Work notice and Job advert question

Gtiracer · 19 Mar 2016 at 23:00

Two questions really;

My Work contract doesn't state the amount of notice period required to quit and as far as i can see, government guidelines state it should just be a reaosnable amount. Well, what is a reasonable amount for 3 1/2 years service at a company? Would 1 month suffice?

Other question is regarding job vacancies, I have see a a post advertising cover for 1 year to cover maternity leave. Is it standard practice for these type of companies to just let you go immediatly when the placement finishes. Or is it customary that they might find you a different role within the company? I have never applied for a job like that so I'm not sure if it is common place or not

Thanks

Buffman · 20 Mar 2016 at 08:41

What's the type of role?
Not in the contract you signed?
Have you asked your HR team?

likely it may be 1 month however

Semple · 20 Mar 2016 at 09:23

As for your second question, that depends on the company and on your performance throughout the year. If you take it as a one year fixed contract, then at least assume it will only be the year. If an opportunity arises within, then look at it as a bonus.

Gtiracer · 20 Mar 2016 at 09:52

The Craig said:
What's the type of role?
Not in the contract you signed?
Have you asked your HR team?

likely it may be 1 month however

I work in freight. No it's not in my contract anywhere.

HR team, pfffff *laughs. It's a smallish company. Anything I ask like that would be handled by my director which would prompt questions I don't want asked to me right now

Kill_Phil · 20 Mar 2016 at 11:06

Where no notice is stated, like you say it's down to reasonableness. And to determine that there's a number of factors with the main ones being seniority and how easy it would be to replace you I.e if you do specialist work then expect a longer notice period.

I'd say a month is pretty reasonable, though whether your employer thinks that is a different question and you'll only find out by one way

However, in reality if you did give 1 months notice and the employer didn't like it they would need to take you to court for breach of contract and as a small company would they want all that hassle?

tickedon · 20 Mar 2016 at 11:06

Gtiracer said:
Two questions really;

My Work contract doesn't state the amount of notice period required to quit and as far as i can see, government guidelines state it should just be a reaosnable amount. Well, what is a reasonable amount for 3 1/2 years service at a company? Would 1 month suffice?

Other question is regarding job vacancies, I have see a a post advertising cover for 1 year to cover maternity leave. Is it standard practice for these type of companies to just let you go immediatly when the placement finishes. Or is it customary that they might find you a different role within the company? I have never applied for a job like that so I'm not sure if it is common place or not

Thanks

4 weeks/1 month is a pretty standard notice period, and most employers I've worked for would expect that.

As the new company are advertising a maternity contract, if they have been smart, they'll have advertised early enough that they hopefully wouldn't need you to start sooner than giving your current employer 1 months notice. In my opinion, it's always good to leave your current employer on good terms - so giving them a reasonable amount of notice so they can start to find someone to replace you is part of that.

Re the potential for beyond one year - really depends on the employer. How large are they? Are they likely to have other roles that you'd be qualified for? Why are you making the move from a permanent role to a fixed term contract - what's your motivation, what are the benefits?

I moved from a permanent role to a one year maternity cover like you not that long ago - it was a step up in role/seniority for me, and to a much larger organisation. I knew someone else who worked there and managed to gain a good understanding of what their current situation is before I started and decided to take the 'leap of faith'. After six months of putting in a lot of hard work, my manager told me that he wanted to find a role that I could stay in past the one year. Internal bureaucracy meant that I didn't get a permanent contract until 6 weeks before my fixed term was meant to come to an end - and that left me in the awkward position of whether I started looking elsewhere for appropriate roles, or had faith it would all come through.

For me, it worked out. Even if it hadn't, I'd gained new skills, knowledge & experience that would've opened other new doors for me. The pros outweighed the potential cons of having to look for something else after a year. But not having a job after a year is a pretty big, and a very real, risk.

MissChief · 20 Mar 2016 at 12:28

There's a very real chance the person away on Maternity may either not come back at all or ask for reduced hours. Or, of course, come back into their own job as if nothing has changed.

theMilitant · 20 Mar 2016 at 18:46

I'd say in your position that you could reasonably get away with 1 months notice, although I'm surprised no mention of notice period was made in your terms of employment. Probably one of the most important things to include in an employment contract I would have thought. It's unlikely your employer will go through the hassle of taking you to court if they disagree that one month of notice is reasonable in any case.

Devrij · 20 Mar 2016 at 21:43

Gtiracer said:
Two questions really;

My Work contract doesn't state the amount of notice period required to quit and as far as i can see, government guidelines state it should just be a reaosnable amount. Well, what is a reasonable amount for 3 1/2 years service at a company? Would 1 month suffice?

Other question is regarding job vacancies, I have see a a post advertising cover for 1 year to cover maternity leave. Is it standard practice for these type of companies to just let you go immediatly when the placement finishes. Or is it customary that they might find you a different role within the company? I have never applied for a job like that so I'm not sure if it is common place or not

Thanks

Whether or not they take you on permanent after the maternity leave ends really depends on a lot of factors, as others have mentioned the returning employee may not return at all or want shorter hours. If there's work going, it is much better for them to keep you rather than spend money recruiting externally and dealing with that hassle.