Employee hands in notice, manager demands she write 100 page technical manual in her last 10 days: 'I have spent seven years building these processes'

How much responsibility should an employee have with a company when they know they're going to leave?

Many would argue that a notice period is pure courtesy. Technically speaking, any employee who doesn't want to work at their job anymore could just clock out and not come in the next day, but that would leave an employer in a tricky situation. 

As a result, most workplaces dictate in their contracts that those who agree to work with them have to give them a heads-up before they move on to greener pastures. If they don't, they may not get that reference that could be necessary in the next job. It isn't a perfect system, but it is understandable as to why it exists.

For those workers who want nothing more than to start on the next new thing, this process can be annoying. More than that, when some employers find out that a valuable employee is going to leave, they get downright exploitative with them for their final weeks of work. They want to get the most value for money that they can before they send out that final paycheck, and it can leave the employee second-guessing whether it is worth it to stick around for so long.