Long but not unheard of here.<p>The dirty secret is that it mostly works in your favor: Nobody can <i>really</i> force you to work at full motivation and capacity, so most of the time you just cut a mutually beneficial deal when leaving and do it anyway (in a shorter time). The other way around, it means a whopping 6 months of severance.
6 months is a way to lock people into a role. People with a 6 month notice periods, generally need to resign if they are unhappy with their pay or the role and then only look for new roles nearer the 3 month mark. The job market can change pretty drastically in 6 months, so be sure to factor that into your thinking. If possible use your probationary period to exit the role early if you think it won't work out.<p>I've never heard of 6 months for senior development roles in Aus/Uk/Ireland, it is mostly lead, staff or principal roles that have longer notice peroids. It can also be tagged onto a relocation package if they are sponsoring you and/or paying for your relocation.
I'm engineering director in Russia.
Our labor laws guarantee all permanent employees right to leave after two week notice.
Notice could be cancelled by employee at any time during two weeks period.
Notice could be made by employee even while employee is on vacation/sick leave, so if you on bad terms with your employer, you could take a vacation, submit notice and leave without transitional period at all.<p>Only exception for that rules is temporary contract (i.e. for a year). If you have temporary contract, you can't leave without reason. But labor law strictly limits grounds for making contract temporary: basically you have to prove that job itself is temporary (related to concrete project or you filling in for maternity leave etc).
Isn’t such a long notice period a huge problem for the employer? Like they’re going to have a disengaged employee taking up space and salary for a long time
The lone American awake right now checking in. This thread is a bit of culture shock for me. In the US, most states are at-will, meaning there is no required notice period, but two weeks is the cultural norm unless you are a fairly senior executive in a mid to large company. My other reference point is Taiwan, where contracts typically specify a one month notice period. In either country, six months (or even three as noted in most comments here) would be considered extremely unusual, and possibly illegal(?).
In the UK even at a fairly low level of seniority a 3 month notice period is common.<p>But... This usually means that you have a reciprocal notice period if they want to get rid of you.<p>And... If you decide to <i>not</i> work your notice, you <i>might</i> get sued for the excess cost of hiring your replacement at short notice. TBH, I've seen it threatened but never followed through. You'll burn your bridges with that company / team, but that's about it.<p>As with many contractual clauses, this is something for you to negotiate over. If everyone in your industry is on a similar notice period, you aren't at a disadvantage. If you think it is excessive, ask to shorten it or for more compensation. Or take the risk.
Six months is far too long for a senior developer. I had a company in the UK try and get me to sign six months as the CTO with a decent sized team a few years ago, and even then they weren't surprised when I laughed it off and we settled on 3 months.
I'd like to add that at a previous company a 3 month notice period was forced on me after a merger with a different company meant us signing new contracts to bring us in line with the generally worse conditions offered to employees of the other company.<p>Although I had a very good relationship with the company and line managers they initially refused my offer to compromise to let me go after 2 months (purely because they wanted an extra month of work out of me). It was only after I made it clear how disinterested I was in working the extra month that we all agreed it was for the best to let me go early. This left a very sour taste in my mouth.
I think it is a little unusual, but nothing unheard of.<p>I started as a junior IT Consultant in Hamburg, Germany with a 3 month notice, but could only quit every half year. So for quitting at the end of june I had to give notice in march, and then the next opportunity was september for quitting at the end of december.<p>But since I'm going back to university now, we made a "Aufhebungsvertrag" so that I quit at the end of september. You have no right to it, but I have a good relation to my employer so they accepted.<p>EDITED for clarity
Notice periods have been getting longer and longer. When I was younger, one month's notice was largely standard in the UK. As time has progressed, I noticed first very professional roles in Law and Accounting moving to three months, followed by other sectors. For the first time this year, I've spotted six-month notices popping up in different places.<p>Honestly, I think the government need to step in, as a six-month notice period seems like a restriction of liberty to me.
Germany as well: I have 3 month to the end of the month (there are btw also clauses which say to the end of the quarter, which makes them less flexible).<p>Six month is absolutely not unheard of, although I personally would be reluctant to accept the latter condition. I mean, the clauses are two-way, so they bind your employer as well and protect you from a sudden loss of income, but frankly, I think the benefit to these arrangement are a bit asymmetric.
Six months is way to high.
I think you're being compared to someone with director level responsibilities or someone has been in the company for more than 15 years.<p><a href="https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/observatories/emcc/erm/legislation/germany-notice-period-to-employees" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/observatories/emcc/erm/legis...</a>
Product Manager at a small tech nonprofit (yes), Amsterdam, 1 month notice period from employee to employer.<p>I have a 'permanent' contract so my employer cannot give me notice without permission from a judge (for example, by insolvency), but the gentleman's agreement is that if they asked me to leave they would continue to employ me until I found another job and provide a small severance (~1 month).
That means that once you've successfully done your probation period, you are guaranteed six months of salary whatever happens (except for bankruptcy of the company or dismissal for gross misconduct, which are v. unlikely), with a possibility that you could negotiate a reduction in notice period, or be sent on gardening leave, in the event you find a new job. Not a bad situation to be in.
Belgium - 13 years in the position, simple IT Tech: I have to give 13 weeks notice if I quit. I'm allowed to take a (paid) day off each of those week to look for a new job. If my employer fires me, he has a 42 weeks notice to give me, I'm of course also allowed to take the day off every week to look for a job.
Worked in Germany for 6+ years. 3 months is pretty standard for engineering roles. I've frequently seen managers and other employees with higher responsibility having a 6 month notice period, although people are encouraged to resign, i.e. start interviewing, when things don't work out.
I traded a 6mo notice for removal of non compete, figured it was a good trade for both parties. This is a CxO position. I know they are mostly unenforceable but the next company might not want to even get involved if it were in my current contract.
In France the notice period is usually 3 months, except during the probation period (which can last up to 8 months) where the notice is just two days (for the employee, the employer's notice grows as the probation period advances, up to 6 weeks long).
[This is not legal advice]<p>Not a good sign. Most DE-based eng contracts max at 3 months, or the default per § 622 BGB.<p>6 months likely means the company fails to retain good staff. Negotiate for asymmetric § 622 BGB notice for yourself, and 3 months notice from the company.
The US legally is zero notice, but it's pretty standard to give 2 weeks. I would hope that if they require 6 months that they would also be required to pay for that 6 months even if they decide to fire you immediately.
6 months is unusual in the UK. For the first two years it's not really enforceable anyway, since employers can dismiss you with 2 weeks of notice at any time - so an employee can effectively do the same.
I think it's unusual. Three months maybe. Never heard of someone with six month notice period. Source: based in Germany, own experience and conducting job interviews.
the legal notice period is determined on tenure. Think two years you are obliged to give 1 month. So while the 6 months is overly long you wouldn’t need to do it.