Two Weeks Notice

Welcome to The Shift, a weekly newsletter where I provide thought-provoking ideas to help you think differently about your career and money.

Last Week + This Week = It’s All Connected

I’ll make this quick.

Last week I tried to convince you to get a raise by quitting your job. Read here if you missed it. This week we will talk about you no longer need to give two weeks notice when you quit.

Tug of War

Oooooh boy!!

I got all fired up about this tweet (or X post?) on Monday.

Poor Melanie took a lot of heat in the backlash of responses, and the thing went viral. She removed the original tweet (from what I can tell). X can be a tough place to hang.

To me this reaction confirms where the public believes the tug of war between employer and employee stands:

On the side of the employer.

This version of tug of war is a complicated game. Melanie hit a few hot topics driving the push and pull of the rope, like severance, the passive aggressive leader, and giving two weeks notice. This week I’m gonna focus on the latter.

Don’t worry though, I fully plan to dive into the other topics in the coming weeks! Tell all your friends (to subscribe) 😊

To Give Two Weeks or Not?

Let’s start with why you might want to give two weeks notice.

Most people will say you do it because it’s standard. When did it become the standard? I had a tough time finding any concrete answers on where it originated. My guess is companies started requesting it a long time ago and it just kinda stuck.

It’s possible that the two-week period ties back to people getting paid bi-weekly, making it easier to process the last payroll – you know, before everything was automated.

Others will tell you it’s courteous, professional, or the right thing to do. These days those things have become much more subjective.

The only real reason I can think of for giving that type of notice is to allow for a transition period of the role, responsibilities, and file paths to those that remain. As a leader, I can appreciate the request for that. However, in this day and age, that can probably be done in a week or less depending on your industry.

If a boss really needs two weeks, my guess is it’s a sign the team is/was too lean, and thus, they may be unaware of all the responsibilities of the individual leaving and where key documents are saved.

As an employer do you really want a disengaged, non-productive employee hanging around the office for that long?

Two weeks is an arbitrary timeline. It’s outdated and inefficient. Most people, who aren’t bosses, agree.

So it begs the question: if a company presses for two weeks, it is more about requesting help or flexing control?

Profit or Loss

The real problem here is this isn’t a two-way street. Despite what employers think.

Two weeks notice and two weeks severance do not carry the same weight. Most bosses and companies see them interchangeably. Employees don’t.

Both are ways to help the other address a newly and unexpected void. They each do it out of respect and professionalism… to help each other…

The issue is that the party that benefits most in both instances is a for-profit corporation. They get the transition benefits if a person quits and there is very limited cash flow or operating impact. In the case of layoffs, margins benefit nearly immediately.

The party on the other side is a human being with a basic P&L (profit and loss statement / cash flow) that doesn’t usually have other sources of income to lean on if they lose their job. Their costs are mostly fixed.

Back in the day, it was believed that not only was two weeks sufficient to transfer your work, but it was also enough time to find a new job if you were let go.

I’m not so sure what job searching was like 60 years ago, but despite the advent of the internet, I know its nearly impossible to find a new job in two weeks now!

A for-profit company is going to be OK after an employee quits.

That’s not the case for an individual.

Two weeks notice is not the same as two weeks severance.

New Standard

I kinda lean toward the idea of one week notice becoming the new standard. In the vein of being courteous and professional. What do you think?

Next week, I’ll talk about 2 weeks severance as a standard.

Let’s make The Shift!

Lindsey