How to negotiate your departure via a Mutually Agreed Contract Break-up
Since 2008, this particular arrangement of French Labor laws allows a company or an employee to amicably end a permanent work contract. In particular:
- Break-up motive is not necessary;
- The procedure is simple (standard paper or online forms), amicable (mutual agreement) and fast (1 to 4 weeks initial negotiations excluded);
- The employee gets unemployment allowances;
- The employer avoids the pain and expenses of a dispute.
A MACB applies to permanent contracts (full-time or part-time) but not to fixed nor temp contracts.
Legal side
Whichever party is requesting a MACB, know that the other party is under no obligation to accept it. Hence this is a negotiation.
Psychological
Now using this procedure requires to give up:
- The temptation or desire of a conflict & the associated stimulations;
- The dynamic “to be right”and prove that the other “is wrong”;
- The temptation to seek revenge and hurt the other party;
- The benefits of Psychological Games (per the Transactional Analysis) whether as a Rescuer, Persecutor or Victim (roles in S. KARPMAN’s dramatic triangle).
It also implies to:
- Seek leaving in good terms with the employer;
- Protect an initial negotiation window to in order to get a better-than-legal severance package;
- Emphasize the common interest of the break-up (unemployment allowances for you, avoidance of a dispute for your employer);
- Anticipate your leaving in both parties’ interests and specially to prevent organizational disruptions;
Coaching
Let’s overlook 2 of these aspects in the context of this article.
Give up the temptation (or desire) to be right
Wanting to « be right » (and the other one being necessarily “wrong”) is a battle logic. It says “I want to fight you and you’ll lose if you were not to give me what I want”.
Even if you job has become difficult, painful for whatever reason and even if you blame your employer for the pain of it, requesting a MACB is a smart way to not only take responsibility for your leaving but also minimize a potential sense of failure.
Renounce the Psychological Games Benefits
Per transactional analysis, a “psychological game” is a series of visible -and hidden- exchanges (transactions) between 2 or more people which objective is maintain and reinforce one’s vision of oneself, the others and the world (frame of reference). This is the -unconsciously- foreseeable game benefit. Except that in this game (more to be understood as strategy), no one really wins. All feel rather bad in fact.
So, it is not about make the discussion progress toward a mutually-satisfactory ending as the essential happens at a hidden level.
To renounce the games benefits is not as easy as it seems as you first of all have to recognise that you are in a game with the other, and work with your coach or therapist to become aware of what’s, by definition, outside of your Adult conscience.
In other words, becoming aware of what’s at stake for you in these relational moments and the meaning for you is the way to go to be on a positive path in this separation process.
Conclusion
The MACB is a peaceful solution, flexible and fast. It requires for you to be clear with your personal objectives, achieve a negotiated departure and not seek a fight to prove to the world (and mainly to yourself) that you are stronger than the other.
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