I am a Hawaiian man working in Taiwan. Over the years, I had many opportunities to understand how business works in Taiwan. These tactics have helped me gain more knowledge in decision making.
The #1 practice most people do is sign contracts with companies. These contracts guarantees both parties certain compensations to an extent. Companies do not fire these people because of unemployment/severance, so bosses will wait until the end of the contract to resign an employee. This helps the company to not have irate employees doing damages onto the company.
On the flip side, employees will not quit in order to avoid a penalty fee ranging from 300-800$USD. For employees who cannot stand work at a company, they will flip a switch and do many annoying things, enough to not be sued, like make a mess in the bathroom which makes people not want to go inside, argue with other employees, and my favorite, not do any work. They ignore work like crazy until they are sacked. Unemployment will pay for that. Not coming to work, unemployment will cover that as well. Unemployment is mostly for people who do not have work anymore because of being fired. The reason part is not so sensitive in deciding on the unemployment. Quitting is different of course.
Another thing I learned is how people disappear without a word. Most of us are paid on the 7th of every month. Common Taiwanese law. For people who are not contractual employees will work until payday. After that day, they quit without telling people, even managers. This screws many people, but it makes sense. If companies withhold pay as a leverage to keep employees, then it causes a huge inconvenience for them to go through a time consuming process. It is not difficult, but eventually the company will lose. This also saves the person from embarrassment. Managers and other employees may tease, harass, or ask personal questions about quitting, so to save face…people quit without any notice. These employees will work one week, in the beginning of the month, just to collect that final pay and bounce.
I read so many stories here that people give a two week notice to their managers, but are later victims of retaliation: Fired on the spot, deduction in hours, or hell during the last two weeks. Some places may require a notice like hospitals, research facilities, contractual, etc., but for other places, is it really important to give notice? What has your experience taught you to do in this situation?