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Ask HN: What to do when people are leaving my company every week?

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11–20 of 24 posts

Re: Ask HN: What to do when people are leaving my company every week?

#11
If I were in your shoes, I'd start asking people who are leaving or have left why they decided to do so.

They may know something about the company that you don't, or the company may be getting targeted by talent poachers, or any of a thousand other reasons. You need more information.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when people are leaving my company every week?

#12
Often it's because a lot of them stuck around for each other, so when someone leaves, the others follow a friend.

It's often caused by conflict in culture. A lot of people often mistake this for bad management, but very often it can be caused by bad employees too.

I've entered companies that were bleeding employees (they're easy to interview for, lol).

Some are great. They bled out a lot of the fat and toxins and went on to become really good companies. Some places became a complete mess.

I think if you don't feel like it's gotten worse, it could just be getting better.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when people are leaving my company every week?

#13
I’ve been in this situation. Frequently it’s because new owners are acting quickly to turn the culture into what they want rather than what the previous owners or leadership set up, while trying to fix some perceived problem at the same time. This often means tearing down what others were trying to build up, and bringing down a culture that people had bought into. Thus, people leaving.

If this might be the case, then my advice is this - talk to the person as high up as possible that is making the changes, ask them what they want the future culture to look like. Then, decide for yourself if you want to work in that culture, whether you think they can actually get there without it all burning down, and whether you trust them to not lie to you.

If you want to be a part of that future, then you’re incredibly valuable as you can help course correct by communicating when things aren’t going in that direction. It’s great to be in that situation. In either of the other situations, know that you’re taking on a bunch of risk in terms of your work life balance, enjoyment of work, and probably sanity while the org you’re in contorts and buckles. If it’s still worth it, stay. If it’s not worth it, go.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when people are leaving my company every week?

#14

Possibilities: 1) they're all leaving for the same place, each one recruiting the next 2) they know something you don't about the company's future, under the new ownership 3) the fact of big changes made them look around at where they were for the first time in a while, and the things that had long been just annoyances became reasons to leave. 4) they were quietly asked to leave, but given time to find a new job else…

I'd add: for some reason the pivot made them loose hope in the vision (unclear communication of new vision, frequent pivots, unattractive idea)

Re: Ask HN: What to do when people are leaving my company every week?

#16
post #11

If I were in your shoes, I'd start asking people who are leaving or have left why they decided to do so. They may know something about the company that you don't, or the company may be getting targeted by talent poachers, or any of a thousand other reasons. You need more information.

This sounds good - add them on linked in, go for a coffee outside of work once they have left.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when people are leaving my company every week?

#18
> new owners and we pivoted our product to adapt to the market

There you go: A lot of people choose a job because they like the management and product.

That being said: If you like the job, and generally believe in the company, it's worth staying. A good job has its ups and downs.

I once took a job in San Francisco where, in the interview, they told me they were moving in 6 weeks to Menlo Park. Throughout the move, they lost a lot of people who lived in San Francisco and didn't want to commute to Menlo Park.

This job ended up having high turnover for the first few years because we went through a few bad managers. I was able to roll with it because I liked the job; but if I wasn't excited about the product and had better opportunities elsewhere...

Re: Ask HN: What to do when people are leaving my company every week?

#19
post #12

Often it's because a lot of them stuck around for each other, so when someone leaves, the others follow a friend. It's often caused by conflict in culture. A lot of people often mistake this for bad management, but very often it can be caused by bad employees too. I've entered companies that were bleeding employees (they're easy to interview for, lol). Some are great. They bled out a lot of the fat and toxins and wen…

> A lot of people often mistake this for bad management, but very often it can be caused by bad employees too.

If a company is allowing poisonous employees to remain at the company, that is bad management in action.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when people are leaving my company every week?

#20
New owners and a pivoted product means, in effect, that you all got unwillingly transferred to a new company with new bosses. People are deciding for themselves if they like the new reality or not, and it is not uncommon to have an exodus in such situations. It does not necessarily indicate that the new owners and products have inherent problems, it simply indicates that it is not what people signed up for.

You have two possible scenarios (in general):

1) The new owners are competent, the pivot was a good move, and the company is in a good place. If this is the scenario, it could be good for you to be someone who has been around through the changes, and are now a bigger fish in a smaller pond.

2) Those things are not true, the owners do not know what they are doing, and are flailing, still trying to find product/market fit, or have other problems. In this scenario, leave. They might work out the problems and succeed in the long run, but it won't be a pleasant ride.

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