Should I discuss with manager before resigning?

Question

I am planning to resign from my current job. This is going to be my first resignation so I am not sure how to go about it. In my current job I have 90 days notice period with option for buyback of notice period. In the offer letter my new employer is asking me to join within 75 days from now which seems manageable.

For smooth transition do I first send the resignation email to my reporting manager or first discuss with him asking for reduction in notice period? How do I approach this? I am a level 1 employee at my current firm. I do not have a lot of back log of work and I believe I can complete the transition within 1 month but I don't think my manager would agree with this.

My fear is if I resign without discussion I may have to serve whole 90 days.

My new employer knows about my 90 days notice period but still in the offer it is mentioned if I do not join on or before 85 days from today my offer letter may be cancelled.

Would discussing early release without putting in the resignation notice put me in any sort of bad position?

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Update: I had a word with hiring manager of new employer. She said to discuss with my current employer about resignation and inform her about the last working day accordingly she will update the offer letter and send again.

Answer 1

I see that you are in India, which has slightly odd rules (for westerners), but this should still be appropriate;

Talk to the new company; make sure they know that you have 90 days notice to serve, but you are trying to get that reduced. If they insist on 75 days, that's a red flag anyway.

If the new company is OK with your notice period, resign. Give the company their required 90 days notice. That's the latest date you would be leaving them. When you hand over your resignation, you can ask your manager about a reduction in notice period. You don't have to explain why; if they insist, you might say you're looking at a short holiday between positions. Once you agree on an actual last day, you can discuss an actual start date with the new company.

Answer 2

I am in India, and I had a similar situation, where the offer was that I had to join within 60 days, but my then employer had a 90 day notice requirement.

I had worked there for 10 years, on great terms, and I had a chat with my manager and told him that I wanted to leave and wanted a reduction in the notice period. They took their own sweet time about deciding on that and told me not to send an official resignation letter until a few days while they discuss and decide. At the end, they weren't ready to reduce the notice period by even a single day, even if I agreed to pay them my pay for the reminder.

Assume that the moment you announce that you're going to leave, your "friends" will suddenly become your worst enemies wanting to extract revenge for "betrayal", as strange it may sound. I hope it doesn't turn out that way for you, as mine is just an anecdote.

This is risky, but in my case the risk didn't materialize as the new company revised their offer letter a week before it expired to get past the new 90 day mark (which was about 100 days past the day when the original offer letter was sent out to me)

Sometimes, taking risks is good - a company that wants 90 days of notice has something wrong with it. If I have to find another job, I certainly wouldn't get one that has a 90 day notice period.

So, my view is that you take the risk, first send out your resignation mail or fill up the form - whichever is the "official" way of communicating the resignation, and then talk to your manager. If they agree on the reduction in notice period, you're all good. If not, tell your new company about it and hope for the best.