Solid copy. You did everything correctly. IMO, this is a common occurrence in US corporations. I have experienced almost identical scenarios twice in my career. It’s vexing, but once you submit notice, you are out of the tribe.
ETA: Tribe is not intended as a slam on indigenous cultures. I’m thinking more of the Paleolithic concept of tribe. Those UP cats have me running scared, lol.
Same exact thing happened to me a few years ago. Found a new role that I was happy moving on to, never said a word or asked for anything, just handed 2 weeks notice to my boss. The company initiated convos around what they could do to have me stay, etc., and I ended up staying.
Who knows how things would’ve ended up in the long run - COVID hit and I was a part of layoffs, but that might’ve happened anyway - but in the back of my mind I always wonder if that stuck with them even though I didn’t do anything except say “Thanks for the opportunity, I’ve found a new role” and they initiated everything after that.
Dont discuss important things over chat.
“Hey Grue’s boss. Have you got 5 minutes”
What is the new boss like otherwise?
Enforced WFH with zero flexibility is a big red flag for me, but its relevant where that policy is originating from.
New boss is a classic milquetoast IT pushover. Does everything because it’s easier than delegating, in at 8am out 7pm works weekends seemingly by choice. Obviously the enforcement is coming from above, he’s made statements like “I’d be fine but…”
Another 0 bus factor dude, everyone is always popping over for help on this or that he’s the secret keeper of the IT knowledge. He said “this whole move hasn’t been handled very well, I understand that you’re upset.” Seems like a nice guy tbh. Is 100% being massively undervalued.
There’s probably a lot of politics your boss has to deal with before he can give you an answer there.
You probably have a lot of knowledge and skills that are valuable to the old project and maybe there are other people or external contractors who can’t do their work without your contribution but there’s no one who could immediately step into old project and do the job you can do and your boss needs to work with old PM and whoever is the business owner of old project to agree on a satisfactory plan for transition before he can say yes.
Problem is a guy like that will never stick up for you when you need it because he’s afraid of conflict. It’s a little better than a total asshole who goes around picking fights over trivial things all day but not that much better. There will probably be at other points a need (like with the commute thing) for your boss to stand up on your behalf to his bosses and he won’t do it.
Yeah the “weak good guy boss” is terrible for your career. The “good guy who fights for you” boss is a unicorn, what you really want is “sociopath who fights for you.”
Yeah I’m done being nice, I never really believed in the whole “people don’t quit jobs they quit managers” but in this case yeah for sure.
We had a call later on today and he’s like “I want to make sure you’re leaving for the right reason” and I’m not dumb enough to take that bait and just paused 3 seconds, blinked at him, and said “what?” and he walked it back and asked me “why are you leaving” which of course I trotted out the old tired “I think its time for a change” stuff.
My concern would be that they would revisit the WFH issue at a later date. They were clearly unprepared for you to quit, but now that they know you are willing to leave, they make work on a contingency and thus the next time the demand you back in the office, you won’t have the same leverage.
If you are the only person that is allowed to fully WFH, I don’t see how it’s not going to create issues and be re-visited.
That’s a bit dangerous, they’ll sacrifice you at any moment without hestiation.
Where does Jack Donaghy fall on this continuum? Apparently he’s been known to kill his employees
I’ve had a good guy who fights for me boss twice, it’s great. Second one moved to a new company and I followed him six months later.
LOL
Now let’s talk about your exit interview. Don’t fall for that trap either. Zero upside for you. If you feel compelled to participate, your responses are:
I’ve had a great experience here and I’m looking forward to my new opportunity. I wish everyone all the best!
Things my manager could have done better? Hmmm, I wouldn’t presume to know what’s on their plate. I’m looking forward to my next opportunity and I wish everyone all the best!
It has served me well to remember that HR doesn’t work for me. They work for the firm. They exist to protect the firm.
Imagine being in HR. Lol HR, always.
I’m not sure I entirely agree.
HR do work for the firm. But often, the firm actually wants to improve thing for employees. It isnt a zero sum game.
My team runs exit interviews all the time. Mostly call centre agents who have left in the first 3 months. We use this info to help make training and recruitment better. If theres negative feedback on the manager then we deal with that too.
Sure, the exit interviews can be helpful for the firm (that the employee is leaving), but there’s zero upside for the employee to engage.
You’re leaving, so any positive changes at the firm won’t help you, and any blowback from the exit interview that filters back to the manager or anybody else has the potential to become a problem. If you’re already quitting, best to just smile and get out of there.
The only upside is if you really hate your boss and want some sort of revenge. It’s unlikely, but not impossible, to work. Plus it could hurt you down the line, so you should make sure it’s really worth doing.
In big organizations they (HR) absolutely, close to 100% of the time, have exactly zero interest in making anything better for anyone except senior management. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen well meaning employees go to HR and end up shit canned, transferred, etc. Senior managers see HR as janitors. When you’re in a toxic environment you just have to find another job, period.