A month, two weeks, 3 months, what is the ideal notice period after all?
If you scratch the surface and dig deeper, you will come to the next and the most obvious question.
Why is a notice period needed?
It ensures operational continuity and is in place to ensure that there are no bottlenecks in the exchange of duties.
Now coming back to our main question, if employers want to make sure that the exchange of duties is seamless and continuous, how much time would be ideal?
The best way to approach this would be to plan for at least three kinds of scenarios.
Scenario A: A replacement is found well within time, and there is a smooth handover.
Scenario B: A replacement is not found within the stipulated time, and an internal resource allocation is required.
Scenario C: The employee cannot go through the entirety of the stipulated notice period, and an internal resource allocation is not possible.
While putting policies in place, enterprise and HR leaders should keep in mind that an unusually long notice period will not help the organization’s health. It will impact employee productivity and harm the brand of the employer. At the end of the day, policies are made for humans, which needs to be taken into account.
What goes on in an employee’s mind while they are serving their notice period?
Psychologically, they have already left the organization, and they are merely following protocol. It would be unwise to expect the same level of enthusiasm and productivity. To sum it up, there is bound to be a drop in performance during the notice period, and a lengthy one will be nothing less than a punishment. Hence it is important to keep it short and sweet so that the employee has a green exit.
How should an employee conduct themselves while serving their notice period?
A notice period should not be taken for granted. If an employee has committed to a certain time period, it is their duty to honor the same. They should ensure a smooth handover and make sure that there is continuity on the work front.
The ideal notice period
The ideal notice period is actually an agreement and not a time period.
The duration is subjective, to each his own. The need and space for dialogue are important as they set the tone for the rest of the employees. Having said that, employees also need to value their end of the bargain and make sure that they go through their entire notice period with dignity and professionalism.
Most importantly, both parties need to value the time spent with each other. It is a tight rope walk for employees, especially while they serve their notice period, and they must be cognizant that the world is a small place, and they might cross paths in the forthcoming times.
Notice period is the time when the bridge between the employee and the employer members is supposed to strengthen. Because no bridge built by investing someone’s time of life is worthy of being demolished, just because of their choice to make a move out. It’s the quantity over quality of the notice period that matters for the betterment of employee as well as employer. After all the first question asked to your previous employee by their new team at the new employer is “where were you before”. Sometimes recruiters also learn that people from X company are too good or too bad. You can choose what you want to leave as a legacy for yourself as individual or as an employer.
