191–200 of 431 posts
If you really feel like "sticking it to them", just write anonymous reviews on Glassdoor. Really go into details. Let your feedback be visible to everyone; if you think its useful, someone currently working at the company will bring it up, I guarantee you.
Positive feedback: I praised all the great coworkers, great managers that I worked with, good senior people that I worked with, the companies policies, etc.
Negative feedback: I had left the company because of my last manager who was both toxic and incompetent (my previous managers were great leaders). He had no idea about the work that we did, nor did he have any rudimentary leadership skills. I ranted out everything (it was very soothing) even though I knew he was friends with the HR team. But for once in my life I decided to be super honest and shared what I felt and shared examples, data, emails, etc. It felt very good and I left the company without any emotional baggage.
Latest update: I just came to know that another colleague who had left around the same time had also given a similar feedback about this toxic manager's behavior. The HR decided to share their objective observations but nothing happened as this manager is friends with the senior management too. However, the person who replaced me was an expat from Europe (I and the IT company is in southern Asia and expats are treated like gods here). The expat had the same experience within one month of her joining and she too left the company within 3 months because of this toxic manager. She was not as kind during her exit interview and she also shared a formal complaint. Now the cat was out of the bag and the HR was forced to intervene and more people started sharing their issues about this toxic manager. Long story short: This toxic manager is now in big trouble (I can't share more info here).
So my personal opinion now is: Always share honest feedback about jerks in your exit interviews. You might be doing a good deed in the long run for many people. Sharing an honest feedback during an exit interview is like 'not littering'. If everyone starts doing it, then the city will always be clean for you and for me and for our families :)
I have no idea what the author is on about. The exit interview is often the best 30 minutes of a bad job! You can tell them what they are doing well, what they aren't doing well, praise good employees and criticize bad managers. If you are both professionals, it's a cathartic experience that supports your remaining coworkers. If they are not professional, they weren't going to give you a good reference anyway. But if…
If you need catharsis after leaving a job, call up your old college roommate or your parents to bellyache.
Nothing you say is confidential. There's a good chance the notes will go directly to your old manager and/or manager's manager, with your name on it.
Be bland and non-committal, and if you are really pressed, give the mildest criticism like "I wish the ticketing system was easier to use". Even that has a risk since if the current ticketing system is somebody's pet project and your criticize it, you might get that someone mad at you.
I left a job a few years ago and put the entire management on blast because they could not fathom the singular reason for leaving was poor compensation. A few months later some former coworkers told me that everyone in the company got a surprise raise a few weeks after I left.
Did you ask for a raise and have it rejected?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> criticize bad managers. What do you do when you work for a company where you think managers are bad, and their managers are bad, but they all think they are great and they think you're the problem? How do you objectively (not subjectively) determine if a manager is bad? If 200 people in the organization are "happy enough", it's your word versus theirs on what a good manager vs a bad manager is. HR doesn't care (in…
Sure, if leadership is universally terrible, say your piece and walk away. But there are plenty of situations were the company is okay enough, but leadership should know that there's a specific department or manager who is contributing to turnover. If you refuse to speak up because you think no one will listen, you might equally be part of the problem.
Generally speaking momentary catharsis associated with blowing up bridges isn’t worth it.
I have no idea what the author is on about. The exit interview is often the best 30 minutes of a bad job! You can tell them what they are doing well, what they aren't doing well, praise good employees and criticize bad managers. If you are both professionals, it's a cathartic experience that supports your remaining coworkers. If they are not professional, they weren't going to give you a good reference anyway. But if…
> If they are not professional, they weren't going to give you a good reference anyway. Most 'references' are "Bill worked here from 6/2019 to 12/2020. Bill left with the title of Chief Ball Washer." They may throw in an eligible for rehire or not but the boomer idea of a Employer Reference has been dead and buried almost as long as I have been in the workforce. And I'm closer to retirement than I am to when I joined…
Somebody at new company is a buddy with someone at old company, and calls up to ask "What's the deal on ". No paper trail, nothing for the lawyers to track down.
Do you really think that never happens?
I quit my last job because my team ganged up on me and held an "intervention meeting" because I broke the production environment after my code had passed local development and staging. The person who found out didn't tell me, but silently fixed it and called for a meeting. I incidentally saw we had a meeting with a vague title, and asking about it, my team members avoided elaborating. Eventually, the meeting was a sc…
Good lord, what terrible advice. If anyone is reading this and thinking of adopting his ideas, please consider (with the exception being if you're still early in your career): 1) Being true to yourself is worth more than any of his purported wins 2) Be your own merit, and don't rely on others for references or goodwill 3) If every exit interviewee states that the CEO is a dick, that can't be ignored. She won't lose h…
4) If something is outside of you or your recipient's control, don't worry about it - complaining about it is at best gossip and at worst agitating
5) Part of your job is to help your managers make good decisions. Even if they made a bad decision, it's their responsibility and your job is over. No need to dwell on it.
A lot of people don't seem to know where the line is between being constructive and petulant. Or they are under the mistaken belief that complaining about things makes them seem intelligent or interesting.