Where should I draw the line on follow up questions from previous employer

Question

I left my previous job a couple weeks ago, in very good terms with everyone there.

Since then, I often get texts or phone calls from my ex-manager, asking about stuff.

Some questions are benign, where can I find this or that document.

However, lately there has been some things requiring more involvement on my side (eg. Ideas on how to solve some issues in projects I used to lead)

I don't want to blow them off, and compromise an good relationship that may be useful in the future, but at the same time, they're not paying anymore!

What level of support is considered 'normal' and is to be expected from a former employee, and for how long?

Answer 1

Your best bet isn't to put a limit on how many times they can call you, it's to simply say that you are now unable to take calls during the day while you're at work.

Invite them to email you if they have problems, and you may take a look when you get home, in your personal time. Say that you're unable to answer queries while you're at your new job. Dropping the hint that it's your personal time may make them feel a bit guilty about doing so.

Then, if they call, don't pickup. No exceptions. If they SMS you, don't reply during the day. Stick to your guns.

You can then reply to their emails as frequently as you see fit, with as much detail as you want.

When they realise they can't call you at a moments notice to get an answer, they will spend more time thinking about things, and at the very least, spend a bit more time formulating meaningful questions to ask you. You can then decide what you want to reply to.

Answer 2

Normal is no support at all.

Every document or knowledge you could have should have been handed when you were under contract. After this it's not your problem anymore and should have been your ex-manager's before you left.

Once or twice can be understood but doesn't mean it should be acceptable. By answering you're training them to keep calling you. You have to untrain them.

Next time be polite but firm that you're not working for them anymore and can't keep providing support. If they want your help they'll have to pay for your time since you would be effectively working for them. I know in France it would not be an easy thing to put in place but the point is to be firm and take a stance.

Your ex-manager may be of good faith so just being direct may set the necessary boundary. However if your ex-manager try to guilt you then that's definitely a bridge you want to burn because you never know when it'll stop if ever.

Answer 3

You have absolutely no obligation towards your previous employer, who isn’t paying you.

You might tell them “I’d love to help you, but not for free. I think X per hour would be appropriate. Where can I send the bill?”

80% chance it turns out they didn’t really need you. 20% chance it puts some cash in your pocket. Make sure you ask your current employer if this is alright, and the taxman might want to hear about it.

According to some comments, the chance seems to be higher than 80% / lower than 20% in France :-)

Answer 4

Hi {Previous Boss},

It has been a pleasure to work for you and I would be happy to help with what you are asking about but unfortunately these requests are consuming more and more of my free time.

If you would like then we can set up a time to meet and discuss an appropriate rate for continued consulting services.

Best regards, Jean-Pierre

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If you are not interested in contract work then you can use something like:

Hi {Previous Boss},

It has been a pleasure to work for you and I would be happy to help with what you are asking about but unfortunately these requests are consuming more and more of my free time.

I would offer myself as a consultant but I fear that it would stretch me too thin. I do not want to leave you guys hanging but I would be really appreciative if we could meet just one last time for a final hand-off of information. Would it be feasible for you to take the next three weeks and gather a list of things you would like for me to answer and we can spend some time going through it?

Best regards, Jean-Pierre

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The above excerpts should not be taken as a suggestion for your next response to your previous employer but rather as a template for things to lean towards during your next few interactions.

Answer 5

I've been in this situation before, and I think the answer depends on two things:

• Do you have any interest in helping them and getting paid for it?
• How willing are you to cut them off and perhaps impact your relationship with them?

For me, I was not interested in continuing to work for them at all, but I also wanted to remain on good terms for things like future references. It's not normal to ask anything of an ex-employee, and most would only do so extremely apologetically. But what's "normal" is kind of irrelevant since they're doing it anyway, and could potentially be upset if you just cut all contact.

At some point, I replied with something like:

I'm happy to provide small amounts of guidance here and there to make the transition easier, but I think this issue requires significant thought/effort/involvement and surpasses what I'm willing to continue to do.

I think after that there may have been one or two more random questions that only needed one-sentence responses, and I was happy to provide that. If I were you, I would also not answer phone calls - just listen to the voice mail and respond in a text or email a day or so later so there's no expectation of a fast response.

Answer 6

I recently had a similar experience leaving a position. "Where is" questions I could answer off the top of my head were answered. Those requiring additional thought or creativity would get a.... I don't know, I'll think about it and let you know if I think of something.

As for asking for consulting $$, personally I would not couple the request with a current question. I would contact them apart from any questions they might ask and say something like....." I was thinking, maybe I could consult for you on project x and perhaps others if you think you might be interested.... blah blah blah.

That is if you wish to do consulting for $$, which can be a PIA with taxes, nondisclosure agreements, hold harmless clauses etc.

Answer 7

If you work for your previous employer, even if unpaid, you may be in violation of your current employment contract. If you do so during the hours you're paid by your current employer, you most certainly are in violation of your current employment contract. You also need to consider liability, insurance requirements, and conflicts of interest caused by the work you provide to your previous employer - these apply even if you don't get paid.

What level of support is considered 'normal'

Circumstances matter, but answering a grand total of 2-3 questions that take 5-10 minutes each can be considered normal. Answering zero questions is also normal.

Answer 8

The normal level is zero, and in many cases the legal level is zero. You have a duty of loyalty (“obligation de loyauté”) to your current employer. The law does not define this precisely — in fact it doesn't even use this expression except in a secondary clause, but there is considerable jurisprudence.

I'm no expert, so I won't venture to say what this covers exactly. But if your former and current employers are competitors, you should definitely not be helping your former employer at all. Perhaps less obviously, you should not help your former employer if they're potential clients of your current employer, because then you would be competing as a vendor of services against your current employer. Obviously you should be careful not to reveal any confidential information that belongs to your current employer, even if they aren't competing at all. Basically you need to be careful not to run into any potential conflict of interests.

This duty does not prevent you from being paid by your former employer. What matters is the nature of what you do and not whether you're paid or not. If you have a full-time job, your contract may include an exclusivity clause (“clause d'exclusivité” — unlike the duty of loyalty which is public policy, a duty exclusivity can only arise from a contract). An exclusivity clause forbids taking a second job or having regular activity as an independent contractor, but I think it does not preclude occasional contractual work (and there's also a loophole if you become auto-entrepreneur).

So tread carefully. It's unlikely that “the X document is in the Y folder” would ever be problematic, but ideas on how to solve issues are another thing. In any case, it is not normal for a former employer to ask for new ideas. If they want your expertise, they should offer to hire your services — which, as I explained above, you may not be permitted to provide (depending on the nature of the activity).