4 weeks notice?

[eileeny21]

Hi, I currently work on a Med/Surg floor and have been there for 7 months. I just accepted a full time position at a nursing home, since this has always been my passion and I now realize my calling in nursing. I recently gave my employer my 2 weeks notice and will start my new career in two weeks time. However, my current employer told me I suppose to give 4 weeks instead of 2. I have never heard of this before and I always thought a notice of resignation was a courtesy not a requirement. I am also partially quitting since my orientation experience there was horrible, being treated as if I was the most stupid nurse on the planet, and also having a very crazy work schedule with nothing being consistent whatsoever, where everyone else has consistent shifts. I am wondering if you have ever heard of a 4 weeks notice?

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

Two weeks is fine. I have never heard of anyone giving a month's notice for a staff job. If you were in management, yes, that would be a courtesy. Upper management, six months or maybe even a year, depending on how hard it would be to replace you. But a staff nurse? Feh.

Enjoy your new job!

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Yes, I've heard of a 4-week notice of resignation. Most 'professional' positions require it, such as nursing education, nursing management, administration, research, etc. Most 'non-exempt' workers that are paid an hourly wage are usually required to submit 2-week notices, such as staff bedside nurses, CNAs, lab techs, and so on.

However, an increasing number of hospitals are requiring bedside nurses and other non-exempt hourly wage workers to submit 4-week notices of resignation when a 2-week notice would have sufficed in the past.

You do not need to give a notice prior to resigning. However, it is a professional courtesy, and the facility reserves the right to render you ineligible for rehire if you do not provide the length of notice they are requesting.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

Depending on your facility's policy, it is possible that you may have to give 4 weeks' notice. My last job required 3 weeks' notice for a staff nurse position.

The standard "2 weeks" is usually what is done when there is nothing indicating otherwise.

If you fail to follow your facility's policy on giving notice, you run the risk of being tagged "Do Not Rehire"...and you never know: in the future, you may find yourself applying to work there again. Or you may have to explain to a prospective employer why your last job has you as a DNR, which they learned about when they called to verify your employment.

It might happen...it might not happen. But if you only want to give 2 weeks when policy requires 4 weeks, that's a chance you'd have to be willing to take.

Best of luck with your new job!

[morte, LPN, LVN]

check you employee handbook

[netglow, ASN, RN]

I have heard of this as being now the new norm. But hey, you don't want to work there. You have a new job that wants you to start. Start the new job.

Anybody who thinks they can delay a new job for 4 weeks to make nice with the old one is not thinking!

Off you go OP, give your two weeks in writing and onward to better digs.

[llg, PhD, RN]

Check your Employee Handbook and any official policies that are relevant. If you don't follow the proper procedures for retiring, they can designate you as "ineligible for re-hire" which may prevent you from getting other jobs in the future. Not following the proper procedures can also cause you to lose certain benefits (such as being paid for un-used vacation time, etc.).

2 weeks used to be standard -- but an increasing number of places are requiring 4 weeks.

[Nurse_]

You are an at-will employee. You can resign on the spot and they can fire you on the spot. Resignation notice is a courtesy. Unless you signed a contract saying that you ARE required to submit a 4-week notice.

The notice is just so you don't burn bridges and be ineligible for re-hire. They require notices to give them ample time to fill in the position.

[LLL01]

My staff nursing position requires a 4 week notice. I think it's starting to become more common.

[hiddencatRN, BSN, RN]

I resigned from a job and gave them 3 weeks notice, which was 1 week more than required by the company hand book. My supervisor was pretty nasty to me about it, that I was unprofessional and should know to give 4 weeks notice because that's standard (becoming more common maybe, standard? Nope!). Oh well. The thing is, any new nursing position I've started usually wants you to start ASAP. RN orientations for new hires often happen at certain times of the month which means a month of notice might need to be even longer. In an employer's economy, I'm not interested in jeopardizing the new job to appease the old ESPECIALLY if I'm leaving because I hate everything about the old job.

[T-Bird78]

Heck, I had to give four MONTHS notice one time, and that was in an office! A nurse had gotten engaged and her fiance lived out of state, so she was going to work with us until a month before the wedding and then quit and move and get settled in. A few weeks later, she changed her mind and decided to go ahead an move earlier than planned, so she wound up turning in her notice three months prior than she had originally planned. Anyway, fast forward several months, and I meet my now-husband. When we start talking about getting married, I made a comment to a coworker that I may not be able to make the 90-minute drive from his house to here. That coworker told our doc that I was going to leave when I got married and the doc got mad. When I found out that the coworker had taken it upon herself to talk to the doc WITHOUT asking me, I told our office manager that I had not made any decision and it was NO BUSINESS of the coworker to talk to the doc about me or my life. My office manager told me to go ahead and turn in my notice, in writing with a firm date, so the doc wouldn't try to replace me sooner. Because of this I pushed my wedding date up from November to July and gave a written notice in March. It was ridiculous that I had to do that because the previous employee left months earlier and then a nosy coworker went blabbing behind my back.

[tyvin, BSN, RN]

4 weeks is the rule of thumb, if you consider yourself a professional nurse. This was taught to me in my nursing program so it was no surprise when I went into the field. What surprised me was how many RNs didn't know or hadn't heard about it. If we are take ourselves seriously as a profession we must act like it as well.