Leaving our Co-op

How should I let you know about my resignation?

We’d encourage you to speak to your line manager before making any final decision as there may be adjustments, support or other opportunities which you haven’t already considered. However, if you do decide to leave our employment, you should put this in writing to your line manager providing your contractual notice period.

How much notice do I need to give?

The minimum period of notice that you need to give to end your employment with us will be four weeks, unless stated otherwise in your Contract of Employment.  The notice period that applies during your probationary period will also be stated in your Contract of Employment. If you wish to leave earlier, you can ask your line manager to waive all or part of your notice. However, this will be at their discretion and may not be possible for operational reasons.

On the first available payday after your last day of employment, you’ll receive payment for any hours worked, as well as any final adjustments in relation to holiday and any prior agreements made between us.

What happens to my annual holiday entitlement?         

When your employment ends, you'll be entitled to payment in lieu of any accrued and untaken holiday entitlement for that holiday year (including any permitted holiday carry-over from the previous holiday year too). This will be included in your final pay. If you have taken more holiday than you’ve accrued at the date your employment ends, we’ll deduct the equivalent amount from your pay. If this cannot be entirely recovered from your pay, then we will contact you to arrange repayment.

Please remember that your holiday entitlement will be pro-rated based on the date you leave our employment during the holiday year and will not reflect your current holiday balance on Dayforce (which will be based on a full-holiday year). Please contact the People Team if you need any further information about your remaining holiday entitlement.

What happens to my pension?

If you participated in the Royal London Stakeholder Scheme, you can continue to access your plan online by going to Royal London (select ‘Register’ if you’re not already registered). Any queries about information or options for your pension moving forward should be directed to Royal London directly.  Please also remember to keep them updated with any future changes of address so they can continue to keep in contact with you too.

If you are a deferred member of the East of England Co-op Retirement Benefits Scheme, you can contact the Pensionsteam@eastofengland.coop regarding your benefits and options with that scheme.

Please remember that Royal London and our in-house team can provide you with factual information regarding your pension benefits and options, but they’re unable to provide advice. We’d encourage our colleagues to seek independent financial advice regarding their options (you can find the details of independent advisers in your local area at www.unbiased.co.uk). The Pensions Advisory Service, part of the Money and Pensions Service, can also provide independent and free advice on workplace, personal and stakeholder schemes as well as the State Pension. Further information can be found at The Pensions Advisory Service.

Will any deductions be made to my final pay?

In addition to holiday adjustments, we’ll make deductions from your final pay in relation to any existing agreements you have with us. This might include training costs, a personal contribution towards a company car, or repayments in relation to SmartTech or Cycle to Work, for example. The terms of such agreements will have been advised and agreed with you separately.

What happens to my colleague discount card? 

This depends on your length of service. If you have continuous employment of 15 or more years’ service then, at our discretion, you may retain your colleague discount card (along with any associated partner discount card). The terms of our colleague discount card scheme can be viewed here.

Otherwise, your colleague discount card (and any associated partner discount card) will be deactivated when you leave and they should be returned to your line manager.

What about other colleague benefits?

All other colleague benefits end on your last day of employment with us, other than:

• Wagestream - your access will end on the date of your resignation instead.
• Funeral discount - If you have more than 5 years’ service, your colleague discount will be extended for 12 months after your leave date for use against the purchase of a pre-paid funeral plan. If you’d like to redeem this offer, please take a copy of the letter / email you receive from the People Team confirming the end of your employment to any East of England Co-op Funeral Service branch.

As above, if you are actively participating in any schemes (like SmartTech or Cycle to Work), we’ll contact you to outline any particular arrangements which will apply when you leave our co-op.

Will you provide an employment reference for me?      

Yes. All employment reference requests should be sent to hrservices@eastofengland.coop. We owe a duty of care to our colleagues, former colleagues and the prospective employer in preparing a reference.  It is therefore essential that these are true, fair, and accurate.  When providing employment references, we will provide basic factual details around your employment only. There may be exceptions to this where we may be obliged to provide more explicit references, such as a reference requested for a regulated role, security-sensitive occupations, etc.

Do I need to provide consent for you to provide an employment reference for me?

Yes, and if you’re happy to give your consent for all future employment references upfront, you can do this on Zellis Employee Self Service (Your Changes > Reference Consent). This should mean we’re able to deal with future requests quicker as we won’t have to get your consent each and every time we receive a reference request for you.

I’m not leaving but someone I work with is. Can I provide a reference for them?

All employment references must be sent to hrservices@eastofengland.coop to be completed. No other colleagues (including line managers) are permitted to provide employment references on behalf of our co-op, whether in writing or verbally (e.g. in response to a phone request).

You may provide a personal character reference for your colleague (for new employment or other reasons, like renting a new home), which you should agree between yourselves. This would be your own, personal undertaking and not on our behalf. If you do provide a personal character reference, please do so in your own time and ensure there is no reference to our co-op (e.g. not on headed paper or from a company PC or email account, no address stamp or reference to job titles, etc.). If the personal character reference was addressed to us in the first instance, please include the following statement in your reply which should help to keep things clear, “This reference is written in a personal capacity and, for the avoidance of doubt, is not issued with the knowledge or on behalf of the East of England Co-operative Society.

How should I return any work equipment or property?

Your line manager will arrange to collect this from you before you leave. This may include items such as security passes, fobs, premises keys, documents, phones or laptops. We would ask you to return any uniform within one week of your leave date.

Will I have an exit interview?

Yes, you will have the option to do this either in-person with your line manager or, if you'd prefer, we can send an email link to anonymous survey. Either way, we would really appreciate a few minutes of your time for you to share your feedback and experiences with us so we can identify potential opportunities to improve the daily lives of our colleagues. 

How do I access my payslips or make any expense claims after I’ve left?

You will be able to access Zellis Employee Self Service for 40 days after your last day. Please ensure you log-on and arrange to retain any payslips, P60s etc. for future reference, should you wish to do so. We’d ask you to ensure any expense claims are submitted by / on your last day of employment.

I’m leaving for other reasons. Is there anything else I should know?

Information in this section is based on colleagues resigning from our co-op. Whilst most of the above information will also apply if you're leaving under different circumstances, we will confirm separately the arrangements relating to the end of your employment with us.

I’m retiring. Are there any support groups I can join?

We support a variety of groups, including the Retired Colleagues Association. Established in the 1970s, retired East of England Co-op colleagues meet socially and get involved with a variety of activities and outings. Please visit Supported Community Groups to learn more about the Retired Colleagues Association and our other supported groups.