How to Resign Gracefully
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How to Resign Gracefully
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Re: How to Resign Gracefully
#2After reading tons of comments from people with varying viewpoints, I still can't comprehend how someone could say this to their employee:
"... Good luck being employee 4,367 at a dying company....Horribly disappointed in you."
I don't care if the employee only sent out an email without a face-to-face conversation or resigned in person and then sent an email for documentation purposes. I don't care if the employee was horrible, mean-tempered, or terrible at programming. I don't care if he was core to the entire startup, without whom the company is bound to fail. None of it matters. His email was very polite and I can absolutely see myself in his shoes. Sure he called his next opportunity "amazing" but so what? In next paragraph he commends his ex-coworkers/teams and thanks everyone. What else could he have said in a resignation email?
I just can't believe someone in CEO-level position replied to a resignation email like this. Not every email should be treated the same. "Hey I'm sick today, can't make it to work" or "Sorry! I haven't fixed the bug yet" are very different from "This isn’t an easy email to write..." As a manager, you do not treat those emails lightly or brush them off as good riddance.
Re: How to Resign Gracefully
#3After reading tons of comments from people with varying viewpoints, I still can't comprehend how someone could say this to their employee: "... Good luck being employee 4,367 at a dying company....Horribly disappointed in you." I don't care if the employee only sent out an email without a face-to-face conversation or resigned in person and then sent an email for documentation purposes. I don't care if the employee wa…
The entire tone of the story turned me off. Nothing can excuse the manager's behavior. If you are a manager, you're held to a higher standard.
But as an employee, if you're resigning by email, your message should be "I am resigning as of $(now + 14.days). Sincerely, $name". Anything else can be expressed verbally.
Re: How to Resign Gracefully
#4This article condemns the employee for doing something well within his rights in a polite manner because that's not the Right Way To Do Things. It then goes on to say "An employer is well within their rights to bar you from the premises."
I mean, really? This is a two-way street here.
Re: How to Resign Gracefully
#5Early on in my career, I learned a lesson from a retiring colleague -- a former Army Colonel, "never be loyal to a company because the company won't be loyal to you." You can be loyal to individuals, and people can be loyal to you. But the company? Nah. Lots of people get burnt really early in their careers thinking that showing intense loyalty to an organization will be rewarded when no such thing happens -- an "organization" doesn't care. At best, your boss might give you a bump if you are loyal to him/her, and that kind of thing pays off in the long run, in terms of keeping well built bridges (it's amazing how often you meet the same people in a given industry no matter how big).
The reason I'm commenting about this?
> They’re not in the office? You wait a few days until they are. They new job can’t way? Bullshit. Or, if true, it’s a good sign that it’s an organization you don’t want to work for because they don’t care about you.
This is the kind of idealistic naiveté, that while nice in principle, doesn't really matter in reality. Show up, do a good job, when the time is right, move on. If you boss isn't there, call them. If they aren't making themselves available to the employees, then I suppose they fall into the category of "places that don't care about you" anyways.
Organizations, by definition never care about you and you shouldn't care about them. Care about your work and doing a good job -- that builds self-respect and your reputation. Ask for what you want when you want it and be patient until you get it, don't be a baby or an asshole, be flexible when better ideas than yours come along, that builds respect. Business isn't about feelings, it's about production and making more money than you lay out. If you want feelings, wait 'till quitting time and the after-work meetup at the local happy hour where everybody can commiserate all they want over $3 beers.
Think your company cares about you because of the free t-shirts, catered food and free drinks? Are you kidding me? They just know they can squeeze and extra 2-3 hours a day out of your sorry ass at pretty much no extra pay and about $10-15/day.
Other than that, the post is pretty spot on.
Re: How to Resign Gracefully
#6After reading tons of comments from people with varying viewpoints, I still can't comprehend how someone could say this to their employee: "... Good luck being employee 4,367 at a dying company....Horribly disappointed in you." I don't care if the employee only sent out an email without a face-to-face conversation or resigned in person and then sent an email for documentation purposes. I don't care if the employee wa…
I wish your reply hadn't been deleted, I was about to reply with:
Re: How to Resign Gracefully
#7You Will Get Yelled At
A lot of comments on TechCrunch revolved around being treated badly. If you’re lucky you have a boss that’s passionate about what they’re doing. If so, such bosses will get heated and yell because they care.
Yeah, right.
I don't work well while being yelled at. I don't want to deal with that. And so I refuse to work in environments where I get yelled at. Seriously, if you're my boss and you yell at me, my resume is being updated that night and I'm going to shop it around. If you're my co-worker then I'll wait until you calm down some, and raise the issue. If I don't get an apology then I'm going to either my or your boss about it depending on the political dynamics of the company. If the company doesn't agree that you were out of line, I'm going to find another job and go.
And yes, there are people I've worked with that have broken this rule which I choose not to work with ever again.
Now I understand that some people, cultures, etc differ. In some yelling is OK. That is fine. I choose not to be in those ones. And I'm far from the only person who feels this way.
So if you're a boss and you yell, take a moment to consider this. No matter what excuses you give yourself for your crappy behavior, are you losing really good employees because they don't agree with you on this issue? After you've thought about it for a while, perhaps you'll find better ways to handle stress than yelling at people below you in the hierarchy.
Re: How to Resign Gracefully
#8You Will Get Yelled At A lot of comments on TechCrunch revolved around being treated badly. If you’re lucky you have a boss that’s passionate about what they’re doing. If so, such bosses will get heated and yell because they care. Yeah, right. I don't work well while being yelled at. I don't want to deal with that. And so I refuse to work in environments where I get yelled at. Seriously, if you're my boss and you yel…
Expecting to be in a job where there's never any conflict is a lot like expecting to be in a relationship without ever fighting.
Re: How to Resign Gracefully
#9After reading tons of comments from people with varying viewpoints, I still can't comprehend how someone could say this to their employee: "... Good luck being employee 4,367 at a dying company....Horribly disappointed in you." I don't care if the employee only sent out an email without a face-to-face conversation or resigned in person and then sent an email for documentation purposes. I don't care if the employee wa…
Fact is, Yahoo is a directionless arguably dying company and very much a large company rather than a startup with all that entails, probably meaning many meetings before you can ever change anything and so on.
And Jason said something in the heat of the moment? So what? They just promoted the guy and he can't even sit down and have a conversation? I'd be horribly disappointed too.
Remember "disappointed" means you actually care and had high hopes/expectations for that person. That's WAY better than no expectations whatsoever.
Re: How to Resign Gracefully
#10You Will Get Yelled At A lot of comments on TechCrunch revolved around being treated badly. If you’re lucky you have a boss that’s passionate about what they’re doing. If so, such bosses will get heated and yell because they care. Yeah, right. I don't work well while being yelled at. I don't want to deal with that. And so I refuse to work in environments where I get yelled at. Seriously, if you're my boss and you yel…
Expecting to be in a job where there's never any conflict is a lot like expecting to be in a relationship without ever fighting.
He didn't say that.