Ask HN: How much work do you do during your notice period?
74 comments
I usually work harder during that period than any time before, sprinting to finish every project I started while documenting everything and training my peers. At one job I pulled an all-nighter on my second to last day finishing up a project.
This industry is small and I want to leave a good last impression.
This industry is small and I want to leave a good last impression.
>"This industry is small and I want to leave a good last impression."
This leaves a great impression on your manager(s) and co-workers, the latter of which is often more important (thought people neglect it).
This leaves a great impression on your manager(s) and co-workers, the latter of which is often more important (thought people neglect it).
IMHO it's quite important in the long run - I have often seen people get jobs or sales or consulting projects in large part based on referrals or reputation from peers they have worked with 10 or 15 years ago. The guy or gal who's your junior hire today may well be a purchasing manager or tech lead somewhere interesting in a decade or two.
I actually tend to respect my coworkers more than my managers. I thinks that's because the majority of my managers stay for only a short time (4 in the past 2 years) and sometimes are clearly manipulative or DGAF about the employees.
I've amassed a high reputation at my organization. Except for the last 2 years on my current team. It hasn't helped me. There have been some opportunities for backroom deals/promotions, but I feel those are unethical.
Edit: why downvote?
I've amassed a high reputation at my organization. Except for the last 2 years on my current team. It hasn't helped me. There have been some opportunities for backroom deals/promotions, but I feel those are unethical.
Edit: why downvote?
The relationships always last longer than the job, so this is alaways good advice. Plus, it's fixed term so I'd argue it IS a sprint, not a marathon at this stage.
Good advice to focus on documentation and wrapping; don't start anything new.
Good advice to focus on documentation and wrapping; don't start anything new.
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When I've had notice periods the bulk of the "work" has usually been creating / extending / clarifying documentation, and attending knowledge-transfer sessions with colleagues. I have rarely if ever done any true "net new work" during those periods. Maybe if there was some task that was half-finished that I could finishing knocking out, I might finish that up.
The rest of the time, which would generally be the bulk of it, was spent surfing the 'net, going to long lunches with my colleagues, or hanging out in the break-room swapping war stories, talking about out-of-work hobbies (mountain biking, etc.) and such-like.
The rest of the time, which would generally be the bulk of it, was spent surfing the 'net, going to long lunches with my colleagues, or hanging out in the break-room swapping war stories, talking about out-of-work hobbies (mountain biking, etc.) and such-like.
> The rest of the time, which would generally be the bulk of it, was spent surfing the 'net, going to long lunches with my colleagues, or hanging out in the break-room swapping war stories, talking about out-of-work hobbies (mountain biking, etc.) and such-like.
That's what I did for my internship which was in office years ago now. Was nice for those last two weeks to unwind and take some walks with my fav coworkers. Everyone brought in some baked goods on the last day it was nice!
For my other jobs I had I got laid off for COVID, so no two weeks, and remote so unfortunately less of a thing now.
Maybe it's a relic of bygone era since everywhere seems to be at least hybrid now, and convincing everyone to come in for someone leaving probably won't happen.
That's what I did for my internship which was in office years ago now. Was nice for those last two weeks to unwind and take some walks with my fav coworkers. Everyone brought in some baked goods on the last day it was nice!
For my other jobs I had I got laid off for COVID, so no two weeks, and remote so unfortunately less of a thing now.
Maybe it's a relic of bygone era since everywhere seems to be at least hybrid now, and convincing everyone to come in for someone leaving probably won't happen.
When I've had to work a notice period it has been a month (in the UK).
I focussed as much as I could on handing stuff over, going into "question and answer" mode, and generally refused to go into meetings for new projects, excluding myself from discussions on the basis that it was better for everyone if I did not.
I did some genuinely new work in one case to help a colleague I liked get started.
I focussed as much as I could on handing stuff over, going into "question and answer" mode, and generally refused to go into meetings for new projects, excluding myself from discussions on the basis that it was better for everyone if I did not.
I did some genuinely new work in one case to help a colleague I liked get started.
I usually switch from 'work' to 'dumping everything in my head that I haven't already documented in to a doc'. I've never really been sure if anyone ever reads the doc. I guess that means I stop working.
EDIT: You're on day 4 with 6 more to go, so that means you're giving 10 days notice? My current contract says I need to give 3 months. Most roles prior to that have been 4 weeks. What sort of job has such a short notice period?
EDIT: You're on day 4 with 6 more to go, so that means you're giving 10 days notice? My current contract says I need to give 3 months. Most roles prior to that have been 4 weeks. What sort of job has such a short notice period?
That just sounds impractical. You interview somewhere and get hired, but you can't start for three months? And you just don't do any real work for your old employer either for an entire quarter?
It is. I had one of those three month notice contracts. Negotiated my start, gave my notice, and the company chose to part ways immediately - but did not pay out the three months. If I am ever in that situation again, I'll give two weeks and they can sue me to make me stay.
Standard US practice is 2 weeks, 10 business days notice.[1]
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notice_period#Notice_periods_i...
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notice_period#Notice_periods_i...
Haha I'm in the USA.
Labor protections don't really exist but neither do obligations, I couldn't imagine giving 4 weeks+ notice unless it's around the holidays or something.
Labor protections don't really exist but neither do obligations, I couldn't imagine giving 4 weeks+ notice unless it's around the holidays or something.
Early in my career I just did the standard '2 weeks' thing, but as I progressed I extended to 4 (and in one case I gave 6). In my mind, I thought it was respectful to the company, helped soften the blow on finding a replacement, gave loads of time to recruit/promote and transfer knowledge, etc.
But after reflection, that was a mistake. 4-6 weeks is an eternity in product & engineering time. Too much time to sit around and work-but-not-really-work, and was ultimately disrespectful to my staff, peers, and myself.
My current place has an unwritten rule to not allow notice periods of longer than 2 weeks. When someone resigns, just cut it off and move on. We suffered in knowledge transfer in a few cases, but that's been rare. If it takes longer than that to transition, we probably have other problems.
But after reflection, that was a mistake. 4-6 weeks is an eternity in product & engineering time. Too much time to sit around and work-but-not-really-work, and was ultimately disrespectful to my staff, peers, and myself.
My current place has an unwritten rule to not allow notice periods of longer than 2 weeks. When someone resigns, just cut it off and move on. We suffered in knowledge transfer in a few cases, but that's been rare. If it takes longer than that to transition, we probably have other problems.
If someone is leaving on good terms, you can always have a contract where you can contact them later for some set contractor rate.
Yep I agree. For me I'm mid-level so it's not like I'm super specialized although my team is smaller than needed because labor market is hot.
Maybeeee if you're like high up two weeks might be too quick and you need an actual transition plan of some kind.
I'd rather take those extra weeks and put them into a real vacation to combat burnout.
Maybeeee if you're like high up two weeks might be too quick and you need an actual transition plan of some kind.
I'd rather take those extra weeks and put them into a real vacation to combat burnout.
> 3 months
That's ridiculous.
What if you gave 3 months, and then 1 month in said, "Nah, F this, I'm out" and just bailed?
That's ridiculous.
What if you gave 3 months, and then 1 month in said, "Nah, F this, I'm out" and just bailed?
Then you would be highly unprofessional. I'm on a three-month term where I am, it's fairly standard around here. I would expect to work as normal during those months, and other people that I have watched go through notice have done the same.
I'd be in breach of my contract, and (in theory) my employer could sue me. 3 month notice periods are very common for senior people in the UK so employers work with it. It also benefits the employer because it means they're less likely to have an unfilled role - if I resign they have 3 months to replace me. Less notice means they have a serious problem after I leave but before the next person starts.
3 months isn't even the longest I've known. I worked with some people a few years ago who were C-level execs in a manufacturing business who had to give 6 months notice.
3 months isn't even the longest I've known. I worked with some people a few years ago who were C-level execs in a manufacturing business who had to give 6 months notice.
I worked in a UK company where someone went "I'm leaving, and I'm not giving you the 3 months notice".
Management consulted with lawyers, who basically said yes, you can hold them to that contract, but no, it's not worth it as you'll basically have to pay them whilst they're either un-cooperative or you place them on garden leave.
He left after a month, though those bridges were quite burned!
Management consulted with lawyers, who basically said yes, you can hold them to that contract, but no, it's not worth it as you'll basically have to pay them whilst they're either un-cooperative or you place them on garden leave.
He left after a month, though those bridges were quite burned!
I could understand 3 month notice periods for senior managers, but what about low-level grunts like the engineers?
That would be unprofessional.
On the other hand you can often negotiate a shorter exit period; it will depend in some sectors _when_ you are leaving as much as how much notice.
e.g. as I understand it, in government sectors in the UK, you might find your notice period runs out at the beginning of any new Budget regardless, or you might find yourself on gardening leave.
And if you travel into London you might find your final date has as much if anything to do with your travel season ticket loan period!
Cuts both ways, too: longer notice periods for employees resigning are matched by longer notice of redundancy (and statutory pay), as well as other redundancy protections, like they can't make you redundant just to hire someone else they prefer. It's a very different world to the "at will" states of the USA.
On the other hand you can often negotiate a shorter exit period; it will depend in some sectors _when_ you are leaving as much as how much notice.
e.g. as I understand it, in government sectors in the UK, you might find your notice period runs out at the beginning of any new Budget regardless, or you might find yourself on gardening leave.
And if you travel into London you might find your final date has as much if anything to do with your travel season ticket loan period!
Cuts both ways, too: longer notice periods for employees resigning are matched by longer notice of redundancy (and statutory pay), as well as other redundancy protections, like they can't make you redundant just to hire someone else they prefer. It's a very different world to the "at will" states of the USA.
When you're counting work days, 4 weeks is 20 days. 10 days is two weeks notice.
Some countries/states have no notice period at all. (How could you work under conditions like that? How could you plan anything? That would include tasks at work, your mortgage, your holidays, etc, etc.)
Some countries/states have no notice period at all. (How could you work under conditions like that? How could you plan anything? That would include tasks at work, your mortgage, your holidays, etc, etc.)
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2 week notice is common in US & Canada. I usually give 1-2 month's notice but I've been told it's generally not necessary.
Where are you located? I don’t think giving notice is enforceable for FTEs in the US.
New work? None, I just try to bring open work to a stopping point and document/answer questions for peers who will pick them up.
IMO it’s kind of a dick move to deploy in your notice period. Each deploy is a missed opportunity for knowledge transfer. Better to point out to peers what you would do and help them get up to speed while you are still around.
IMO it’s kind of a dick move to deploy in your notice period. Each deploy is a missed opportunity for knowledge transfer. Better to point out to peers what you would do and help them get up to speed while you are still around.
What is necessary. Sometimes, I've worked overtime the last day. Sometimes they want me out of the building. Professionals bring their A game with them, and reputation spreads way faster than demonstrated success.
This.
I've worked past the point that my access started expiring and I had to make sure not to reboot anything important so I could keep making progress, even after they came and took my chair away [yes, seriously]. When I absolutely had to reboot the dev system to continue, I sent off my final notes and left.
I do agree that knowledge transfer is top priority, but sometimes there's also work I'd really like to hand off in a completed, easy-to-take-on state, that will save the next engineer ever more time than another few hours of brain dump.
Still, try to do the brain dump first.
I've worked past the point that my access started expiring and I had to make sure not to reboot anything important so I could keep making progress, even after they came and took my chair away [yes, seriously]. When I absolutely had to reboot the dev system to continue, I sent off my final notes and left.
I do agree that knowledge transfer is top priority, but sometimes there's also work I'd really like to hand off in a completed, easy-to-take-on state, that will save the next engineer ever more time than another few hours of brain dump.
Still, try to do the brain dump first.
Absolutely. When I left my last job (team lead), I did the best I could to leave my team in a good position for the future. Got my code into a working state, documented everything I could, including stuff I hadn't touched in months. Made sure I left a time-critical project in a good enough state that they could demo to the client.
Even after all that, I still got a panicky call a couple weeks ago about a project that hadn't been touched in over a year. You can only go back so far :-)
Even after all that, I still got a panicky call a couple weeks ago about a project that hadn't been touched in over a year. You can only go back so far :-)
Did you answer it with a freebie or with the billing clock running ?
For former colleagues I'm personally always willing to answer a reasonable number of questions for free. But after leaving one particularly-unpleasant situation, I did barter that I'd give a friend a brain dump if we could do it over dinner and he'd expense it =*).
This was a freebie since I was sympathetic: supply chain issues hit them really hard.
The employer before that, it was $200/hour and they were happy to pay it.
The employer before that, it was $200/hour and they were happy to pay it.
When I left my last job, my manager said he trusted me to hand off my work (Only took about 2 days), then take the remaining 8 work days of my 2-week notice as essentially PTO. He only asked me to check my e-mail once a day to see if anybody had any questions for me and to just meet him at the office on my official last day to turn in my laptop.
At the last job I left, I liked my coworkers, and wanted to leave my work in a good position for them to pick up, knowing we were now understaffed. I was working right up until 4pm on the last Friday, and only stopped because I had my own going away party to attend. I believe I put in some after work time in the last couple of weeks, to get everything documented and ship-shape.
At the previous job, I quit because the management was awful, and I was more or less working by myself. So, I absolutely did not put in much effort after giving notice. I didn't feel I owed anybody anything more than the minimum.
At the previous job, I quit because the management was awful, and I was more or less working by myself. So, I absolutely did not put in much effort after giving notice. I didn't feel I owed anybody anything more than the minimum.
One time I actually came in on the Saturday after my last day to put the finishing touches on my final deliverable. I don't think you should follow my example to that extreme, but it's advisable to try to wrap up everything before you go to leave a good impression on your co-workers; they won't be too happy if you leave a mess for them to clean up. For me, personally, those contacts led to multiple later employment opportunities.
One of the first things I do after Mgmt and HR know is to get with the bosses and outline exactly what is due and what isn't.
I'm usually pretty aggressive in setting expectations. "I'll try to close out X & Y, and I'll stand-in on Z for calls but I don't plan on finishing anything but the outline."
I've straight up ask my boss: what is the minimum I need to do in this 2-weeks to ensure I can get a favorable review later, keeping in mind the past few years of work as well? And that's alls I do.
I'm usually pretty aggressive in setting expectations. "I'll try to close out X & Y, and I'll stand-in on Z for calls but I don't plan on finishing anything but the outline."
I've straight up ask my boss: what is the minimum I need to do in this 2-weeks to ensure I can get a favorable review later, keeping in mind the past few years of work as well? And that's alls I do.
Usually stuff gets pulled off my plate so fast after giving notice that it doesn't matter what my intentions are. Often makes me wonder what the point of giving notice was.
I think there's a difference if your employer locks you in to an unreasonably long notice period. (Which is usually something I like about German employment law, but let me elaborate). So I guess if we're talking the first couple weeks, there's always stuff to wrap up and document better - unless you've already done that. I also like not taking on any new tickets which are big in scope, but support your coworkers with their stuff. Or schedule dedicated handover meetings for subsystems you've had a big part of.
It can get really annoying if you have to sit out some 3 months though and I think that's the reason why many companies might actually let you leave earlier than stated by your contract - they know you will not be 100% in anymore if you're already looking forward to your next gig.
That said, I 100% prefer this over at-will.
It can get really annoying if you have to sit out some 3 months though and I think that's the reason why many companies might actually let you leave earlier than stated by your contract - they know you will not be 100% in anymore if you're already looking forward to your next gig.
That said, I 100% prefer this over at-will.
The most critical thing I do is to make sure I'm not the only one who knows something. Warm handoffs, writing docs, wrapping up tasks, etc. Other than that I work as normal, minus taking on new work, so as I handoff/finish tasks, the workload dwindles. Usually the last day or three I have essentially nothing left to do.
It can depend.
If I've been with the company for a while and there are still projects that actually need wrapping up or documenting, sure, I'll fill my final days with work.
In other cases I've done very little during the notice period because there maybe nothing I need to "wrap up", the only thing left for me to do being general tasks. No, I can't say that I'll work very hard in my last days in this case.
I'm of the belief that, if you have nothing to do for your final days, you should just quit without the whole "2 weeks notice" thing. Some good employers will say they don't mind if you don't work 2 more weeks before you even have a chance to explain why you are quitting immediately. Surfing HN 8 hours a day for 2 weeks doesn't do you or the employer any good.
If I've been with the company for a while and there are still projects that actually need wrapping up or documenting, sure, I'll fill my final days with work.
In other cases I've done very little during the notice period because there maybe nothing I need to "wrap up", the only thing left for me to do being general tasks. No, I can't say that I'll work very hard in my last days in this case.
I'm of the belief that, if you have nothing to do for your final days, you should just quit without the whole "2 weeks notice" thing. Some good employers will say they don't mind if you don't work 2 more weeks before you even have a chance to explain why you are quitting immediately. Surfing HN 8 hours a day for 2 weeks doesn't do you or the employer any good.
Last time I did it, not much apart from some code reviews and discussions. I also filled out a minimal knowledge transfer doc and asked my team to put in questions that they thought I could answer for them. I had a project I had started before, but I was pretty burnt out and it wasn't close to being finished. So I didn't do any more work on it. In some ways that may burn a bridge because it meant disregarding previous responsibility, but on the other hand I knew I wouldn't be able to make a good enough dent in the two weeks of notice. Not only that, but I figure that someone on the team would be more ideal to finish it because it would mean that knowledge remains, versus it disappearing (other than docs) when I leave on my final day.
I make sure everything I was directly responsible for is in the hands of someone else, whether that be writing documentation or just letting them know casually. I cleanup any messy code I would consider myself responsible for and that I know probably won't get looked at - mostly for my own sanity's sake.
Once those things are done I largely get by doing smaller tasks and helping out where I can rather than directly involving myself in anything. Nobody has really seemed to mind.
Funnily enough, the last two days at my previous job involved HR and IT slowly revoking my access to most of the systems and groups we used at work (email, repositories, etc), to the surprise of my manager who said I could just kick back and relax until my last day.
Once those things are done I largely get by doing smaller tasks and helping out where I can rather than directly involving myself in anything. Nobody has really seemed to mind.
Funnily enough, the last two days at my previous job involved HR and IT slowly revoking my access to most of the systems and groups we used at work (email, repositories, etc), to the surprise of my manager who said I could just kick back and relax until my last day.
Depends heavily on what needs doing and what the org wants. Some want you to stop so there are fewer things you have touched. Others want things to progress as normal. Others walk you out the door.
Probably harder than usual. It's not for the company, reputation, or even friends. It's for me.
Working days are often filled up with some long term crap like meetings and training. Notice period is a good time to actually deal with the issues that matter. Cleaning out and flagging legacy code, documenting stuff, mentoring people, actually having lunch with colleagues. Sometimes there's that client they really want to land. Maybe let's focus on that instead of Q3 planning.
Working days are often filled up with some long term crap like meetings and training. Notice period is a good time to actually deal with the issues that matter. Cleaning out and flagging legacy code, documenting stuff, mentoring people, actually having lunch with colleagues. Sometimes there's that client they really want to land. Maybe let's focus on that instead of Q3 planning.
Whatever they need you to do. The point of a notice period is they get time to prepare for your departure. If nobody is asking you to do anything then there's not much you can do. I would begin preparing for my next role.
I've been on notice periods of 2-3 months for the past 5-6 years. Generally it involves finishing projects, training others and writing documentation for whoever takes over your work.
I've been on notice periods of 2-3 months for the past 5-6 years. Generally it involves finishing projects, training others and writing documentation for whoever takes over your work.
4 week notice periods are common in the UK. Some employers negotiate longers ones, but often recognise that a leaving employee is never an asset. Usually in the first couple of weeks I will carry on as if I am still at the company forever as it does take time to sink in. Tidy up tasks, work etc. Then the last couple of weeks is tapering off, knowledge transfers etc.
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As much as I need to wrap up current work, write docs, hand over stuff etc.
> It's only like day 4 and there's six more
You're in the land of 2-week notice periods. The most recent company I joined has a 3-month notice period (it's in my contract) which is kind of ridiculous. I'll probably try to get it waived down to 1 month when it comes to it.
> It's only like day 4 and there's six more
You're in the land of 2-week notice periods. The most recent company I joined has a 3-month notice period (it's in my contract) which is kind of ridiculous. I'll probably try to get it waived down to 1 month when it comes to it.
Heh, I once had a "three months to the end of the quarter" contract, meaning if I timed that wrong, I had essentially a 183 day period. Needless to say, no employer is going to wait half a year for you, so going job searching was risky.
Location: Germany
Location: Germany
Where are you located? Just because it’s in your contract doesn’t mean it’s legal or enforceable.
UK. All previous employers have had 1-month notices which I think is more common. I don't think it's too big of a deal because the management chain seems to be pretty understanding and it will probably be okay not to serve the full notice. And it's dumb from their point of view too because they don't want to be paying for 3 months for someone who will be very unmotivated and unproductive. The main inconvenience that it causes is that it makes conversations with potential new employers a bit more awkward.
I'd focus mostly on enriching the documentation and slow down on work towards other projects. Having though a document first approach for everything that touches production should leave one with very few work to do during notice period and would mostly mean clarifying to the others what is already documented.
Depends on where I'm at. Some places where I'm leaving on good terms, like the people, etc I'll work until the very end. The current place I'm leaving is f'ing toxic, and I'm doing as very little as possible. Basically just documenting what I've been up to.
Working my last week at a company. I'm treating it like a vacation (its wfh). I join my meetings and work the few tickets. Ihave but I'm not stressing about getting anything done. I've already documented my work the first week of my two week notice so I'm goooooood
Hah that's pretty much where I am rn.
Just want to document everything and next week you have me if you need me lol.
Just want to document everything and next week you have me if you need me lol.
I run through the finish line, so the full effort. People notice.
Of course, you should not do anything that will leave work hanging around for others, but in most environments I've been in, there's plenty of clean up work and documentation to be done.
Of course, you should not do anything that will leave work hanging around for others, but in most environments I've been in, there's plenty of clean up work and documentation to be done.
Hard learned lesson is that it's best to have hands off keyboard for anything in service and just spend the time writing documentation, including all the little quirky things that are fubared and 1/2 the reason I'm leaving.
Every time I've been in a "notice period" (changing jobs internally, or going elsewhere), it's been all about handing-off whatever I've been working on to whomever is going to take my workload
When people on my team anounce they're leaving, I try to get them to do the first week finishing out whatever bits of code/docs they have half written, then the second week putting together and sharing transition documents.
You want to transition as much as possible as quickly as possible. It usually depends on the manager if this is successful or not. But you should be ramping down quickly and go into Q&A mode in final rundown.
I do a normal amount of work but I'm not about to work a bunch of overtime.
Sometimes they just don't have any work for you and that is fine. If there is nothing to document / button up then yeah it can be painful.
Sometimes they just don't have any work for you and that is fine. If there is nothing to document / button up then yeah it can be painful.
I really try not to relax and put in a proper effort to wrap up anything I have in progress and do a proper handover. Sometimes this results in a bit of additional overtime for my own peace of mind.
The marginal value to your career of a day's work is probably highest during your notice period, because of the opportunity for a last impression on your network for future job references etc.
It depends.
Some employers seemed to be in denial about the change.
Other lean in and address the elephant in the room.
But it shouldn't be a drastic load increase. You're still an employee and a human being.
What are they going to do? Fire you?
Some employers seemed to be in denial about the change.
Other lean in and address the elephant in the room.
But it shouldn't be a drastic load increase. You're still an employee and a human being.
What are they going to do? Fire you?
For me it’s a steep drop-off of productivity going from “I really want to complete this” to realizing after a couple of days that it doesn’t matter
Other people have there own lanes to worry about
Other people have there own lanes to worry about
Handoff if I can find takers documenting if I can't
If that runs dry I find 1-off things to fix or improve that either I personally care about or that a customer I will miss cares about
If that runs dry I find 1-off things to fix or improve that either I personally care about or that a customer I will miss cares about
I usually do more than I'm used to during normal period. I offer extra help to colleagues and put extra time planning tranfer of knowledge.
I take pride in the quality of my work. Part of that involves doing everything I can to ensure that work's legacy; in my case, notice period typically involves handoffs in all its various forms, no new development. Lots of documentation and training.
document how you performed your daily duties so that the next person can reference your notes/videos. After that youve done more than enough
It's only like day 4 and there's six more to do and I'm useless.