It is helpful for you if your employees talk to you in advance if they are going to leave their position. As an employer, you are going to need to replace them, in most cases, so you have to start creating job postings and conducting interviews.
For this reason, you may ask your employees to give you two weeks’ notice before they leave. But are they obligated to do so just because you asked?
The legal perspective
From the employer’s perspective, it certainly is beneficial if they get advance notice. But from a legal perspective, there is no requirement for employees to do that if they are at-will employees. Technically speaking, your workers do not have to give you any notice at all. A worker could just call in on Monday morning to inform you that they will never be returning to the office.
There are tactics you can use to make this type of advance notice mandatory, however. For instance, some workers are in unions that have a collective bargaining agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, they may be required to give advance notice. Other workers—especially when they are in executive positions—may have employment contracts. These contracts can be written to require advance notice before quitting, and the contract has to be followed by the employee who signed it.
As you can see, it is very important to understand exactly how the law works and what legal tools and options you have at your disposal. If you run into conflicts or need help setting up employment contracts, it can help to have an experienced lawyer on your side.