice periods so that they can run their business operating smoothly.

What are Employee Rights During Notice Period?

Many employees wonder what their rights are during the current notice period. You will continue working and get your salary plus employee benefits. In case you accept Pay in Lieu's proposal, you will leave the office immediately while getting payment from your employer.

In the case of garden leave, you will leave the office and won't join another company until your notice period is over.

Concept Related to Notice Period

There are three concepts related to the notice period; you must have a clear idea about them.

Pay in Lieu

Your employer may request you to get Pay in Lieu, in which you get one-off payment and immediately leave the job. If this option is available in your employment contract and you agreed to this clause, you can opt for it.

Employer will compensate you with notice period payment. For example, if your notice period was two weeks, you will get salary and employee benefits. It would also offer coverage for your holiday entitlement. 

In case the Pay in Lieu option wasn't in your contract, and you don't want to accept it, you can continue working as usual during your notice period.

Don't Forget to Check a Complete Guide on How to Resign from a Job in UK

Garden Leave

An employer often asks a senior employee to go on garden leave. It's the same amount of time as the notice period; during that time, the employee gets salary and employee benefits. The purpose of sending an employee on this leave is to save contracts, colleges, confidential information, and some clients.

An employee stays at home and doesn't start another job until the garden leave time passes. However, he is entitled to usual pay and benefits.

Restrictive covenants 

Sometimes, you get a job offer from a competitor. Before you accept any such offer and make a resignation plan, it's good to check your contract terms. Some companies add a term of Restrictive covenants in employee contracts. 

According to this term, a person can't join a competitor or establish contact with a company's client during a stated period. Mostly this period is six months, but it could be more. Even a person can't start a similar business as his company during that period.

This term of the contract is quite essential, and you need to pay adequate attention to it. In case a person doesn't care about it, an employer has full right to take the employee to court for a breach of contract. 

How Long Should a Current Notice Period be?

Usually, an employee gets confused when it comes to defining the exact length of a notice period. Well, the first thing to check is your contract. There is a term of the notice period that would clarify this confusion instantly. Another place to look is your employee handbook.

In case none of these options are helpful, you need to follow a standard rule of the notice period.

1. An employee who works for one month to two years is entitled to a one-week notice period.
2. An employee who has worked for three years or more, adds one week with another year. For example, three years of service need three weeks. 
3. The minimum notice period is one week, while the maximum is 12 weeks.

How to Reduce Notice Period?

If you want to leave a company early then, you can reduce the notice period. For this purpose, you can try the following methods.

1. You can ask your employer to count your holidays and vacations for the notice period. When a notice period is three weeks, and your outstanding holiday is one week. You can cancel for one week and only work for two weeks.
2. When an employee breaches contract terms, you can skip the notice period entirely.
3. In case an employee has been dismissed, he can give a counter-notice to leave earlier than his notice period requirements.

If your employer doesn't give you enough notice period?

When an employer terminates an employee's contract due to dismissal or redundancy, he must give a legal notice time to his employee. The purpose of providing this much time is to ensure that the employee receives a salary while searching for another job. 

Here are three methods you can try.

First method - Informal 

You can approach your hiring manager or supervisor and try to find a suitable solution informally. Try to be respectful and don't show arrogance at all.

The second method -Formal

Approach the HR department and make the most of the company's grievance procedures. You can go with this approach when an informal chat with a manager doesn't work out for you.

Third method -Legal action

If your informal and formal approach doesn't bring any benefit, you have full rights to take legal action against your employer. Before making any claim, it's advisable to inform the Advisory, Conciliation, and Arbitration Service (Acas) that you have a plan to take action against your employer. 

Know about Breach of Employment Contract in UK

After that, you can submit a claim to the tribunal. Thereby, you will avail of Early Conciliation service, sit with your employee or settle this dispute without knocking at the court door.

How to Hand Your Notice of Resignation?

You will write a resignation letter and mention your reason for leaving this job. Here you can check the complete information on how to write a letter of resignation UK. An employee has to keep his tone positive even when he has a negative job experience. Once you write a letter, you plan a meeting with your superior or HR manager. You hand over a resignation letter and make your notice period announcement official. 

Your manager might ask you to tell the reason and explain it to him but don't talk too much, keep everything simple and to-the-point. 

Also, don't forget to offer your hiring manager your service that you would be willing to train new employees, so he gets adjusted in a company. 

Some companies ask you to do this, while others may not need it. However, it would help if you made an offer with courtesy. Remember, your intention is not to burn bridges at all. You have to give importance to corporate networks as they prove useful in the long run.

What If You want to Give Less Notice?

Your notice period might be six weeks, but you want to leave early. So, in that case, you can talk to your employer and reassure them that your departure won't cause your company's problems. Tell them that you will train replacement and hand over all essential tasks in due time. 

If you are convincing enough, your employer won't mind leaving you early from this job. 

However, as I mentioned before, you can try three other methods as a part of reducing your notice period. If you leave early without concern about the notice period, your employer won't pay you salary and benefits; so consider this factor while making your mind about giving less notice.

Conclusion

I have explained the notice period meaning and every other concept related to it. Next time, when you have to define your notice period's length, hopefully, this post will be useful. Still have some questions related to the notice period? Feel free to ask.