Should You Resign in the Morning or At the End of the Day?

By Becky - February 16, 2023

Best Time of Day to Give Resignation

Resigning from a job can be stressful, but it’s a common occurrence in the work world. While most people want to get it done and over with, picking the wrong time can do more harm than good. Let's look at whether you should resign in the morning or at the end of the day.

When is the Best Time of Day to Resign

Should I Resign in the Morning?

Resigning in the morning is usually not a good choice for the employee. There are a few reasons for that. First, your boss can decide to walk you out immediately, and your last day of work is gone.

Second, you have to consider whether or not your boss will take it well. Do you want to interrupt their busy morning with bad news? If you do, they might not be happy with you throughout the rest of your shift.

Third, imagine how your coworkers will feel if you put in notice first thing in the morning and the boss just walks you out. They probably won’t be happy with you when they’re one employee short for that shift.

The only time you’re at an advantage with resigning in the morning is when you’re okay with quitting immediately and don’t care much about the last day of work (or your coworkers).

Should I Resign at the End of the Day?

You might have to spend an entire workday stressing out about handing in your resignation, but resigning at the end of the day is almost always the best resignation option for you and your team.

You get to accumulate those last few hours on your final paycheck, and you aren’t potentially leaving your coworkers short-staffed if the boss makes you leave right away.

Resigning in the evening also gives you time to prepare for what you will say when it comes time. There aren’t any downsides to leaving at the end of the day, so we typically suggest you push any resignation chats off until you are wrapped up with work.

Best day of the week to Give Your Resignation

When picking a day of the week to resign, we tend to lean toward the end of the week. Thursday is our ideal day because it’s late enough in the week when most managers are done with any high-priority tasks, and it also gives them a few days over the weekend to relax if they are upset about your decision.

"47 million Americans left their jobs in 2021. With an average of 3.98 million leaving their jobs every single month, peaking in November when 4.5 million people quit."

— Zippia

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How to Properly Resign when you decide on a day and time

After deciding on a time and day to resign, your next step is to prepare for what’s to come. Vidcruiter provides a great checklist on how to go about that resignation. We have also written an informative article on how to write a simple resignation letter.

Here are the steps you can take to resign from a job properly:

Provide the reasoning behind why you are leaving the company
Write and hand them a formal resignation letter (or email it to them)
Be prepared for situations that may arise during your resignation (like angry managers or being pushed aside for specific tasks)
Remain positive throughout the process
Do you best to resign in person if you can (obviously, remote workers might have a more difficult time with this)
Give a reasonable amount of notice before your last day (think 2+ weeks to be safe)
Check if they would like you to help hire or train your replacement
Reach out and let your close coworkers know what’s happening

Resigning from a job, regardless if it’s a happy or unhappy parting of ways, is always challenging. Change and the unknown can create a stressful situation, but the result will be worth it if you handle things correctly.

We hope this helps, and good luck with your resignation!

Title: Should You Resign in the Morning or At the End of the Day?

Category: Career Development

Tags: resign in the morning or end of day, best time of day to give resignation, best time to resign morning or afternoon, quit vs resign, resign from a job, should I resign in the morning or at the end of the day

Co-Author: Becky is a contributor for theJub. She’s a writing and talent acquisition specialist who loves to apply her skills through creative writing and editing.