EU notice period calculator

A notice period is the time that has to pass between when one party announces it wants to end an employment contract and when the contract actually ends. In most European labour codes the period is set asymmetrically: the employee usually owes a shorter notice than the employer, and the employer's obligation often grows with the employee's tenure. Belgium and Poland are the main exceptions to that pattern — they apply the same scale in both directions.

Beyond the headline number, four practical layers interact: the labour code minimum (the floor that no contract can undercut), the applicable collective agreement (Tarifvertrag, CCNL, convention collective — often longer than the floor), the individual employment contract (which can extend the collective period for senior roles), and the protected-status overlay (pregnancy, parental leave, long-term sickness, recognised disability, works council membership) which can suspend or override every layer above. Trial period is the only situation in which most countries allow same-day termination with no notice at all.

WorkDaten's calculator returns a CONSERVATIVE estimate based on the statutory floor for ten European countries. Where the country's rules are heavily sector-driven (Italy CCNL, France conventions, UK contractual supersession), a warning prompts you to check your actual contract before relying on the number. The result page also displays the legal reference and links to the official labour-code source so you can verify the figure independently. It is a planning estimate, not a substitute for advice from an employment lawyer or your country's labour authority.