Should I Provide Two Weeks of Notice Before Resignation?

Should you provide two weeks' notice before resigning?

It’s conventional wisdom that you should. But sometimes, notice can hurt you.

In Michigan, unless a contract or policy is saying otherwise, an employer has the right to walk you out the door when you provide your notice. To make matters even worse, most private employers have policies that employees are not entitled to any payout of vacation, sick time, or personal days at the end of employment.

What that means is that when you provide your notice, you could get marched out of the job that same day with no pay to cover you before you transition to your next job. If you have a spouse with a respectable income or a savings cushion, that might not be a significant concern. In fact, you should welcome a break before your next job. However, if you rely on your employer’s health insurance coverage or paycheck, even a short hiatus from work can be a crisis.

So before you provide two weeks of notice to our employer, here are some things you should consider:

1. Contractual Obligations: Does your employment contract require notice? If so, you should probably provide notice unless there are compelling circumstances, such as criminal conduct or harassment. And when you give the notice, make sure you provide it in conformity with the contract. Usually, this means providing it in writing and delivering it to a specific person within a specified amount of time.

2. PTO Payout: Do you know if providing notice will trigger a payout of your accrued paid time off according to company policy or your employment agreement? It's a key financial consideration, especially if your time accrues and you have been with the company for an extended period. You want to be strategic about your notice so that you don’t leave money on the table.

3. Professional Ethics: Are you in a profession with ethical duties? Maybe you’re a doctor, lawyer, counselor, or nurse? You need to be careful with an immediate resignation because your clients and patients’ interests could be at stake. Your licensure and reputation should be your top priority. If you’re in healthcare, you need to be especially careful because a favorite way for employers to weaponize the resignation process is to claim a healthcare professional “abandoned” patients, thereby triggering licensing investigations. Even if you take steps to ensure an ethical transition that protects patients and clients, you don’t want to create an appearance of impropriety.

4. Professional Connections and Goodwill: If you do decide to resign, how and when you do it can leave a bad taste in your employer’s mouth. You might be ready to move on now. But your professional reputation and goodwill can follow you. And a poor resignation can often shut doors. You don’t need to throw rocks or burn bridges on the way out. It’s not worth it, and it will cause more harm than good. If possible, try to submit your resignation in a way that maintains dignity and civility.

5. Don’t Take Anything With You: If you do stick around during your notice period, be a good leaver. That means you should not take anything with you, including customer lists, contact information, documents, etc. All of that belongs to your employer. You don’t want to create legal exposure for yourself (and your future employer) by smuggling things while on your way out the door. Doing so can create massive liability for you and your future employer, especially if you plan to work in a similar industry.

Every situation is unique. When in doubt, involve your employment counsel. It's better to get a little help on the front end than a full-scale legal fix-up on the back end.