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Don’t be spooky

therealadam.com

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Re: Don’t be spooky

#141

Post by Aeolun »

ssss11 wrote: post #134
Waterluvian wrote: post #41

Early in my career I got a Monday morning meeting invite on a Friday afternoon just after I left the office. The meeting was called “The future of “ Entire weekend was a write off. I was so anxious. And yep. They shut down the unit (but I got to keep my job). As a result this is forefront in my mind as a manager. One thing that works great is whenever I ask questions about something, anything, I also say “this is on…

You’ve just made me think about memories I’ve surpressed of a job I had, where the boss would hold Monday morning meetings every week to go around the table and get updates from the team. He took the opportunity to pick on someone different each time and rip them to shreds. It was a horrible thing to be part of. Needless to say my Sunday evenings were a write off during that period with the stress of having to go to…

What could compel someone to want to start their Monday morning that way?

Re: Don’t be spooky

#142

Post by Aeolun »

Ozzie_osman wrote: post #129
verve_rat wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So I'm a little confused. This whole thread implies that in the States you get laid off and ushered out of the building on the same day? Is that common practice? I understand that most(?) Of the US is an "at will" jurisdiction, but where I'm from all employment contracts have a notice period in them. So when employment is terminated, by either party, there is a 2-4 week period where the employee works out their notic…

Getting laid off and shown the door immediately after (plus having your access to systems and buildings revoked) is very common. The reason for this is because the HR person drafting this policy probably had someone take advantage of the window between when someone is told they are laid off and when they are actually terminated, and so the policy gets made to reduce that liability. It sucks for the 90% of people who…

I dunno, as a European that sounds absolutely mental to me. How about transfer of knowledge and ownership of projects?

Re: Don’t be spooky

#143

Post by LogonType10 »

xxpor wrote: post #76
Waterluvian wrote: post #41

Early in my career I got a Monday morning meeting invite on a Friday afternoon just after I left the office. The meeting was called “The future of “ Entire weekend was a write off. I was so anxious. And yep. They shut down the unit (but I got to keep my job). As a result this is forefront in my mind as a manager. One thing that works great is whenever I ask questions about something, anything, I also say “this is on…

Isn't there an unwritten rule about layoff timing that it's always on a Friday? Always do layoffs on Fridays so people have time on the weekend to calm down instead of going postal?

I've heard the opposite. You lay off on a Monday so you have 5 business days to call recruiters. You give a promotion or bonus on a Friday so the employee can celebrate on the weekend and won't slack off the rest of the week.

Re: Don’t be spooky

#144

Post by LogonType10 »

xxpor wrote: post #79
jlund-molfese wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d usually first communicate that in an email where you express your appreciation and briefly explain why you’re leaving, along with your last day. Then the manager will usually schedule an exit interview for the report (or, if you’re at a bad company, fire you on the spot).

I have seen situations where the person was immediately escorted out, but it was for competitive security purposes. They still got paid for their 2 weeks. That seems fine, if a little paranoid.

This seems normal for employees with privileged access. Give them a two week vacation on their way out.

Re: Don’t be spooky

#145

Post by taeric »

LogonType10 wrote: post #143
xxpor wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't there an unwritten rule about layoff timing that it's always on a Friday? Always do layoffs on Fridays so people have time on the weekend to calm down instead of going postal?

I've heard the opposite. You lay off on a Monday so you have 5 business days to call recruiters. You give a promotion or bonus on a Friday so the employee can celebrate on the weekend and won't slack off the rest of the week.

This feels like the area of advice where you can probably concoct a narrative that supports any particular day of the week. :D

Re: Don’t be spooky

#146

Post by ljm »

Jolter wrote: post #118
Waterluvian wrote: post #41

Early in my career I got a Monday morning meeting invite on a Friday afternoon just after I left the office. The meeting was called “The future of “ Entire weekend was a write off. I was so anxious. And yep. They shut down the unit (but I got to keep my job). As a result this is forefront in my mind as a manager. One thing that works great is whenever I ask questions about something, anything, I also say “this is on…

Some weird behavior at my employer perhaps. We had several rounds of layoffs during my tenure and they were always announced at an all-hands meeting at 9 AM, announced the same morning. I still get nervous any time there’s a meeting called for 9. At least they had the good sense to not announce them for the next day.

Thursday, 10am: Company All-Hands. Scheduled at short notice.

First 10 or 15 minutes is beating around the bush about how well things have been going, buuuuut....

Another 10 minutes of different leaders explaining how difficult the decision was, crocodile tears and all.

Everyone, meanwhile, is waiting for leadership to stop wasting time and get to the point. If it wasn't obvious at the start, it would be crystal clear now.

Another 5 minutes or so of hand-wringing about how amazing everyone is and how hard this was, to complete the bullshit sandwich.

Re: Don’t be spooky

#148

Post by ljm »

thebean11 wrote: post #56
jlund-molfese wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d usually first communicate that in an email where you express your appreciation and briefly explain why you’re leaving, along with your last day. Then the manager will usually schedule an exit interview for the report (or, if you’re at a bad company, fire you on the spot).

Eh, when I left my last company I felt it was important to deliver the news in person. I had been with my manager 3 years and an email didn’t seem right.

I did it in a 1:1 call, just... "hey, just letting you know I'm gonna hand in my resignation."

Funnily enough my boss had the same idea so we were both informing each other that we were leaving, in the same conversation.

Re: Don’t be spooky

#149

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

Good advice. I used to be very careful to be "un-spooky" as a manager.

That said, nothing beats a good track record. If I don't have a reputation for stabbing people in the back, throwing employees under the bus, being rude, inconsiderate, and obnoxious, then I'll likely be a lot less scary to my employees, even when I have to withhold information, or toe stupid corporate lines.

A lot of folks think that kindness and empathy are interpreted as weakness, and, in some cases, this is true, but, in the aggregate, it's entirely possible to be quite authoritative, respected, and obeyed, while also being kind, honest, and sympathetic. At least, this was the case for me. YMMV.

Re: Don’t be spooky

#150

Post by quickthrower2 »

ipaddr wrote: post #138
GauntletWizard wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The American system is designed to keep the power balance by making it easy to get another job. Yes, there's some economic power difference - and sometimes it is out of balance. The idea that your boss has control over you is silly; your boss has the control over you that you give them in exchange for compensation, and you can always just quit - I wish people would do so more, because many of the worst attributes of…

With health insurance connected to your employment, references checks, previous salary leveling, noncompetes, the interview process.. the American system doesn't make it easy to get another job.

Yeah I felt bad for writing the comment a while back “if you want a big vacation just take time off between jobs” and then I realised in the US that means you’d probably have no health insurance for that time.

I saw another comment saying you need more than 10M to be truly financially independent in case you get sick … to a single person!

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