Serving a Notice Period

Disclaimer: Whatever I am going to write is an analysis derived from discussion with several people about their thoughts on serving notice period at their organization of work. This analysis is of generic nature and it doesn't relate to any person or organization in specific.

On Thursday, 20th April, I served my last day at VisualSoft Technologies. It was an end to my 27 month stay at Visualsoft. My experiences at Visualsoft have been fulfilling but last two months were particularly different from the previous 25 months. Quite apparent, last two months were my notice period.

The experience of serving a notice period is altogether different from working as a regular employee. The state of mind of employees serving a notice period works in a different fashion from others. As I have gone through it just recently, I wouldn't want to miss out on this opportunity to write on this topic.

Let me try to discuss this openly though this is an area most people wouldn't want to delve into. Most Notice Period Employees (NPE) think:

• Why should they be compelled to work when they aren't interested in the job?
• Why should they contribute towards something which doesn't fall in the line of their aspirations?
• How can anyone work without any motivation?

One thing is for sure that the creativity and performance levels certainly go down after a person decides to quit an organization. NPE are more worried about their future job and employer. They are busy preparing themselves for future challenges. Surely, any kind of change needs some amount of convincing and readiness.

There could be some NPE who might also want to finish their work and transfer the responsibilities as soon as possible while some others might be reluctant to do so. In this situation, their managers have a mammoth task on their shoulders. To get some work from an employee who doesn't bother about it anymore is a tricky situation. There are several ways in which the managers behave. Some managers use their personal relationship to get the work accomplished while some of them try to use the authority and power to get it. Both methods have their own results. If the manager tries to be considerate, he might not get all the work but in most cases, will be successful in getting the critical tasks completed. In other case, if the manager tries to be bossy, then NPE can become malicious too. They might try to settle scores. One wouldn't know the damage they did until someone else takes charge of affairs and by that time, the NPE are safely out of their reach.

Adding a little more on whatNPE should do in their notice period:

• They should try and complete the pending jobs as soon as possible. This will ease-off the pressure on the last working day when they need time for formalities of relieving process.
• They should not take initiatives for new tasks or assignments as it will only add up to their liabilities.
• They shouldn't invite troubles and deal with patience if they are dragged into some kind of unpleasant discussion.
• Keeping their cool will help them being in a state of well being which will be required when starting new assignments.
• They should try to be the perfect guests if their organization chooses them to be.
• They should be polite to one and all as things wouldn't be the same in future and at least they can carry pleasant memories while they quit.
• Sometimes, leaving people with lasting last-impression is far-fetching too.
• They can choose to update their knowledge in the areas they expect to work in their future organizations.
• They can use their spare time in building up good relationships with their colleagues and buddies.
• They can also catch up with their old friends with whom they haven't been in touch for so long because of work pressures.

From the management POV, some organizations lay stress on relieving as quickly as possible. They believe that once a person has decided to quit, he wouldn't be useful to the organization. Their cost benefit analysis says that:

• Such an employee will become a liability
• Misuse of company assets and resources
• He/she might breach security and loss of information
• His/her prolonged presence may de-motivate other people and their efficiency might go down.

On the contrast, some organizations have strict exit policies where every employee has to serve the stipulated notice period, come what may. Their reasons could be:

• Finding a replacement through recruitment needs time.
• A long notice period may help in cutting down attrition rate.

Many a times, the Management may use its discretion to take the decisions. However, having a flexible exit policy may be the best option in both employees' and the organization's interest.