Should an employee give a two week notice before quitting? Are there any situations where it is not necessary?

Here is what I think:

If you have a good realtionship with your employer than I would say yes, but there are situations where it is not necessary.

For instance: You are at a temp agency. It is widely understood that your employer can and does fire people at will. You get a great offer but have to start immediately. Not two weeks....we're talking tomorrow here. In such a situation I would say to hell with the temp agency. To hell with your slave driving employer. To hell with em all. Quit your job and start working a real job!

I would add, employers often warn you, "If you quit without a two weeks notice, it will haunt you and we will give you the worst recommendation ever." Guess what. They are lying. An employer will not give a former employer a bad recommendation because they are scared of being sued. Furthermore, after a couple of months nobody at your old company will even remember your name so who really cares?

I work in a very tight industry. Anything I do here is likely to affect my later job prospects with other employers. For that reason, (among others), I would not consider leaving without giving two weeks notice.

Originally posted by Criminal
I would add, employers often warn you, "If you quit without a two weeks notice, it will haunt you and we will give you the worst recommendation ever." Guess what. They are lying. An employer will not give a former employer a bad recommendation because they are scared of being sued.

I had an employee give me four hours notice once. She was a good employee. However, having not extended me the damn coutesy of giving me two weeks to find a replacement, I will never give her a recommendation. Her leaving so abruptly put a strain on the rest of my department. If an employer calls me asking about her, I will say nothing, neither postive or negative. I am not required too.

Originally posted by Baboon


If an employer calls me asking about her, I will say nothing, neither postive or negative. I am not required too.

You could always say she's out standing in her field....well, ok, it only makes sense when it's written.

I try to give two weeks notice, but there was once where I didn't & I didn't care.


I called in sick one morning because my son, who was 2 at the time, had a 103 fever. My boss told me that unless I could find someone to cover for me, I had to come in because I didn't give 24 hours notice. Well, kids don't give 24 hours notice to being sick, so I told her I wasn't coming in & that's just how it was. She said she would fire me if I didn't; I told her not to bother, that I quit & she could get bent.


I have no regrets :D

Originally posted by Baboon


I had an employee give me four hours notice once. She was a good employee. However, having not extended me the damn coutesy of giving me two weeks to find a replacement, I will never give her a recommendation. Her leaving so abruptly put a strain on the rest of my department. If an employer calls me asking about her, I will say nothing, neither postive or negative. I am not required too.
Yea thats not cool.

If you are a fair employer and are willing to give an employer fair notice before laying them off than an employee should treat you better than that.

But in my own situation I was at CompUSA. I had this ballbreaking prick of a boss. This was a place where they fired technicians after a year because they did not want to pay them any more. This guy tried to lay blame on me for not servicing customers fast enough. He tried to use me as a scapegoat. He told me if I don't change things than I was out of there. So I knew I had a limited time in the company and put out some resumes. As soon as a position appeared I called in and told the place that I was not comming in again and that was the end of it. I have no regrets about quitting that way. None at all.

The only place I didn't give a two week notice to was the waitressing job. My boss was a dick and scheduled me for double shifts everyday for a month and I wanted a week vacation to go to FL with my family. He said no, so I walked out.

I always have. Even at the feces job at the call center. Usually, I give more because it was known at the time of employment that I could only work until school started/ended.

i'm not one to burn bridges... unless my old boss was an ass. i'd give a two week warning.

My first job as an corporate accountant after graduation was at Chesebrough-Pond's. After a year or so, I was getting calls quite often with other job offers from employment agencies. I rejected them all until one guy just happen to call at the right time and made a decent presentation. He sent me on two interviews one of which offered me a better job. I accepted the job, agreed to start in a week and left a letter of resignation effective immediately on the accounting manager's desk on a Friday in the afternoon. I saw the bozo in the hall before he left and was available if he had anything to say and since he did not, I did not think much of it.

The following Monday, the bozo apparently "freaked out" and tried to find a way to withhold my vacation time pay. I guess he couldn't handle the fact I wanted a week off before starting the new job. ;) I had to stop by and talk with the director of personel to get the 401K, and vacation pay straightened out. She realized the accounting manager was a bozo and sympathized completely.