Dear professionals,

I came across a very peculiar situation twice in last two months. Two of our employees were picked up by a "Big Name" company. Off course, guys who were selected decided to switch over. No issues. This "Big Name" asked them to join in max. 10 days (in both the cases they recd offer letter on Monday & were asked to join on next Monday OR "you loose a job" and were very generously given 3 more days, "ok, ok you can join on Thursday instead").

In one case we could afford to let guy go, as he was working in a team of 10, but other guy we can not let go, as he is independently handling a responsibility & needs to train his successor. We understand that now he is a "gone" case, we can not retain him. But then it is a great problem for us.

A. When you select somebody, do you respect his notice period with earlier co.?
B. If you are from "Big Names", could you pls refrain from "pulling" people?
C. If somebody runs-off without adhering to notice period, what legal action can I take?

Thanks,

Alok Sehgal

This stuff happens. Ergo the need for process and documentation. We found that it is cheaper to videotape key professionals walking through and holding Q&A sessions in weekly product review meetings across the product development cycle. We reused this material in hiring, training and sales. The knowledge capture and sharing was better on video because most of our chaps hate writing stuff.

That way if some guy/gal quits it is less of a problem. I understand that as a small company, you probably cannot compete with the likes of Intel and Microsoft on salary, stock etc. Therefore, you may want to think of ways of competing on life style. That's where the big guys tend to have a hard time.

Hope this was useful.

Regards,

Menaka

No legal action can be taken as normally we mention in our appointment letters that on e can leave by giving notice for no. of days or surrendering salary in lieu of notice period. therefore one can leave by surrendering salary in lieu of notice period.

I see a different picture out here ....... Being one of the so-called 'agressive recruiter' for the last 6.5 years, even I am guilty of 'pressure tactics' and 'arm-twisting' to make candidates join ASAP.

Remember -
1. If you are talking to someone for a job offer, he/she is already in the market and is looking at n-number of options/offers, none that the recruiter may get to know about. So, the recruiter has to move extremely fast.

2. The recruiter also plays a 'blind' out here, if the candidate bites the bait, you get the candidate joining fast (and many a times ....the recruiter has bonuses/commissions linked to the candidates' joining / delivery.

3. This 'pressure tactic' also destabilizes the candidate's comfort of mind - the idea being that if the mind is very stable and the candidate has time to think about the job offer & responsibilities, he or she may come up with more questions and start evaluating the other offers objectively. Also, during this period when the offer has been made and the candidate has not yet joined, a lot can change and that is a big risk for the hiring company. So the recruiter consciously makes the candidate worry about the 'dangling carrot' and forces the candidate to work towards the exit procedure from the present employer.

4. Knowing the recruiting tactics and the recruiters of Intel, Oracle, D&T, E&Y, CISCO, HP, MicroSoft, AMD, CSC, JDS Uniface, EMC, etc. .... I doubt this situation is ever seen. I worked in the US for the last 4.5 years and hardly ever came across such a situation where the 'biggies' used pressure tactics. Its always the mid to small size companies, who, if are fortunate to have 'seasoned recruiters' are able to pull off this stunt.

5. From HR perspective, the affected company (one who is loosing the employee) has:
(a) Failed to do proper manpower / succession planning.
(b) Failed to keep a feel of the employee's pulse and mindset.

Being an HR professional, I get very nervous when I see someone ..... * Lost in his/her thoughts / * Has a blank facial expression / * Nods or moves head as if talking to someone in virtual reality / * Exhibits frequest changes in facial expressions when alone / * Is all of a sudden very jovial, cheerful, euphoric, hyper, etc.

These are true signals that he/she is having something going on. From my experience, one can see the symptons of someone's tentative departure atleast 1.5 to 2 months before the move.

EYE OPENER - Assume that your employee is hired by XYZ company is gives you 1 month notice. (Fine! ....) Assuming that your employee is moving for an INR 3 Lakhs (or US$ 10,000 if this is a US situation) difference per annum. Your employee needs to be a real moron to give you 20 days extra notice and thereby loose the salary differential he/she stands to gain by not giving you enough notice. The blame can easily be put on the hiring company since you can never cross check (..... or can you ?!) May be its your employee pulling this stunt on the 'good-hard-working-Mr-HR-Manager' .

Forget any 'Legal Action' if the full notice was not given. gone are the good old days of 1-3 months notice!!

I guess I have written enough for now!

This is a very difficult situation both perspective the present employer, the employee and the future employer. As a HR professional, I totally understand how important notice periods are!!! And definitely all these so-called corporates should abide by these policies.

No legal action can be taken against the employee as this is referred in the appointment letter than both the parties can terminate the agreement with some adjustments.

However, after breaking the news, considerable time should be spent by the employee (especially in case like yours when the employee has to train his/her successor). Now if he really does not want to serve the entire notice period, he should be asked to spend extra hours on the job for a successful job transition. The new guy on board should be asked to spend maximum hours with the leaving employee.

Another option could be not to give the releiving letter until the notice period is over.  Because unless and until you release the employee of his job responsibilities, he will not get the resignation acceptance and the releiving letter from you, both of which are very important documents for joining in big companies. This way you can definitely buy some time for your organization.

Now, the scenario will be totally different if the employee is not a thorough professional and goes absconding to join the new company!!!

Hope some of this will be useful...

Cheers!

Radhika