What would you do?

[poseidon]

Okay... here's the scoop. Last night I had a wonderful meeting with someone in a field that I'm very interested in entering. I was bending his ear, looking for good and bad points. The bad points of the industry didn't seem that that much of a negative, and this guy was being very upfront. It seems as if I've been kinda/sorta groomed for this, and my aptitude tests were all sending me in this direction.

It will require my furthering my education -- no problem. All I have to do is take an entrance exam and get myself applied to the schools around the area. Money isn't an issue -- my father said that if I wanted to continue my education he'd foot the bill. I consider myself very lucky.

I'm going to have the pleasure (and, at this point in my career, it will be a pleasure) to resign from my company. I've been with them for 15 years. Probably 12 of them have been good years, the last three have been fairly shitty (pardon my French). I know for a fact that I'm very important to my company because they've been going way out of their way to make sure that I'm not miserable enough to leave.

I'm guessing that, once I'm accepted to an advanced degree program, I'd have at least a month's notice (maybe more). Once I get accepted, I plan to quit.

I've always been taught not to burn bridges and to always try to take the high road whenever possible. IMM, the high road would be notifying my employer as soon as I know when my last day is going to be -- whether it be two weeks or two months. However, in this environment, employees really need to look out for their own well-being and less so for their employer's well-being. That's a sad statement to make, but I believe it to be a wise one.

We have had employees who have given long notices of resigning in the past. Some of them have been told, "There's no point in your sticking around," and have been sent home that day. Others have been granted the long notice. There doesn't seem to be much in the line of rhyme or reason to how they'd pick and choose that -- we're talking executives that have been sent off (after 30+ years with the company) and we're talking grunts like me.

At the same time, we've had a lot of people leaving due to the (again French) working conditions. So, the company is pretty desperate not to continue to bleed employees.

How much notice would you give an employer who, for 12 out of 15 years, has been very good to you?

[theworm[$]]

You only need to feel obligated to give 2 weeks notice. If you feel that you want to give more, you can. Don't if you feel that you can't afford the extra unpaid time if they ask you to leave. If you give 2 weeks notice, and they ask you to leave immediately, they should pay you for the 2 weeks.

[poseidon]

I'd also want all of my unpaid vacation that I've had racked up -- you know, for all the times where they've told me that they can't afford staff-wise for me to take a vacation.

I've got something like 21 days of unused vacation, which I know I'm entitled to be compensated for.

Another problem that comes up is that I'm going to have to find transportation -- don't forget, part of my compensation is a company-provided vehicle. If they cut me off at the knees with no notice, I could find a taxi ride home to be quite expensive.

I'd rather be able to have a car in the parking lot on my last day so that I could get home and not worry about transportation, including doing car shopping on no notice.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Re: vacation - in some states, accrued vacation that hasn't been timed-out ("use it or lose it" clause in the employee handbook) is yours and yours to keep, whether you give notice or quit on the spot.

Re: notice - around here it's 2 weeks for nonprofessional jobs, 4 weeks for professional (e.g., clerical vs. social work positions). Despite how crappy the place has been lately, at some point you'll be re-entering the job market and future employers, even in another field, would be interested in asking a former employer about your work habits, professionalism, how you work with others, etc., so it could be beneficial to leave in a way that would make it more likely they have nice things to say about you - a "beyond-reproach" way of leaving is good insurance (pardon the pun) for a future good reference.

[phoenixx]

FWIW - 2 weeks, standard notice. Ask for a written reference on the spot, and written confirmation of owed vacation/sick/severance as well.