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Comment by chasedehan | Hacker News Reader

It’s common in the US to be asked to leave when you give notice. One place I worked had security escort people out of the building by the end of the day they gave notice.

I also worked in restaurants through college and while you weren’t asked to leave, you were taken off the schedule and not given any shifts.

(edit) The security walking out wasn't this big show of force, it was mostly to turn in laptop, badge, etc. Security was nice about it, but it was still security (end edit)

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I don’t get the whole being walked out by security thing. It seems just an unnecessary show of force or humiliation without any benefit. If a person had wanted to do danger then they could have done that easily before putting in notice. It makes no sense.

Indeed, the only time I have seen this is when someone was being investigated for gross misconduct, or a 'surprise' redundancy. I assumed that the company just didn't want anything untoward happening.

I've seen more than once employees try to argue loudly for their job back, threaten violence, leave bomb threats, stalker exes, etc. all at a single company. Security walking people out is a precaution and based on my experience there a sound one.

For people getting fired, I can see that occasionally happening. But someone giving notice is leaving of their own free will, why would they make any sort of scene on the day they give notice?

"I've seen more than once employees try to argue loudly for their job back, threaten violence, leave bomb threats, stalker exes, etc. all at a single company. "

What kind of place was this? I have never seen such a thing.

Really depends on the individuals, it's not so common in our industry because we're well paid and have plenty of opportunity, others aren't so lucky.

The worst of seen in software specifically was a guy that had some visa requirements for permanent citizenship coming up and probably wasn't dealing with pressure well already, he had a mental breakdown and cat5 was being ripped out of the walls during the meeting.

The second is an older guy in tears because he'd been struggling with long term unemployment due to ageism (I can vouch for his code at least) before that gig.

If you're not in a region and industry with a lot of opportunity it's a much bigger deal and even reasonable people won't necessarily act rationally.

Before the notice, they had a job with a company that paid them money that allowed them to pay the rent, food, hospital costs, etc.

After it, they may worry want to pay next week’s groceries from.

So a person is fine until the moment they give notice and immediately become a risk after handing it in? When I saw someone walked out it felt like a show of power by a police state that signaled “we can take anybody anytime and the only thing you can do is watch helplessly”. The procedure seems designed for humiliation and intimidation.

Sorry, completely missed the context of “person quits” because, for me as for you, that is extremely incompatible with “must be escorted out of the office ASAP”.

And, by the way, “leaves angrily, and may steal or destroy company property“ isn’t the only, and sometimes not even a reason for getting people out of the office as soon as possible after firing them. Certainly during mass firings, it also is about morale for those who are allowed to stay.

It’s no fun hearing that, from now on, you’ll have to do with 20% less head count for the same amount of work, but it’s even less fun when there are people sitting around for a few weeks who say “it’s not my problem. I’m fired”.

It sounds like a dumb policy that some hack in HR would come up with, but couldn't really explain why. Probably not malicious, just stupid.

I've never seen it happen myself. When an employee leaves us, the only thing I like to do is immediately suspend access to all the equipment. I tell them before I do it, and it isn't to deny them the ability to damage anything. It's to give us two weeks of opportunity to catch anything that they were responsible for which was sliding under the radar, so we can correct the process while they are still around to explain it.

In the cases I've seen it happen the person walked out was given their final two weeks pay. They just were not allowed back in the office.

i would guess that if the employee handbook calls for two weeks notice of resigning, there would be some sort of case for getting paid if they were walked out right away. I'm probably wrong though.

It usually happens when employees are fired/laid off, not when they leave voluntarily.

For the same reason it is polite to declare war before invading a country.

>It’s common in the US to be asked to leave when you give notice. One place I worked had security escort people out of the building by the end of the day they gave notice.

Yes, but they usually pay you for the two weeks. Not summarily fire you and report that you were fired to future employers. (At least in IT)

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