Leaving mid-contract - thoughts

[cojak]

Never say never. If you think that the contract is so awful that it will affect your health and/or reputation, bail.

[DieScum]

Unless you're utterly integral to the project and it will simply fail if you walk I wouldn't feel bad in the slightest. If that were the case they should be treating you much better though!

Giving your contractual two weeks notice is just normal business.

[northernladuk]

Giving your contractual two weeks notice is just normal business.

Thankfully it isn't normal business at all. If it were we'd all be on two weeks from the client none from the supplier contracts.

[DieScum]

Thankfully it isn't normal business at all. If it were we'd all be on two weeks from the client none from the supplier contracts.

I have no problem with a client giving me notice as per the contract. Neither of us are charities.

[ShandyDrinker]

Very interesting thread.

What I'm amazed at is how it polarises opinion with those in the "you should never give notice as it's unprofessional" camp and those who believe it is fair enough. My take is that it isn't something you should do lightly no matter what reason for doing so. However, if notice is available in the contract and you have a genuine need to do so, use that notice.

Clients can and will use the notice themselves. Hell, when I was last a permie about 8 years ago, the company I was working for at the time gave notice to a contractor as it could be done under the terms of the contract.

Sure, if you give notice there's a good chance you could burn bridges, but then I've had clients in the past that take offence as I haven't accepted renewals either. How far should you go to keep a B2B relationship sweet; in my opinion both sides have to feel they are getting something out of the deal.

In short it is not always black and white. Do what is best for both you and your business.

The second thing that I'm surprised about on this thread is the person stating they haven't had timesheets signed for over 10 weeks. As someone else mentioned that is highly risky. I don't care how big the client is, as a small business I wouldn't be extending credit to a business for that long, nor would I accept a contract where that amount of credit could be extended.

[northernladuk]

Very interesting thread.

What I'm amazed at is how it polarises opinion with those in the "you should never give notice as it's unprofessional" camp and those who believe it is fair enough.

To be fair I don't think any of us actually believe you should 'never' give notice. Just some of us don't care for the mercenary attitude. Always makes for a good healthy debate.

[ShandyDrinker]

To be fair I don't think any of us actually believe you should 'never' give notice. Just some of us don't care for the mercenary attitude. Always makes for a good healthy debate.

Fair comment re the mercenary attitude.

It's more the grey areas I'm interested in such as people giving notice as the contract turns out to be not as expected, the work has run out, the client is trying to exert SD&C putting IR35 status in doubt and so on. There's no right and wrong in these cases hence every situation should be judged on its merits.

[moneymoney]

thanks for all the inputs

to clarify, my agency are absolutely hopeless, I would never use them again. I chased the client co about the renewal, and eventually 2 days before my contract expired the agency contacted me to ask "how I was getting on" , and then "I think your contract must expire soon".....I told them I had already done the leg-work with the client and the wheels were in motion and could they finalise the paperwork.

I will chase today for the timesheet approval, as you have all rightly pointed out I shouldn't be opening myself to that level of risk.....noted for future reference.

this kind of topic always causes debate but given the responses and my situation, I feel a lot more vindicated to walk should this offer arrive in writing

[LucidDementia]

Sure, if you give notice there's a good chance you could burn bridges, but then I've had clients in the past that take offence as I haven't accepted renewals either. How far should you go to keep a B2B relationship sweet; in my opinion both sides have to feel they are getting something out of the deal.

In short it is not always black and white. Do what is best for both you and your business.

Indeed. One ClientCo I was helping out asked me, as I was finishing up, if I would back-fill another role for them until they found a permie. They offered a £50 p/d uplift as a carrot.
I took the gig knowing the craic.
Fast forward a year and they gave me notice - they also invited me to apply for the permanent role. As you might imagine the package they were offering was a colossal joke (and not just for a contractor, it was way under market rate) so I politely declined and wished them well. I worked the notice, performed a handover and left with their public thanks and a very nice bottle of Gin.

The funny thing is I heard via my network recently that said ClientCo will never have me back because "he burned all his bridges when he left here".

Big business is mercenary and if refusing to go permie can be considered burning bridges I think it's extremely naive to conduct your businesses assuming there's some honour involved. There isn't.

If leaving mid-contract is what's best for your business do it without hesitation and without looking back. They would; it's two sides of the same coin.

[moneymoney]

Indeed. One ClientCo I was helping out asked me, as I was finishing up, if I would back-fill another role for them until they found a permie. They offered a £50 p/d uplift as a carrot.
I took the gig knowing the craic.
Fast forward a year and they gave me notice - they also invited me to apply for the permanent role. As you might imagine the package they were offering was a colossal joke (and not just for a contractor, it was way under market rate) so I politely declined and wished them well. I worked the notice, performed a handover and left with their public thanks and a very nice bottle of Gin.

The funny thing is I heard via my network recently that said ClientCo will never have me back because "he burned all his bridges when he left here".

Big business is mercenary and if refusing to go permie can be considered burning bridges I think it's extremely naive to conduct your businesses assuming there's some honour involved. There isn't.

If leaving mid-contract is what's best for your business do it without hesitation and without looking back. They would; it's two sides of the same coin.

and that's my point with this, current client co are a small niche business, based only in London

client co I am looking to move to, have international offices where I'm emigrating too and have said they might be able to assist with my visa......I know it's a small world so there is always the chance that this could come back to haunt me but I think if I'm going to burn any bridges in my career, these are the one's to burn.