Is 90 days notice period benefitting anyone?
First of all let’s start off by explaining why India has a 90 days notice period and why other countries don’t.
India: According to some sources the 90 day notice period in India was brought to help in employee retention and also give the companies some time to find the employees’ replacement. In India, the 3-months notice period rule began to thrive with many leading IT companies adopting it to retain their employees.
Other countries: Most of the other countries follows an “employment-at-will” policy regarding termination. In this policy, both parties (company and employee) can end the employment at will at any time, without any notice or providing any reason. Based on goodwill, people agree upon a customary two weeks’ notice. US, Mexico, Hong Kong, Ireland, Singapore, and the UK have the shortest (one week) statutory notice period. Countries like Switzerland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic to have two months’ notices. In most European countries, notice periods increase depending on the number of years an employee has served in a company. It may also vary with certain high ranking leadership roles. China and Japan observe infrequent job changing among its working population. However, East-Asian economies obligate one month’s notice.
Employee vs Company
How it affects …
Company:
The 90 day notice period has become indispensable to the big companies as it has become a norm. If one of the companies reduces their notice period then they become prey to the others poaching their resources from them.
Employees :
Due to these companies enforcing 90 days notice period the employees are found to have to forego a lot of good opportunities as only the big companies can afford to onboard employees with these notice periods.
How it is being misused by..
Company:
The company blacklists the candidate , blocking certain relieving documents and in some cases suing for breach of contract. Some companies do not even offer buy-outs, negotiations etc on the part of the employee but ironically offer themselves the authority to do the same .
Employee:
The employees have also started to misuse the notice period by using the initial offer to get better offers. How this works is the first company offers employment and the employee starts his notice period. Since the notice period is 90 days he/she goes on interviewing at other companies and uses the first offer as leverage to get better offers. In the end the first company has to look for other employees.
So who is actually gaining from this..
The answer is no one. The companies started this as a way of retaining their employees but it has turned out into an opportunity for employees to find better offers while serving their notice period. And so the companies then turned to look towards people already serving their notice period. This in turn causes employees to take a risky jump and to give their notice period without having a job offer in hand. This cycle does not benefit both parties.
So here are my thoughts on the 90 day notice period. I personally believe a 1 month notice period is more than enough. For people who argue that time is needed for knowledge transfer . No KT has gone above 2 weeks as far as I know.
Thank you for reading my first post. Hopefully this is a first of many.
If you think 90 days notice period is not necessary . Please do lend your vote to the people who are campaigning to reduce the 90 days to 30 days by signing Petition.
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Sources:https://hush.company/post/3-months-notice-period-policy
