Is there a graceful way of turning down overtime and weekend work when an employee is in notice period ? Moreover when some of the reasons of leaving are the overtime and weekend work. The goal is to keep good relationships as much as possible.
The question is for a software developer with standard working hours and I'm looking for a general answer, disregarding any particular country.
You can tell them something like this:
I am sorry but I have other obligations which prevent me from working at those times.
You don't need to go into any details. Ultimately it's their decision whether they want to get some work from you or let you go early and get no more work from you.
Honestly, if the reason you're leaving the job is the overtime and weekend work, and you're in your notice period, you can be as gracious as you want to be. You're still going to ruffle feathers by refusing weekend and overtime work. You just have to be prepared for the blowback. After all, what are they going to do, fire you?
