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Gardening leave for quants

randomperson

Joined
1/5/14
Messages
1
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Hi,

Do junior quants, specifically in London, usually get put on gardening leave when they give notice? From what I've heard (I'm not a quant, but am thinking about it) most contracts give the employer the option of putting people on gardening leave during the notice period. But does this happen?

Thanks.
 
At least it looks like you're planning a few moves ahead, like in chess :). Most employers have the option of enforcing a garden leave and will enforce this garden leave; for Directors or Managing Directors, this could be a very significant time that you can't work. I haven't heard of any employer not enforcing it, but could happen. It somewhat acts as a deterrent for sales-traders to contact clients and allows the bank some time to rebuild a relationship with a client. For traders, it is more allowing some continuity in transferring responsibility of the trading book; the company can call you up during the garden leave and ask you some questions. One friend who resigned basically was told by his boss "we'll pay your base for next month, just carry your Blackberry and please reply to our e-mails". Another person I know resigned, but was paid a bonus to stay on and work during his garden leave in order to train a new replacement. Technically, the contract will say that the employer can make you work during your garden leave...

Just some advice, some smaller trading firms have a type of garden leave where you cannot work for a competitor for 1 year, but only get paid 1 months salary (and receive no compensation for the other 11 months). Don't agree to terms like this. If you're resigning then of course, most of the time you are leaving for a competitor, so you don't want to sell that option at any price.
 
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