There is no hiding from the truth that resigning is just about the least fun thing to do. From a personal perspective, as someone who has had lots of resignations and also had to resign to amongst others: a current girlfriend, my sister's ex boyfriend and an MD who had the week before spent £150 on dinner with me, it is never easy.
Employers always feel that you are shafting them; they believe that they have gone the extra mile to help you and develop you and encourage you. They always think that you are at fault, not them, and a resignation letter is not the time to explain how they are the most incompetent, moron to ever wear the mantle of manager. Just swallow your pride!
Beware the Counter-Offer
Once you have resigned your boss is going to have to tell his or her boss. The first questions they get asked will be:
"Can we turn them around? What can we do to keep them?"
In the job market place today, they are going to try to keep you. They will appeal to your loyalty and make you feel guilty about leaving them at 'Just the wrong time.'
They will offer you more money, promotion, training, new projects, an MBA, a partridge in a pear tree; all of this magically becomes available because you resigned. Yet all the times you told you boss how unhappy you were... nothing. All the times you asked for more money... zip.
When you do resign, you can avoid having the counter-offer discussion by using the firmest words possible:
- Chance of a life time
- Dream job
- Unmissable opportunity
- Something like this only comes along once
- Life changing opportunity
- Giant career leap
The finality of these means they are more likely to accept it and let you go easily.
In 9 out of 10 cases people who accepted a 'counter-offer' are back on the job market with 3 months. Put simply, your boss wants to keep you so you can be replaced at their leisure. They win kudos from their boss and save the day. But it never quite works out; the promotion, training and everything else never materialise, so, 3 months later you will be back on the job market.
Gardening Leave
Companies sometimes ask people to take gardening leave, which is where the employer pays you your full salary and benefits but asks you to not work for any one else. They can only enforce this if there is a clause in the contract that stipulates it.
Very few people have that clause in their contracts so it is rarely enforceable.
Working your Notice
When you resign you may be asked if you want to work your notice. If you say no then your employer is not obliged to pay you. So they can let you go and only pay you up until the time you left.
However, if you say you would like to work your notice and they say you don't have to, they are 'depriving you of office' which means they have to pay for your full notice period plus all salary and benefits.
Obviously the ideal is that you leave and get full pay! But be careful of the question "Do you want to work your notice?"
Good luck and be brave!
What to Write
Whatever you write is going to go in your file and if it is rude, poorly written or unflattering that is going to be the impression you leave, with them and with whoever opens your file to give a reference in the future.
If you need sample letters then I think the ones on www.i-resign.com (where do they think of the names?) should help.
1. Straight to the Point
2. Moving to another company
3. Waiver of Notice Period
4. Going back to College
5. Extension of Notice Period
6. Request Shorter Notice Period
7. No Written Contract
8. Leaving to have a baby (and not coming back)
9. Leaving due to Sickness