0

I am an IT professional with 12 yrs experience. I have always held all my jobs for 2 year or more. Two weeks ago I joined a software company that is hiring in large numbers. During the time I also had an offer from a major company that I politely refused.

The commute of the new job is something I did not factor in foolishly. During my negotiation I asked them constantly about health insurance cost since my son has a chronic condition and I wanted to make sure that I had a great health insurance. I never got more then a generic letter. The company that I joined has given me lot more salary then the one I had rejected. After joining I found out that their health insurance sucks and would cost me thousands of dollars. At the same time I am not happy with the commute and nor is my family. That is of course in addition to the poor health insurance.

I called the company that I had refused and explained my situation and they understood and have made the offer to me again which I have accepted. They did warn me that I will probably go on 'no rehire list' of my current company. Please note that the current company is great in terms of people, managers and task. No complaints there. I am now planning to leave due to the above mentioned reasons. Since I have been here only for two weeks I am very confused on what kind of notice I should give. If I give a two week notice and they ask me to leave immediately I could end up losing health insurance and that could put my son at risk. If I work until the last day and then just drop in to the HR office on the last day before the start of my next job and give my notice it might look unprofessional.

My question is what would be the right way ? If I were to just let them know on my last day how would it affect my professional reputation in the circles. I looked over the contract the employment is at will and neither is required to give any notice. Any advice will be appreciated.

mhoran_psprep
  • 72,299
  • 8
  • 131
  • 233
prototype-closure
  • 9
  • 1
  • 2
  • 1
    Check you healthcare plan to see when coverage ends. If you pay any of the premium, it should be for a full month. You can get COBRA in the US. Location matters as well as your particular health plan. –  Apr 20 '14 at 12:36
  • You might still be able to get COBRA coverage from the company you worked for originally. There is usually a several week lag between the last day of work and the time they send you the COBRA forms. If you haven't missed the deadline, when you quit the current job and if they end your insurance, you might not be too late to get the COBRA coverage from the original company. This coverage is retroactive back to an earlier date. – mhoran_psprep Apr 20 '14 at 15:03
  • If health insurance is particularly important to you, you really should negotiate that as part of your contract (or get health insurance external to the company). – Bernhard Barker Apr 20 '14 at 19:17
  • Your health insurance may last until the end of the month. You may also want to talk to your new employer about the possibility about starting immediately if your current employer terminates you on the spot. – sevensevens Dec 06 '14 at 00:55

1 Answers1

4

Most jobs have a probation period. This allows the both the employee and employer to assess whether they have made the right decision and terminate the contract with no penalties and, often, very little notice.

You should check your contract to see if it includes wording about a probation period.

It is totally acceptable to quit a job after a short period of time. Sometimes these things just don't work out. Will it cause some bad feelings and resentment? Possibly.

Here is what I would do.

  1. Go speak to your current boss now. Tell her that you're not happy with the medical coverage offered and that you are finding the commute harder than you thought.
  2. Explain that, because of these problems, you'd like to find a way to gracefully end the employment.
  3. She may decide that you should stay for as long as possible - to ease the pressure while they hire.
  4. She may decide that you should clear out your desk right there and then.
  5. She may ask you to wait until the end of the week.

Ultimately, it's more professional to speak to your boss and see how she wants to handle it. You're going to upset people by leaving - that's inevitable - but there's no need to make it painful.

Terence Eden
  • 11,224
  • 5
  • 43
  • 52
  • ok that does sound good...BTW its a full time position..i didnt see anything about probation, is that even common in U.S. or is it an unwritten rule. I was thinking of going and talking to HR lady first. Since the mgr has just started himself. I have a set start date within the first week of May with my next employer so will have to manage within that since their start dates are rigid due to training requirements that being a large corporation compared to my current job which is a much leaner company. – prototype-closure Apr 20 '14 at 14:12
  • 1
    Probation is common (and formal) in the UK. I would still speak to your manager before going to HR. It's more respectful (you're not going behind his back) and you can never tell how good an HR team is. – Terence Eden Apr 20 '14 at 14:21
  • @prototype-closure - No, probation is not commonplace in the U.S., at least not among tech workers. – aroth Apr 21 '14 at 00:39
  • @prototype-closure "Probation" in the US is usually listed as "contract to hire." It's uncommon, but you'd know if you were in a contract position. It's common in Europe because they have more protection for employees being terminated. Termination must be justified, generally, so it's common there to have a probation period. In the US, the badly misnamed "right to work" laws allow an employer to fire someone for any reason (or no reason at all). – Bacon Bits Apr 21 '14 at 05:29
  • I disagree that probation isn't common in the US and its certainly not limited to "contract to hire" positions. Probation provide a company to give a reason even to those that fall in a protected class, because they can point to certain metrics, and have documented proof. Of course even after your probation you can still be let out without a reason provided although even in "right to work" states thats not entirely true. – Donald Apr 22 '14 at 15:46