Zillennials Are Cancelling The Long Time Use Of Two Week Notices
This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s fall editorial intern Jess Newman. Find her on Instagram at @_jess_n_. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
Dating back to the 1940s, giving your employer a two-week notice when you quit has been common practice. Today, companies are constantly changing their protocol of how they are letting people go. Some say it’s related to COVID or the economy, but companies have always safeguarded themselves. Zillennials and Gen Z are starting to fight fire with fire by quitting without submitting a two-week notice.
The workforce is getting fed up with companies not valuing them. Companies are in control of a very repetitive exhausting wheel of being understaffed, hiring new people, giving new people too much responsibility right off the bat, then those new hires quit and are back to being understaffed. This also leads to senior management positions being overwhelmed and overworked on top of everything. For example, today I tried to grab some lunch around 1:15 P.M. There was a line all the way to the door. There was one girl on the line assembling food, one girl on the mobile order line, one guy on the grill and another guy assembling a catering box. I had hoped that when the guy finished putting together the catering box he would jump on the line to help get more orders out. He finished the catering box and moved to the grill. The original guy that was grilling clocked out. This left three employees in the restaurant in total. This has been a common theme at most fast-food restaurants I have been to this year. Since so many companies are treating us like we are disposable, we have started treating them the same exact way.
In the United States, all states are considered “at-will” states. This means if you sign an “at-will” contract when you are hired then legally your employer can fire you on the spot for anything or no reason at all without having any repercussions. This also means that they do not need to give you any warning and they do not need to offer compensation. People from our generation are pointing out that this is extremely unfair especially when most of us have student debt and a bunch of bills to pay. We cannot afford to be without income for any amount of time, but companies couldn’t care less. Zillennials and Gen Z have decided that we should be treating big corporations the same way they treat us. Instead of wondering ‘is two week notice enough,’ Zillennials are starting to drop the notice completely.
Even, if we continued the long tradition of turning in a two-week notice, if you did not sign an employee contract then your employer is not obligated to keep you employed for the next two weeks. They also are not bound to keep your salary the same. Some companies cut employees’ salaries down to minimum wage when they turn in a two-week notice. This is a great way to punish employees for being honest and to show that there is no incentive for giving a two-week notice anymore.
The only bad thing to come out of leaving your job without giving a two-week notice is you will most likely be put on a list which means you cannot be employed by the same company again. Honestly though if you have decided your workplace is toxic and you want to leave as soon as possible, you probably don’t want to work for that company again anyway. It has also been stated that most companies that are onboarding new employees will only confirm dates of employment at previous jobs. It’s highly unlikely that your old boss will speak to your new company in an effort to bad mouth you for not giving a two-week notice.
Keep in mind, if you are breaching an employee contract then the stakes are much higher. Some companies force their employees to buy their way out or they will take you to court and make you pay attorney fees (you will literally be paying for the attorneys fighting against you). If you have signed an employee contract, please contact a local attorney that specializes in employment contracts.
Hopefully, we can make companies realize how much harm they are doing and get them to change their ways. If they want to have loyal employees, they need to treat us with respect and let us know we are valued. If you do not feel the company you are working for is treating you the right way or that they have created a toxic work environment, DO NOT feel bad for leaving. You have to look out for yourself. It’s clear that the companies are only looking for themselves. Remember that a two-week notice is a COURTESY. You are not required to turn one in.
Have you turned in a two-week notice previously? Is two week notice enough? Do you agree that this protocol needs to come to an end? Let us know in the comments below!