Has anyone any experience or advice, please I have urgent circumstances which may mean I will be unable to work out my notice, although I am going to try and honour my commitments for at least a week. I feel very uncomfortable about leaving my employers 'in the lurch', particularly as I have only been with them for a few months, so I'm looking for some advice/support, please.
You stood your ground, your employer was not in the right and should not have put you in this position when you first raised the issue. You did well and were in the right. Well done. Thinking of youx
Thanks silver. You've no idea what a trial it was to face up to saying "I only need to give one week, according to my contract". I felt like running away!! X
Thanks so much, Annsixty. I still have to work, but I'm hoping now to be an agency person, so I can do just one day a week if that's all I can manage, and on a day when its feasible. Usually I'm such a creature of habit, but this last few years..
Well done MissA I know you are in for a very difficult and troubling time, but at least now you will be doing it all free from the stress of your job. My very best wishes to you all.
Well, I did it! I checked out my contract, and I was required to give a weeks notice, not a month. So, I saw the manager this morning, and told her that I have to leave. She was very very nice. Gave me a hug. I've emailed my notice, so will leave one week from today. Thanks for boosting up my confidence to do it, everybody.
It goes totally against the grain for me, too, maw, which is why I'm wringing my hands about it all. It seems ridiculous to be giving support to someone else instead of my family. As you say, if I had been run over or something they would have to manage, by calling in agency staff.
I wouldnt have thought a trial Period could demand a months notice. Do you have a contract to that effect? I would suggest seeing your doctor and get signed off. You have enough to deal with.
I would never suggest leaving anybody in the lurch, but your employers have to be realistic (and show some understanding) What if you had had an accident? Broken your arm/leg? Had a bereavement? Had an infectious disease? There must be contingency arrangements.
Do you work for an Agency who could arrange for someone else to go in,surely it is better to have a managed exit than an emergency when the person you care for is left with out a carer if an emergency happens.Also my understanding of a trial period is that notice either side can be immediate,is your involvement with your persinal circumstance fully understood that you may have no choice and may not turn up for a shift, I understand the nature of your work makes you need to be more than reliable but you have been put in a position not through choice and have an impossible situation to be inagain they wont do much good but just trying to show empathy
Take a deep breath and be honest, MissA, the outcome can't be worse than the worrying and guessing you are doing. Let us know what happens and good luck.
Truth is I'm not sure if I can. I work as a carer, supporting someone in their home and life, so yes, it will be very awkward for them I may be able to honour my shifts, things may get desperate and i'll need to leave. Its all so stressful. I hate upheaval.
I couldn't comment on your employer's stance without knowing all the facts. Perhaps they have no choice but to ask you to work your notice, if the alternative means leaving a vulnerable person without their only help and support.
I always understood that although a job might add a period of notice to your contract they couldn't hold you to this as you are free to take your skills elsewhere in a free market economy.
The worst that could happen would you would not be paid for that period.
If you can work a months notice then well and good but I was under the impression that you couldn't. What happens if you can't. What sort of job do you have? Will you leave them in a really bad situation? Realistically be reasonable, do what you can but at the end of the day what it the worst they can do to you?
I think insisting on a month’s notice is harsh especially if you have only been in the job for a few months as you say. Not sure about the legal justification for it either but from what you say,if even “trying to honour your commitments for a week” is a struggle, then you need to be firm.
Do it as soon as you possibly can. Explain the circumstances as fully as is reasonable. They may make some sensible suggestions based on the circumstances. You haven't said exactly what they are, but it sounds as if a situation has suddenly arisen that needs you to be an almost full time carer for ? how long.
If you can - and I realise you may not be able to - leave everything as open as possible. I would suggest not offering to work at all at first whilst you settle in to the new role at home - unexpected things are always cropping up. But if you can take unpaid leave of absence, or be put on some sort of 'temporary / bank' type of register, you may be able to contact them in a month or two and say you can do some hours. Good luck