Notice period 60 days but I need to join in 45 days

Question

I am in a great confusion, where my heart says to leave but my moral says that today whatever I am because of the present company.

Gist: I wanted to switch to a product based company, for that I prepared well, gave 1 hour every day to the data structure, Algorithms and competitive programming along with working in a service-based company for 9 hours + 1 hours on traveling.

I finally got selected to a product based company.

The HR of the new company told me that you need to join the company in 45 days then only we can give you an offer letter. My present company has the provision of 60 days exact. I cannot apply for buy back as I am a very critical resource in my project, and be sure that my present company is a service-based so they can't offer me that salary.

I am trapped now in war, my heart says to join but I don't know how can I join. I asked the new company HR that please allow 15 days extension to 45 days, but she says talk to your present company HR.

Now I have an option that if I go and talk to my present HR about leaving then there will be a buzz around that I am leaving, and if the present company don't release me in 45 days then I will be blown in the company and the fact they will know that I am trying to leave.

I really want to avoid the above condition, is there any short stuff or pitch that I can give to my new HR so that he/she can consider me for 15 days more extension.

I really want to join that company, but whatever I have learned in the present company is precious, I can't ditch them.

Please suggest a valid argument that I can pitch to the new HR.

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I talked to the HR and they responded to me very promptly, they told me that they have joining dates in October and November. And since I can't join in October, so I selected November.

PS: today I am resigning from my current company and will be now in the notice period.

Again thank you all guys who have responded to me. This is my first switch and now since I have gone to a product based company which was my dream I feel very happy.

Thank you all 😊

Answer 1

Please note that this answer is based on the original post and comments, which described a completely different context than after the edits. The original question was mainly based on a misunderstanding by the OP.

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Someone has to say it..

Do not join the new company!

You didn't even start and they are already blackmailing you! It's completely unreasonable to insist on a shorter notice period without offer letter and giving reasons. Especially because from your comments it seems they don't care when you will start, but it must be on short notice.

You don't have an offer letter, therefore a lot of bad things can happen. They might still be considering another candidate as you haven't signed anything and therefore they might change their mind. Also after you hand in your notice but haven't signed the new offer, they might think that a little bit less salary might be better for you. Or they just wanted to damage your current employer. Or whatever ...

Again...

Do not join the new company!

Answer 2

Being in India (but Europe would be the same in that respect), if you have 60 days notice period, the company can force you to work for 60 days for them and not work for any other company for those 60 days. You could of course offer a shorter notice period and it might be accepted, but if it is not accepted, there is nothing you can do.

I know that. You hopefully know that. Your old company knows it, and importantly your new company does. So if the new company says you can only have the job if you agree to start in 45 days, they know you can't do that. What they ask of you is ridiculous.

Don't worry about how you manage to achieve the 45 days notice - it is impossible, so the new company essentially says they don't want you. (They may actually want you and be run by imbeciles who don't know how employment in their own country works. In that case, you don't want to work for them).

Trying to negotiate with your current company would be a massive mistake. Clearly they have nothing to gain from accepting 45 days notice, so they will refuse - because they can. Then your new offer falls through, and having told the current company you want to leave means you can forget about promotions, raises etc. for a long time.

What could work (but isn't your situation): A new company could say "Here's a legally binding contract for you to start in 60 days. However, we would love you to start earlier. So if you can get a shorter notice period, that would be great. If not, you start 60 days from now". As I said, not your situation.

Answer 3

Doesn't matter in which part of the world you maybe, Always, always always make it clear to your future perspective employers how long your current notice period is before you start interviewing with them.

Kind of agree with what Chris says, no business is going to get lost in 15 days unless it's NASA and you have to pack yourself in an Astronaut Suit, fly into space und save the earth form a colliding asteriod in those 15 days.

Unfortunately this demand from the new company about joining within 45 days is unreasonable and stubborn.

Tell the new company clearly you can't join in 45 days, reason being on professional and moral grounds you don't wish to leave your previous employer in a mess.

If your new company as an employer itself doesn't resonate with it. They aren't a good employer anyway.

A big positive takeaway here

You got through the interview process of one product based company, there is no reason you can't do it once more. :)

Answer 4

From the edit/update:

I received the call letter with the date of Joining as 15th October. And today is 27th August and if i resign > today in my company i will be free by 27th October. Shall i ask then > to increase a date of 13 more days on the deadline. Shall i ask a > written document for that or email conversation is ok?

Here is the real heart of the question, which makes the other answers wrong. The situation is simple. There are two possible options:

• They want YOU.
  Call, ask explain that you need 60 days (from when you receive/submit the contract), and ask for a later date.
• They want someone, by that date and you are their current favorite.
  In this case, even if you ask, they won't change the date. In that case, there is nothing you can do. You are bound by contract to your current company, and cannot fulfill the conditions for the new company.

It's that simple. If you can, give them a call and explain your situation! If they can't change the date, it is unfortunate. Hopefully you find another company in the future that better meets your interests!

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As Pierre pointed out, you can work with your current employer to try to leave in 45 days as well. However, you should only do this after you have signed your new contract!

Answer 5

Most of these answers suggest "Don't join the company" simply because they are asking you to join in 45 days. Sad reality of India is that every company wants you to join immediately as even the recruiters have SLAs. So, this "can you join early" message is something every HR will ask. I have been asked "can you join on coming Monday" so many times. I got an offer to join on Friday, after interviewing on Wednesday. Recruiters in India keep looking for perfect candidate, and then get too desperate after few months. July-September is the period when their "perfect" candidate joined another company, so they are in a rush to fill the position. So, you hold the cards, you are going to drive the negotiations.

But they might have another person in wait list, so, I will suggest, you say yes to 45 days. You don't have to join just because you accepted the offer. Once you say yes, they will deny other candidates, thus providing you more negotiating power. One month down the line, negotiate joining date. Simply suggest that you need to go home for personal work, and you will prefer to join afterwards instead of taking leave one week into the job.

Plus most probably your current company will happily let you go early, if you ask few days later. Right now, they want to act like they hold all the cards. But 2 weeks down the line, they will realise they are paying salary for you to come and sit at your desk. At that point, they will suggest "can you not come to office anymore".

P.S. 80% salary hike is far more important than most people here realise. Indian policy is always "x% over last salary", doesn't matter what the last salary was. I was once rejected, because my last salary was too low and they couldn't do 150% hike. So, take the hike anyway, and look for another job 6 months later if this company sucks.

Answer 6

I am from India. I was in your situation 5 years back. BTW, Thanks for taking me back to 2014. I was so young, happy, single, etc etccc. So many blissful memories.

My new company asked me to join in 30 days but the notice period of the service company I worked for was 90 heck days. I couldnt join the new compnay or accept the offer. I got another offer from another service company (I have no intention to join there) and continued searching for new jobs in those 90 days. I got a call from the same product company again. This time I was just 40 days away from my freedom - you know what I mean by freedom. The service companies treat its employees (particularly the freshers) like slaves. India is truly a employer haven.

Bonus points: I got an offer from another service company and told them that I can join 30 days and they aksed me "Your company's notice period is 90 days and how can you join in 30 days? Were you fired?" They did not even consider the fact that the interviewee could have had an another offer. Understand the treatment. PS: That happened 5 years back. Situation has improved a bit if not a lot.

The product companies like Amazon, microsoft, swiggy, ola, etc in india do not give a damn about the service companies like TCS, CTS, infosys and its employees. That's why they asked you to find ways to sack your current employer. You are paid 50% less money than what you are supposed to make, so do not feel bad about leaving behind the company that you delusionaly think helped you grow. It is you who learned and grew. That credit cant be given to anyone except you. All the employees working with you are as intelligent as you are? If so, you can declare that it is the company who helped you grow.

Answer 7

From a US standpoint, this is all very strange and this semi-collusion between companies would be in the realm of potentially illegal. It almost reads as though they buy and sell you with each others’ permission being required. Please do factor in that I do not know the legalities and customs of Indian employment.

If all parties are legitimate and truthful, then you have no moral dilemma. It is admirable that you wish to not offend / harm your current employer, but you are a cog in their machine. Your responsibility is to you. They didn’t give you a job. They hired you because you had assets they needed. Given your importance on this current project, it sounds as though they have been fortunate to have you. If you are worth 80% more than your current employer is paying you, they have been taking advantage of you for far too long. Their being a service industry in no way means they have a right to skills at a 46% discount. It only means their value and market competiveness are subpar to the other options available.

As another pointed out, there seems a huge concern if the offering company is requiring you to jeopardize your current standing in order for them to do you the favor of formally offering you the job. I’m concerned for you that they may not be all they want you to believe. I’ve seen enough questions about companies reneging on their verbal offers to be concerned about whether they are legitimate or hoping that by you jeopardizing your current position, they can provide an offer letter that is substantially worse than what they’ve told you.

It sounds like the safest thing is to underscore that you love the idea of the new company but your current company has a strict rule of 60 days and you have no control over it. As such, without a firm offer you are unable to move forward. This does mean you may lose what you hear to be a great opportunity. What it also means is if you do lose it, they may very well have been lying to you. Their tactics of waiting until you have made yourself vulnerable are concerning. Add onto that the fact that they are perfectly fine with waiting over six weeks for you but entirely against less than nine weeks sounds like they are at best in a desperate situation.

Answer 8

This is somewhat of a catch-22 situation and I don't think there is one great answer. I didn't notice your location – you said about your current company

if they don't release me in 45 days

which implies your area doesn't have at-will employment laws. If that is the case your only hope is to lean on the side that is more likely to give in to your situation. I don't know exactly what you should say to the new company because they could very well just skip you and hire someone else who can start in 45 days. You can only use your judgement and if neither side will budge, you're out of luck and must stay at your current job.

If that is not the case, it still will not be a perfect solution but here is what I would do:

It seems to me like the new job is amazing for you and there really shouldn't be a world in which you don't take it. That being said, you're going to have to prioritize the needs of the new job over the guilt of leaving the old job. Move forward with the new company, receive the official offer, put in 45 days of notice at your old job (or less if you want), and suffer the consequences. Enjoy your doubled salary.

Answer 9

You basically have three options.

1. Tell the new company that you are not available until the date you mentioned. (I'd start with this regardless, as they might facilitate you)

2. Break the contact with the current employer, and just join the new company.

3. Don't leave your current employer.

There are usually provisions for the second option in your contract - usually it would involve forgoing a pay period. But if this second job is your dream job, and you aren't too worried about burning bridges, then go for it.

Just be warned that if things go south, the first company will be less likely to take you back than if you went through the proper process.

^{Note: This advice is valid for Australia, and I suspect many other countries. Check your contract.}