[shagen]

What is the norm in NZ when someone leaves employment by giving notice? How many weeks or months would be the norm?

My current contract requires me to give 3 months notice and the offer I got from NZ requires me to start in a month. The recruitment agency I am working with says it is highly unusual for an NZ company to wait for 2 to 3 months for someone.

Would appreciate any comments.

Thanks
Shagen

[annaerb]

What is the norm in NZ when someone leaves employment by giving notice? How many weeks or months would be the norm?

My current contract requires me to give 3 months notice and the offer I got from NZ requires me to start in a month. The recruitment agency I am working with says it is highly unusual for an NZ company to wait for 2 to 3 months for someone.

Would appreciate any comments.

Thanks
Shagen

Hi Shagen,

Have been reading your posts and would like to wish you and your family all the best in NZ. Your photos were good too.
Contracts depend on each employer. 3 months does not sound right.
My OH Employs and has asked his staff for 4 weeks notice. In my job I have been asked to give two weeks which I think is the norm.

Carol

[veronica]

I would say that the norm is 4 weeks.

[ToadFish]

In Switzerland the notice period is also 3 months in general. My future employer in NZ was completely shocked by this and put lots of pressure on me to reduce it in any way I could. He even suggested that if necessary the company would buy me out of my contract a month early.

In the end my notice period was reduced to 2 months without cash buy-out, but my employer still has to wait nearly 3 months because I was not prepared to leave work in Switzerland on the Friday and start work in NZ on the Monday. I have 1 week here to pack up then 2 weeks when we hit Wellington to get sorted.

I would hope that if an employer is bringing you in from overseas they understand that organising an international move could take more than a month to organise. We're doing it all in 7 weeks and that is bad enough.

Don't let them bully you too much...

[shagen]

Thanks.

My current employment is in Indonesia and in this part of the world, 3 months is quite common for a senior position.

I just need to convince BNZ that I have a contractual obligation to serve my notice. The last thing I want to do is burn bridges with my present employers.

Shagen

[annaerb]

Can your employer break your contract?
Did you not tell BNZ that you had to give 3mths notice? You would think that they would wait.

What part of Indonesia are you in? We used to live in Irian Jaya.

Carol

[shagen]

Hi Carol,

Even if my employer is willing to let me go (if I put on a real sad face :( ), I think it is my moral obligation to see that there is continuity in my work. Might be able to knock off a couple of weeks at best but still would not be able to start May 2!

I have yet to speak to BNZ about starting in June, so I hope they accept my explanation. I find most people take resignations badly! If BNZ is going to be that sticky about a few weeks, am not sure if that is the right organisation to work with!

I work in a palm oil plantation in Central Sumatra. The closest town would be Jambi.

[veronica]

The only thing I would say about this and loyalty to the company you work for is that 3 years ago Pete was working for a profitable company that he had been with for 22 years, his boss with them for 39 years and other members of the board for similar lengths of time, and the American parent company thought nothing of making them redundant overnight. Within a couple of months they had made another 100 people redundant and within the next year almost a total of 300, all because it looked as if (on paper) it would be cheaper to work out of somewhere like middle Europe where labour was cheaper.
Sorry but your main loyalty is to yourself and your family.

[Soon2baKiwi]

I agree with Veronica in principle as her situation is unfortunately commonplace but on the other hand - if your new employer sees that you have a moral responsibility to your present employer they might see that as a positive about you as an individual. I had this situation once and actually ended up working for both companies for a month - leaving my new job early a couple of times a week and going to the old one to sort stuff out for them. It didn't do me any harm at all. ;) Obviously you can't do that but if you explain the situation IMO you are an employee worth having and an employer will realise this.

[Wooba]

Holy cow.. 3 months notice???
Here, two weeks is typical!

[adamsat]

I've also just started my three month notice period, it's written into my contract so not a lot I can do about it, especially as my bonus is due in June :uhoh

[Singel]

I fully agree with Shagen that we could not burn our bridges with the company that we are working with.

When I was looking for a temporary or permanent job, the employment agency or the hiring company contacted my 3 ex-bosses (located in UK, Singapore & Holland) by email and phone for references. I have already asked permission from my 3 ex-bosses before I put their names as referees in my CV so that it will not come as a surprise to them that I have moved to NZ.

On the other hand, I could understand Veronica's view because a friend of mine had been made redundant because the company is moving to a country with cheap labour, after working for more than 20 years. It is a very sad and cruel situation that happens around the world (including Japan - no more iron rice bowl).

Nevertheless, it is advisable to remain professional at all time because we can never know one fine day, we might need the company's support in our job searching.

I have also learned from this lesson that we should diversify and learn other skills so that when bad time like this hit us, we are flexible enough to seek employment outside our profession.

I wish everyone here best of luck and great success with your job searching.
:nice1