Letting down a client easy (end of contract)

[northernladuk]

I assume reading the first post this is an inside gig.. because if it isn't, it is.

Just be professional. You've blurred the lines between a contract with a client and being part and parcel. They offer you a contract for work and pay you, you do it and honour the contract. End of. You don't want to say you act professional and advise your client you'd like to leave at X date and then leave. No one can get shirty about you doing exactly what you should as a supplier to client and if they do take umbridge you were never going to be able to leave gracefully anyway.

Polite email, thank them for the offer, advise you'll be leaving on X date as per your contract, you've done X, Y and Z as handover and would be happy to assist in any other handover duties the client requires and you are done. There is no sucking up or namby pamby stuff to do. Professional and polite.

[TheDude]

I took my last gig because they offered the chance to be involved in a migration to GCP.

In two years it didn't happen and I was obliged to leave because I had reached the two year engagement limit.

[Snooky]

As most others have said, politely explain that you couldn't really wait any longer to know whether they'd actually offer a renewal, you're sad to be leaving and will do everything possible to ensure a complete handover, and you hope to work with them again in future.

It's the client's fault entirely. Verbal promises are worthless, particularly in a dead market like this, so if they definitely need to you to stay on they need to get you signed up long before you feel uneasy and have to look elsewhere. You haven't let them down, they've let themselves down. You asked repeatedly and got no definitive confirmation.

I used to work for a large German bank who were renowned for not coming through with the renewal paperwork until virtually the final day of the contract. Everyone accepted it and, if the client manager had said it was going to happen, it happened. But that was when times were much better - in the current market I would have done exactly as you did.

[fatJock]

I finish on Friday and don't have my extension yet but I expect it and have been told the paperwork is in process. Largely expect it because I'm knee deep at the business end of projects that they have no one else free to deliver.

It's amusing that people normally say keep looking till the contract is started etc but here we have folks suggesting the OP leaps to an unknown. I'll go against the grain here and say sometimes better the devil you know but either way - it doesn't seem that either contract is in the bag.

4 weeks left in a contract is an age, especially at gigs like mine where it's three months rolling.

[TheDude]

I used to work for a large German bank who were renowned for not coming through with the renewal paperwork until virtually the final day of the contract. Everyone accepted it and, if the client manager had said it was going to happen, it happened. But that was when times were much better - in the current market I would have done exactly as you did.

Deutsche? - if so that was my experience as well.

It has been similar at every bank I have contracted at though.

[SussexSeagull]

Play the cards as they are dealt. If a better offer comes in and your contract is due to expire then jump ship but if the renewal comes through and the other client doesn't come through then stay put.

Obviously slightly disappointing if neither comes through.

[ascender]

It's amusing that people normally say keep looking till the contract is started etc but here we have folks suggesting the OP leaps to an unknown. I'll go against the grain here and say sometimes better the devil you know but either way - it doesn't seem that either contract is in the bag.

4 weeks left in a contract is an age, especially at gigs like mine where it's three months rolling.

And if the client renews, the OP would be getting a new 12 month gig which isn't to be sniffed at with the market as it is. Depending on his experience, role etc, might be worth considering, even if he is worried about going "stale".

[Snooky]

Deutsche? - if so that was my experience as well.

It has been similar at every bank I have contracted at though.

Not Deutsche