Quitting job, attempted to call to meet face to face, sent email. Is this acceptable?

[bear94, BSN, RN]

Three weeks ago, on December 5th, I asked my boss if I could go down to PRN status so I could go back to school (the school I am going to was able to enroll me last minute or I would have given notice much sooner). She did not answer that email. So I sent her another email 5 days later asking if she had made a decision on whether or not I could go down to PRN status, she finally emailed me back and said that it would not be possible at this time for me to go down to PRN status (why? I don't know). So, this lead me to seek PRN employment closer to home so I could focus on school. I got offered a job on Monday, December 19th. I made my new employer aware I had to sort things out at my current job before confirming a start date. I attempted to call HR on December 20th to understand what protocol I should follow when resigning. The person to speak to about that subject matter was in an all day meeting, and couldn't get back to me. So I tried again on the 21st. Called twice, left a voice mail, and didn't receive a call back until the next day, December 22nd. I explained to HR that I really needed to give my months notice as soon as possible since I am going back to school and my schedule will begin to conflict with my schooling after the 23rd, which prompted me to ask HR acceptable methods of resigning. She said if I needed to give notice promptly, it would be acceptable to send an email and attempt to make a face to face appointment either by phone or email. So that is what I did. I attempted calling my manager on Thursday, the 22nd to give her notice and arrange a time to speak in person. No answer. I sent an email along the lines of, "*insert manager's name*, I would have preferred to do this in person, but I am afraid I cannot prolong my end date in the department any longer because school starts for me on January 9th. In order to avoid conflict with my schooling schedule, my last day in the department will be 30 days from today, January 22nd. Please let me know of a time we can speak about this in person." On Friday I left her a voicemail asking her if she received my message, and if she had, I let her know I wanted to arrange a time to speak in person. It's Monday and I haven't received a call back. It's possible that since she is in management she had Christmas Eve and Christmas Day observed on the 23rd, and 26th, but I am not entirely sure if that's the case. I really cannot prolong my end date any further than the 22nd, but I am not sure if my notice is acceptable since she may have not had any time to receive my email or voicemail. My new employer called me today asking if I was able to arrange a start date yet, but I explained to them my manager still hasn't gotten back to me. I want to leave on good terms, but I have my personal needs to think about too.

[CCU BSN RN]

I quit via email, and left in good standing.

I had an absentee manager. I waited for almost a month with a letter of resignation in my hand every day, on the off chance that she would show up to work and I could give it to her. I emailed her and got no response. I had to email her my resignation with quit date and CC HR and have a read receipt on my email.

Important thing here is to include WHY you're quitting via email, and do it TACTFULLY. In my case

I apologize for informing you of this via email, but I have attempted to call and set up an appointment, and emailed to set up an appointment on multiple occasions. Since I work night shift, I do not always see you on a regular basis, and at this point I felt it prudent to do this via email, to allow me to give you adequate notice, as opposed to wait until the last minute when I can arrange to sit down with you and give my notice in a proper, traditional sense, and then have to leave you with inadequate notice to staff the floor. Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

[caliotter3]

I've never been required to have any kind of face to face meeting in order to resign, so do not understand the difficulty in making that meeting. I would write a letter of resignation and send it to the employer via certified mail and be done with it. Sounds as if they are going to twist around the circumstances of your resignation to suit their agenda anyway, so just get on with it. Everyone there is well aware of your intentions by now.

[oceanblue52]

Lots of good advice here, the only thing I would add to is the phrasing of your email should you encounter a similar situation. If you are unsure if they will let you go PRN, just say something like "Due to such and such circumstances, I can no longer work full time and would like to request to switch to a PRN status. If this is not feasible, please consider this my resignation, effective...(insert date)." This type of phrasing covers your butt...also consider CC'ing HR in the future. Best of luck to you in going back to school!

[bear94, BSN, RN]

Lots of good advice here, the only thing I would add to is the phrasing of your email should you encounter a similar situation. If you are unsure if they will let you go PRN, just say something like "Due to such and such circumstances, I can no longer work full time and would like to request to switch to a PRN status. If this is not feasible, please consider this my resignation, effective...(insert date)." This type of phrasing covers your butt...also consider CC'ing HR in the future. Best of luck to you in going back to school!

The only reason I did not word it like that is because I didn't have another job lined up at the time I asked if I could go down to PRN status. Thank you for the advice and well wishes!

[bear94, BSN, RN]

I've never been required to have any kind of face to face meeting in order to resign, so do not understand the difficulty in making that meeting. I would write a letter of resignation and send it to the employer via certified mail and be done with it. Sounds as if they are going to twist around the circumstances of your resignation to suit their agenda anyway, so just get on with it. Everyone there is well aware of your intentions by now.

Do you think I will have any problems leaving on good terms since by the time she sees my email and hears my voicemails it will be nearly a week since I had given her my resignation, leaving her only three weeks to fill my place? (which shouldn't be an issue... Our department is currently overstaffed and the rumor mill reports that 8 new grads are starting in February). Thank you for the advice! I appreciate it.

[bear94, BSN, RN]

I quit via email, and left in good standing.

I had an absentee manager. I waited for almost a month with a letter of resignation in my hand every day, on the off chance that she would show up to work and I could give it to her. I emailed her and got no response. I had to email her my resignation with quit date and CC HR and have a read receipt on my email.

Important thing here is to include WHY you're quitting via email, and do it TACTFULLY. In my case

I apologize for informing you of this via email, but I have attempted to call and set up an appointment, and emailed to set up an appointment on multiple occasions. Since I work night shift, I do not always see you on a regular basis, and at this point I felt it prudent to do this via email, to allow me to give you adequate notice, as opposed to wait until the last minute when I can arrange to sit down with you and give my notice in a proper, traditional sense, and then have to leave you with inadequate notice to staff the floor. Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

I hope I am able to leave on good terms like you. I feel bad because by the time she sees my resignation it will be nearly a week after I sent it. I sent it Thursday and attempted calling before office hours were closed, so I have no clue if she saw it. All of management took a vacation day on Friday, December 23rd, and they observed Christmas on the 26th. Yesterday, the 27th, my manager was sick with a nasty bug that's been plaguing our department, and wasn't even in the office when I had my letter in hand and attempted to see her. I shot her an email yesterday letting her know of my attempts to see her and letting her know I had a written letter to hand into her.

Thank you for your advice!

[bear94, BSN, RN]

Well, it appears, as usual, I have been unnecessarily anxious about all of this. My manager emailed me back a polite email informing me that she understood and supported my decision, and would talk to me in person soon.

[Buyer beware, BSN]

The school you are going to was able to enroll you at the last minute? That happened to me once too.

Sounds like the turnip truck is making the rounds again.

[nurse2033, MSN, RN]

I'm glad it's working out. You do not need to provide a reason when you quit. The last few jobs I quit this is what I wrote (by email) "Dear Manager: I resign my position effective X/X/XX, Sincerely: Me". Two weeks is considered sufficient but I try to give a month if possible. If you have a relationship with your manager you can follow up to your heart's content, but this verbiage does not leave any doubt about your intentions or your timeline. I realize you were waiting to hear about your PRN status, but as soon as you had the new job, I would have sent the email. You might have had to juggle the two jobs for a few weeks, but no one could fault you that you "abandoned" your job. Good luck.

[looking for work]

I happen to think that giving two weeks notice (while professional and admirable) is a practice that went out the window, and is about as existent now as the curly cord wall phone. In most of my experiences in nursing, when it was time to go, it was time to go. Of course this depends on your individual situation, your reasons for leaving, your time spent at this job, and any type of reference you may want or need from them in the future. More than one time, I tried to do the right thing and give the status quo two week notice, only to find myself then being told not to return. From the employers perspective, once you sever the ties, they want you away from the workplace as fast as a high speed roller coaster. They know that you are leaving because the jobs sucks, and they do not want you around to tempt others to do the same thing. Other times, they are inherently spiteful and evil, and really need the power boost to fire you after you already quit. From my perspective, it may be actually dangerous to hang around two more weeks. Even though nurses are a dime a dozen, and hiring a replacement can be done very quickly, it never ceases to amaze me how vindictive an employer can be, because the nurse leaving is actually firing the employer. When people get fired they are lucky to get a few minutes to gather their things, and then they are perp-walked right out to their cars. Sometimes I think its better to make a clean break and not look back, because even leaving "on good terms" will rarely get you a decent job reference anyway. ...but of course each situation may be different.