How does one deal with an unresonable change in resignation policy?

manpreet Best Answer 3 years ago

When I came on board at my current employer some years ago the resignation policy was very fair. It was detailed in the employee handbook as well as at orientation.

 Simply you should stay for two  weeks or for the amount of vacation time
 you have  left whichever is greater.

I thought this was a fair policy and considering everything else was OK you would leave under good terms and would be considered a rehire.

Though about one and a half years ago there was an undocumented HR policy change that is always spoken about when somebody resigns. It's always spoken about by management and people always so follow the new guidelines even if the meet the specifications above.

The new undocumented policy is

You must give 30 days notice. Failure to give 30 days notice will
result HR flagging you as a non rehire no matter the standing of
employee. The company also has a strict policy that all reference for
past employees cannot be given by management but must be given by HR.

Given that previous employers can only legally say whether they would or would not rehire the employee makes for quite the conundrum.

Employees are now essentially forced to give 30 days notice if they want to use this company as a reference and may lose potential future opportunities (some companies may not want to wait 30 days) all because of an undocumented policy.

How does one deal with this?

manpreet 3 years ago

How does one deal with this?

While changing the rules like this is really bad form, employers are not required to give references">references at all.

Thus, it appears that you need to decide how much you value this reference, and if you trust this employer to stand by their (newly revised) promise.

You can choose to give a 30-day notice (or whatever happens to be "required" at that point in time), and let your next employer know. Most will wait that long for a good employee.

Or you can choose to give a lesser notice, and either not depend on this reference, or get this reference some other way.

In general, if you are in good standing with someone within the organization, you can often give a specific individual as a reference, without regard to the corporate "undocumented policy".

Many folks I know will gladly give a good reference for a friend, without worrying about corporate policy. Your mileage may vary.