So, you want to leave ... Your Job?

INTRODUCTION

When I was thinking about the title, I was stuck on the ‘so you want to leave’ as the title and then I had to complete the sentence before people added words like ‘your husband, your wife, your children or ….’ Just to make sure we are on the same page.

Before I do share my thoughts on this new article, I must just say that what I share is based on my own ‘real life’ experiences and I have been inspired by my (young adult) children pushing me to share stories such as what I am about to share for others to be in a position to ‘learn’ from it as well.

As a point of reference, I recently did one of those things that the shrinks say puts a huge amount of stress on you as an individual and on the family as a whole by coming to a decision in late March 2019 that it would be in the family’s best interest to relocate to Canada (from South Africa), find a new job and sell our property and business – all at the age of 55. Well, in reality, serious job discussions started in April of 2019 and by July 2019, I had landed in Toronto, collected my work Visa and went to work for a week at my new employers place (to talk further). By late September 2019, we loaded our container and whilst the house was technically sold, the money was however not reflecting in the bank account when we climbed on that plane on the 4th of October 2019. Thereafter, it was a matter of managing things till they fell into place. 

And that is the crux of most problems – being in a position to manage what is in your control and understanding the process for what is not in your control and then finding that level of comfort and confidence to manage that process or become part of the process.

What I am trying to say is that if I can do this at my age, then each of you will hopefully be or place yourself in a position to ‘line up your dominoes’ so that they tumble as you expect.

DO YOU NEED A CHANGE?

But let’s start at the beginning and try to answer some of those hard questions you need to ask yourself that you must ultimately consider before taking drastic steps such as this or to just change your role / environment.

Why do you want to leave? Are the reasons you have tangible or intangible? Are they within your capability to be dealt with in a rapid manner to the parties’ collective best interest and are they within your control (or not)? 

I have found that when discussing with employees why they want to leave (and it is important to talk to someone in the organization that can offer sound, unbiased advise) is that whilst salary is sometimes at the top of the list, the greater majority of times employees consider leaving are (in no particular order) related to a lack of respect (for the individual); a lack of appreciation or recognition; lack of trust; a lack of development or growth opportunities; not affording individuals with spare capacity a greater scope and as a result, them feeling underutilized; placing individuals in positions of authority but not empowering them; failing to honor commitments made or just even affording the employee in question the opportunity to run with the initiative or project (that resulted in the decision to leave discussion). 

Having said this, I have also felt that in many cases, both parties stand to lose (employer and employee) and with some frank discussions, it is remarkable how much both parties can benefit just by discussing the topics that caused e.g. the oversight (from the employer) or by understanding why he / she was not considered e.g. for the role (from the employees perspective). 

One must also not forget that in some cases, employees lose faith and confidence in their management or even that their manager has either no or bad ‘people skills’; or that the company has a poor communication system in place be it to share big stories (macro level) or even on the ‘one-on-one’ (micro level). There is also the issue about making employees work till they have ‘stretched’ to breaking point or even ‘over loading’ them with an undue workload and not providing them the support when they reach out or ‘cry’ for help. And ‘support’ does not only mean ‘extra bodies’ – it could also mean mentoring, guiding, project support, etc.

In some cases, employees also want to leave because of either a poor company culture or an ‘unhealthy work environment’ or even one that is ‘uninspiring’ which does not bode well for employees’ wellbeing. Let’s also not forget that if a company has a ‘value system’ but often deviates from it by following the ‘do what I say and not what we stand for’ will often leave employees confused and them wanting to look for a place that ‘practices what it preaches’ which allows employees to ‘connect with the companies value system’.

If you are an employer, why not use the above chart to ask yourself (or get your management team) to ask their employees if various employees are….

• Paid well (in relation to their role and the market)?
• Mentored to the point that they can start to add additional value to the company and if not, do you have this internal capacity to not only provide the mentoring but to create an environment and ultimately, the culture where mentoring is ‘natura’ and occurs without prompting. This should also lead to reviewing your recruitment practices for new incumbents as well as reviewing current employees with this in mind.
• ‘Challenged’ in their role/s where that can actually add value to an initiative, an idea and ultimately to the bottom line?
• If the structure is a very flat structure, it may make ‘promotion’ a bit more of a challenge but can the employees’ effort be recognized by giving them e.g. additional responsibilities, getting them involved in ‘improvement projects’, etc?

The idea here is that as an employer, take a step back and just reflect back for a moment to look at your employees and try to look into the employees head by asking some of these pointed (and other) questions as one former CEO once said to me, the ‘greatest company to manage is one without employees and customers’.  

EXPECTATIONS

I have had employees share that one of the drivers that was considered during the ‘decision making process’ was a lack of vision and an alignment to personal development opportunities.

At my previous company, we used to have a bi-annual task to ensure we met with our respective to talk to them about their expectations and then report back on some of the bigger expectations to management in case there was something that could be done to benefit many as opposed to one. At the same time, it was our responsibility to manage the individuals expectations and sometimes those expectations will not cost you anything as it could be as simple as ‘greater exposure to project A’ or 'gaining experience with a particular software’ or even tagging along to meetings to learn / observe from that interaction.

Another point for consideration is that in some cases (as with Covid now), there are personal circumstances that change that require one to e.g. work flexi time, or flexi days, work from home etc. and if the employer is not willing to consider these options (with due consideration to be applied to the role that needs to be fulfilled), then these must be reviewed from a serious light.

WHO CAN YOU TALK TO

Notwithstanding the above, it does mean that the company must have in place an environment that encourages frank discussions of this nature to take place and the maturity for those in positions of power to be humble enough to recognize what is happening without shunning out the issue at hand. 

So, ask yourself the question – does your current organization have a culture in place, one that you can actually take a ‘soft’ problem to the table to discuss? If not, this could be a real reason for considering your next move.

On two occasions, my son (who is a graduate supply chain manager) was employed with certain ‘promises’ being made during the interview process and after week 3 (during the probation period) when my son confronted the employing manager about ‘honoring’ what was said during the interview process with regards to the ‘roles and responsibilities’ not being fulfilled and them not ‘listening’, resigned and cited in his exit interview as to why he left for those in positions of authority to take note. Naturally I was counselling him in the background but I suggested one other thing – put it in the CV so that it becomes a point of discussion that you have principles and that you are not shy to challenge the status quote when ‘the employer does not honor what was agreed’ (during the interview or meeting as the case may be). As you read this note, will you have the courage to resign from a role where you clearly see that things are not what was promised and stand up for your values? Not many will have the courage.

SALARY PARITY

On the question about salary – if money is your single motivator for considering to move but there are e.g. five other ‘smaller’ issues, would the mere matching of your financial expectations wash away all the other issues that are still there and will no doubt raise its head again in the near future? There are two views on this touchy topic:

• View 1: Employee cites ‘salary parity’ as the reason for wanting to leave and use it as a ‘stick’ to bring it to the employers attention that what is happening is not fair nor is it right:
• Employer has the opportunity to review and if in agreement, addresses this recourse. Apologies are made and all agree to move forward with ‘no grudges’.
• If not addressed, you reserve your right to continue with your resignation process.
• View 2: Employer matches the ‘salary parity’ because it buys them time to put in place a Plan B to recruit a new candidate for the role and now ‘own and control’ the process for a potential exit strategy.
• The employee in question should always be aware of this potential threat in the background that could be played out.
• However, if there is a ‘salary parity match’, you may wish to question back pay (as you have been disadvantaged for a period of time) and at the same time, take a moment to reflect on ‘if you had not brought this to their attention’, would the employer have done anything of their own accord?

BEFORE YOU RESIGN

The long and short of all this is that before you consider resignation, take a moment to reflect on the ‘real reasons’ you want to leave and write them down as chances are when you are in that discussion, you will forget them and you can use your notes to ensure you articulate your argument as you had framed them. With that in mind, write down what would it take to ‘fix’ some of these reasons why you want to leave (to your satisfaction).

With all that being said and done, set yourself a target time line to go back and review what was committed to during any discussions and if they are not addressed (barring exceptional company changing factors), then it is time to move on.

The last word on this matter is that resignation is a big decision and the longer you are in a role and the more senior that role, the greater the bond is with your team and as a result, the harder it will be to write that ‘balanced and factual’ resignation letter and then present it to your manager and thereafter, discuss it with your colleagues. From a personal capacity, one can go through the motions in your head but on that day that you bolster the confidence and take that step, that butterfly that was in your tummy will become a frog and it will swell in your throat causing tears to be pushed out of your eyes (which you were not expecting). Others may have a very different experience when resigning ranging from jubilation, relief, anger or frustration – just be prepared to manage any one of the emotions in the appropriate manner (as best as one can given the circumstances).

It goes without saying that in any resignation process, one should plan for the process as a multitude of events could play out from being escorted out of the building (e.g. if you choose to go and work for a competitor) to having to work out your notice period (in my case, 3 months). If you do have to work out a notice period, remain positive as there is no need to get into a negative space. Use this notice period time to start to think about the new role and that will keep you focused and energized and while you focus on the future, ponder on the notion of whether your leaving will require ‘big boots to be filled’, create a vacuum or even require the structure of your current roles (due to your unique abilities)?

The important thing is that you are moving on. Do not lose energy on the past but do take snippets of things you have learnt that worked for you and try to implement them in your new venture and look out for the early signs of those things that did not work for you so you can manage them.

Hopefully this article was insightful and if yes, share it with others and if not, no hassles. 

Good luck in your decision-making process.