Then I was let go immediately. Which was an unexpected hit, though luckily the new company let me move my start date up. This was a tech company with around one hundred employees, and I was in good standing (my then manager later recruited me for a position at a different company).
The best approach is to always give two weeks formal notice on a Friday morning, with the expectation that there's a chance you'll not be coming back on Monday. Best to do all the transition preparation work before that moment. If I've got a manager that I trust, I let them know with a bit more informal advance notice.
The only exceptions I can think of were when people gave multiple months of notice that they were going to quit and already had declining performance due to e.g. unhappiness about the job. If you're not performing well and you tell your employer that you're quitting in a few months, they're not really interested in giving you more paychecks to perform poorly. IMO, that's not exactly unreasonable either.
Some companies will restrict the employee's access for the notice period and remove their work as a way of protecting company information from last-minute exfiltration (it happens a lot more than you'd think), but those employees are still paid during this time period. They're also obligated to answer questions and attend meetings about handoff, although in some cases this may amount to zero work.
But no, it's not common for US tech companies to fire employees immediately for resigning. I don't know where the parent commenter got the idea that this is common.
If you work for Microsoft (for example) pretty much EVERY tech company is a competitor of theirs because they have soooo many products and services.
I saw this happen multiple times. You tell them you're leaving, and get escorted out by security. It's just not worth the risk for them.
Right, but did they cut off paychecks too?
Being walked out of the office is equivalent to having your access removed like I said above. It doesn't mean the person is fired, it just means they don't have access to sensitive information.
In practice, it's not really a big deal. If someone is going from a high-paid FAANG job to another high-paid FAANG job, the new company is usually eager to have you onboard. They can move your start date up. New compensation might be higher, too, so it's a net win.
I've seen it happen multiple times. Microsoft has a list of competitors that if you say you are going to work for them, your access to everything is immediately revoked.
Managers at MS ask their employees to NOT SAY where they are going, so a proper off-boarding can take place.
I agree. It's the company's decision not to have you help with handoff. Not your problem. In fact, all the more reason to give two weeks notice as you'd be paid for doing nothing. (If they were immediately fired with no payout, they'd probably actually be eligible for unemployment though that's irrelevant if they have another job lined up.)
I didn't take the same conclusion from the parent who didn't say anything about payments. In general, the norm would be to pay for two weeks--and maybe benefits to the end of the month. Someone can be terminated on the spot and still paid. (In general, they have to be paid out for accrued vacation time in any case.)
Mostly it was so we could find out if any ostensibly automated tasks were in fact dependent on their ongoing work, while they were still reachable to answer questions. Perhaps related, this was all during my time as a unix admin, before I officially converted to a pure software development role. I've never personally seen a developer walked immediately out the door.
It generally only happens in exceptionally paranoid companies in sensitive industries or government organizations, which clearly exist but are already atypical workplaces.
I've never seen the point in treating your employer as an adversary, as the OP of this thread clearly does.
There are some with six (my last job) or some with one. In my last job I was able to negotiate it down though as I wanted to quit earlier, it was the employer that wanted the six months in my contract. I was a key person in a start up bank so it's not a normal term to have.
I am not sure what happens when you try to give more than two weeks notice.
> Genuine question; is this a US thing?
At least in California/Silicon Valley I have never seen or experienced such a thing in almost 30 years, so I can say confidently it is not common.
Of course it can happen, there are zero employee protections in the US. But it's not common.
People generally give 2 weeks notice and keep coming in to the office (pre-pandemic) for those two weeks to meet with others and help transfer knowledge, hang out, do farewell lunches etc. Only on the end of the last day is your account access revoked. That's the expected convention.
Genuine question; is this a US thing? I've never, ever seen this or heard of it happening. I don't think I've ever worked at a company that didn't state in the contract the notice period. I have seen companies decide they don't want that person on site anymore when someone quits, but they gave "gardening leave"; the person goes home and is effectively on holiday, paid as usual, for their notice period.
There is a significant chance you will be instantly fired with no income for months.
US "at will" kind of thing? Must be.