When Two Week's Notice is Not Enough
Joe Grimm, recruiting and development editor of the Detroit Free Press, recently wrote that it is never enough to give two week's notice to an employer that you're quitting. To be fair, Joe's blog article made it clear that he feels that two week's notice is standard and is a fair compromise between the needs and wants of the employer and those of the employee. But his "never enough" point is worth pondering: if it takes far longer than two weeks to find a replacement, is two week's notice sufficient?
I agree with Joe that two week's notice for most jobs is sufficient and has become the standard. Few people are in positions that require longer notice periods and virtually no college student or recent graduate would be employed in such a position. Yet many of us have been in positions where we've given two week's notice and seen the look of despair on the faces of our managers. They don't need to tell us that our work will be missed, we may not be easy to replace, and until they replace us they will be less productive and therefore profitability will suffer.
Yet the needs and wants of the employer are only half of the equation. There are also the needs and wants of the employee. People need to be able to leave a place of employment when a better opportunity arises or even just when they get fed up or tired of doing the same thing day-after-day.
The longest notice period that I've ever been asked to give is two weeks. I'd love to hear stories of people who have been asked for longer notice periods and why the employer thought that longer period was justified.
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