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Ask HN: How to Deal with Multiple Resignations?

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Ask HN: How to Deal with Multiple Resignations?

#1

Post by qetuo13579 »

Last month our company president in the US announced that the electronics manufacturing department in Australia (former head office) will be made redundant and production is moving to the US. The R&D team of 8 electronics and software engineers in AU has been assured that their jobs are safe but 3 have already resigned. The US has a small engineering team but have plans to hire 4 more engineers.

What should we do to boost morale and prevent further resignations? Promise a bonus if they stay for 12 months? Immediate salary increases? Expedite hiring replacements for the engineers who resigned? Invest in professional development training courses for the remaining engineers?

Re: Ask HN: How to Deal with Multiple Resignations?

#2

Post by DamonHD »

Have you asked the 3 who resigned why?

All of the things that you suggest may help, but if it turns out that they all hate US HQ or at least don't trust it and have mentally committed to jumping ship, it may be better to let them go. I've not seen good results from keeping people once they've passed that point.

Re: Ask HN: How to Deal with Multiple Resignations?

#3

Post by helsinkiandrew »

I know from experience that working at an outpost of a company run from another country can suck unless communication and direction are very clear.

Whatever the company may have said about assurances that their jobs are safe, making people in Australia redundant, moving production to the US and hiring more people in the US sounds as if thats the direction the company is heading in and the jobs in AU will be less interesting and eventually eliminated.

Retention bonuses and salary may help, but letting them know what the AU team role will be (why is it being kept rather than moved to the US). Will they have autonomy or ownership of something or just passed overflow work from the US?

Re: Ask HN: How to Deal with Multiple Resignations?

#4

Post by qetuo13579 »

DamonHD wrote: post #2

Have you asked the 3 who resigned why? All of the things that you suggest may help, but if it turns out that they all hate US HQ or at least don't trust it and have mentally committed to jumping ship, it may be better to let them go. I've not seen good results from keeping people once they've passed that point.

Two got spooked and were nervous about their future with only 13 months tenure. The third is a senior dev with more than 10 years who’s disgruntled and convinced he’d only be kept on to tidy up loose ends and then discarded. Of the remaining engineers some have 18 months tenure and others 8 years.

Re: Ask HN: How to Deal with Multiple Resignations?

#5

Post by qetuo13579 »

helsinkiandrew wrote: post #3

I know from experience that working at an outpost of a company run from another country can suck unless communication and direction are very clear. Whatever the company may have said about assurances that their jobs are safe, making people in Australia redundant, moving production to the US and hiring more people in the US sounds as if thats the direction the company is heading in and the jobs in AU will be less inte…

The AU engineers have all the existing product knowledge. The US is hiring for multiple positions to work on new products but US HQ doesn’t want there to be a distinction between the two teams. The plan is for both sites to be involved in all projects.

Re: Ask HN: How to Deal with Multiple Resignations?

#6

Post by brudgers »

There's a maxim that people don't leave bad jobs, they leave bad bosses. There are not a lot of worse things a boss can do than eliminate a person's job because it is a violation of trust. All the things you list could have been part of the plan and offered when the redundancy was announced. That they were not shows that the boss was not thinking about the employees as people, merely as a cost center in an org-chart.

If the president cared, their ass would be on a plane to see people in person. They wouldn't be offloading the search for solutions to you.

Good luck.

Re: Ask HN: How to Deal with Multiple Resignations?

#7

Post by gccs »

qetuo13579 wrote: post #4
DamonHD wrote: post #2

Have you asked the 3 who resigned why? All of the things that you suggest may help, but if it turns out that they all hate US HQ or at least don't trust it and have mentally committed to jumping ship, it may be better to let them go. I've not seen good results from keeping people once they've passed that point.

Two got spooked and were nervous about their future with only 13 months tenure. The third is a senior dev with more than 10 years who’s disgruntled and convinced he’d only be kept on to tidy up loose ends and then discarded. Of the remaining engineers some have 18 months tenure and others 8 years.

Their concerns are valid. If I was them I'd leave as soon as I had an offer from another company. A company opening positions in another location with such few employees is very concerning.

Assurance that their jobs are safe is a joke. Its like when a company says that they are just one big family. Only management believe those lies and they force them on everyone else.

Re: Ask HN: How to Deal with Multiple Resignations?

#8

Post by twobitshifter »

qetuo13579 wrote: post #5
helsinkiandrew wrote: post #3

I know from experience that working at an outpost of a company run from another country can suck unless communication and direction are very clear. Whatever the company may have said about assurances that their jobs are safe, making people in Australia redundant, moving production to the US and hiring more people in the US sounds as if thats the direction the company is heading in and the jobs in AU will be less inte…

The AU engineers have all the existing product knowledge. The US is hiring for multiple positions to work on new products but US HQ doesn’t want there to be a distinction between the two teams. The plan is for both sites to be involved in all projects.

I think the engineers are voting that it’s not a great idea to separate r&d from production. There’s many stories of how this has led to further outsourcing and loss of technical edge.
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