Twitter user says an employee should be judged on how they serve their ‘Notice Period’, sparks debate

Team Udayavani, Jul 30, 2021, 3:12 PM IST

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Notice period became a topic for debate on Twitter after an entrepreneur, Rajneil Kamath, suggested on the microblogging site that potential employers should consult previous employers to find out how a person worked during their notice period, because that reflects on their work ethic.

How a person behaves when serving notice period says a lot about the person’s work ethic. Future recruiters of such people should speak to previous employers on just this period to guage how an employee is.

— Rajneil Kamath ? (@rajneilkamath) July 29, 2021

Reacting to his suggestion, few Twitter users decried India’s lengthy notice periods and how they naturally lead to toxic work cultures, while others spoke on burnout and stress that employees face with work piled upon them.

Honestly, a notice period, particularly a prolonged one, serves no one’s best interests. Once an employee has quit, they have already moved on and checked out mentally. Chaining them to their jobs for an arbitrary amount of time isn’t going to be a productive use of anyone’s time

— ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (@PranavDixit) July 29, 2021

Notice period is a useless concept. There must be a transition time of max a week, that should be it. Notice period is not the time to hire the replacement.

— V (@ivivek_nambiar) July 29, 2021

Several users however agreed on one thing that being the lengthy notice periods in Indian companies.

One user pointed out that it is unfair to judge someone’s entire work ethic based on an arbitrary period of time after they have already quit rather than the work they’ve put in so far.

They’re different in different organizations. Unfair to judge someone’s entire work ethic based on an arbitrary period of time after they have already quit rather than the work they’ve put in so far.

— ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (@PranavDixit) July 29, 2021

Responding to the netizens, Kamath argued that the conduct of a person during that period says a lot about how that person views work when they believe there’s nothing to lose.

Standard notice periods are one month and only because you need to ensure backfills abs business continuity. But the conduct of a person during that period says a lot about how that person views work when they believe there’s nothing to lose.

— Rajneil Kamath ? (@rajneilkamath) July 29, 2021

Others pointed out that one should also see from the perspective of how an employer treats his employee during the notice period.

Withholding bonus payments of the complete year just bcoz employee is in notice period says a lot about employers too. This is the case with 99% of Indian employers.

— Omkar?? (@omgs_tweets) July 29, 2021

Plus, how an organisation treats or handles an employee serving notice period speaks volumes abt the organisation too. Future joiners should speak to exiting employees on just that period to gauge…

In both cases, one will get a mixed bag of truths, half truths…

— goti . DEEPINDER . newdeep (@anotherdeep) July 29, 2021