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Could not agree more. The company is not, can not, and will not ever be loyal to you. Ever. They will fire you, lay you off, relieve you of duty instantly for a

Could not agree more. The company is not, can not, and will not ever be loyal to you. Ever. They will fire you, lay you off, relieve you of duty instantly for any reason or no reason at all. They've lobbied for laws to do exactly that (in the US anyway). And they will keep information asymmetrical in their favor. No. Matter. What. In the long run they will be dishonest with you, they will lie to your face, and they will keep you in the dark. You won't know plans until they want you to know plans. They have to. It's the only way it works. You, as the employee, need to play the same game in the same way. Defensively. Know that you can keep information from them. Know you should only give information that is beneficial to you. Never self- sabotage. Never be weak. Business is a ruthless competitive game, and that includes employee to manager. You have no obligation to be honest in an exit interview. If it sucked horribly, leave with a smile and say it was great. Make it so they'll give you a great recommendation for your next gig. Lie to them like they lie to you. Bluff. Play chess, play poker. You don't have to care one whit about leaving your teammates with more work. Does the company give one shit about laying you off a week before Christmas with zero notice? No. They don't give a care at all about the disarray this causes for your life. Ultimately you are a cog, and disposable. You are not "the most valuable resource". You must be as ruthless with them as they are with you. It's the only way it works. Sure, this sounds super cyncial, you can absolutely do this and not be a dick. You don't have to be a dick at all, just think strategically, and know that you are the only one looking out for you, and you don't owe anyone anything.

deagle50 5y ago
This is the way.
avidiax 5y ago
There are people that will dismiss this as overly cynical because of the presentation. But it is true. In a big company, the VP of whatever department may feel bad about a layoff before Christmas, but they don't know you personally, and whatever numbers or major investors are motivating this don't lie. In a small company, the same is true. They might wait until things are hopeless instead of trending to hopeless, but either way, they'll lay you off when it makes sense for them. You might like your boss, but informing them well in advance of a departure is generally not a good move. Nice as they may be, they can't unknow that knowledge, and it will affect all their decisions going forward. And you, who are so sure you are leaving, may find that your outside offer is rescinded the week before Christmas (see above). 2 weeks is a reasonable courtesy and an acceptable risk. If your company needs you beyond that, contract billing should start at 5x your salaried rate, 20 hour minimum.
- TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
  Agreed with everything you and OP wrote until your very last line: “ If your company needs you beyond that, contract billing should start at 5x your salaried rate, 20 hour minimum.” Now that’s being a dick. Looking out for yourself does not mean being a dick.
  - chottocharaii 5y ago
    Hey, if they’re willing to pay that much for it; charging any less is charity
    - TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
      I don’t know your situation, but it could also be construed as blackmail depending on the circumstances.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
  - cpursley 5y ago
    That's what I did and a previous employer occasionally has me do some maintenance work and are glad to pay that rate, especially if I get on it quickly.
  - rambambram 5y ago
    This is not being a dick. Before I left a certain job, I had my supervisor (also owner of the company) tell me exactly this. She once quit a job and did exactly this. And was proud of it. Even if I'm happy I no longer work for her, she was completely right about this move.
    - TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
      Your supervisor was once a dick, and proud of it, so it is ok for you to be a dick. Think about that.
MathCodeLove 5y ago
To preface my comment, I totally agree with your take away. Prioritize your own success above any other company, organization, or individuals success. However, I can't help but feel you're painting with an overly broad brush. There absolutely are CEO's out there who would lie awake at night after laying people off a week before Christmas. Does that mean they wouldn't do it? No. They, like all of us, will ultimately make the decisions they need to make to succeed. It may be comforting for you to imagine that everyone in a position of power over you is some evil super-villain devoid of empathy or emotion, but that isn't always the case. Things aren't that black and white. Again I agree with your general sentiment. Be greedy and ruthless in your career. Don't make decisions that benefit your employer to your own detriment. Look out for yourself. 100%. I'm just not a fan of absolute statements like yours and wanted to add that businesses are ran by people too, and while some may be complete sociopaths, not all of them are.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
YZF 5y ago
I agree with the parent but I disagree with you. I am a manager in a large tech company and we care about our employees. We will not fire/lay them off/relieve them of their duty for any reason or not reason. We treat them as we expect to be treated. We will support them if they have some unusual circumstances. We do this because it is the right thing to do, and because it makes business sense. These are not mutually exclusive. Is that the same as saying there's no situation where people will be laid off or let go? No. But it would happen for a good reason. In a previous large company a decision was made collectively to take a wage cut and not lay people off. Employees got stock options to make up for the cut. In the end that all worked out. Being ruthless to your employees doesn't make business sense. Who wants to work at a place like that? Does everyone do that? Absolutely not. It's true a company isn't a person, but a company is made of people, and decisions are made by people, and you want to work somewhere that has good people that give a damn. At least I do. All that said ;) if you are leaving, I agree there's no reason to stretch it out. That doesn't help anyone. In any properly managed project any employee leaving isn't the end of the world. There should always be more than one person that know what's going on. Having someone sit around, like a Schrodinger's Cat, that is both there and not there, doesn't really help anyone. It just feels weird. The rules of the game are set (in your contract), you need to give a notice, you give this notice, you're done. We'll take you out for lunch. No hard feelings. People move on for all sorts of reasons.
- rambambram 5y ago
  > Being ruthless to your employees doesn't make business sense. Until it does.
  - YZF 5y ago
    Not really. It's a market. This is true if employees don't care. But if you avoid these places like the plague then it won't make business sense. Unless you're ok with never getting anyone to work for you. Now if the company's business is failing it obviously can't keep holding on to its employees. Again there is a market question here. Just don't go work for a company that goes through cycles of bad business, layoffs, maybe it's ok, bad business, layoffs. So it's really up to you if you want to play that game. The company I work for, throughout its existence, has never been able to hire as many people as it wants to. Its business is doing great. It has had amazing growth with more growth in front of it. It's maybe not as glamorous as some. I am sure there are plenty of places where there is a good business and you will be treated well. Let's not make it the norm to not treat us well, it's up to all of us. If none of us give this any consideration, ofcourse the market will evolve to fit what we do (I'm sure there'll still be people/companies that do the right thing anyways, but less).
heavyset_go 5y ago
> You have no obligation to be honest in an exit interview Also, you have no obligation to give former employers free insights and advice that they'd otherwise have to pay consultants thousands of dollars to figure out for them. That's what your feedback in an exit interview can be: free insights they'd otherwise have to pay for. There's no reason to give it to them for free.
- WelcomeShorty 5y ago
  My experience is you can tell them in the exit interview what you want to, it will be ignored just like your early signals.
refurb 5y ago
I agree 100%. Even if you have a great boss who looks after you, they can be replaced or their boss can overrule them. Like that quote from Peaky Blinders “Big fucks small. Always, actually.” It’s a business arrangement, not a family or a friendship. Hold them to the contract. If they ask for more, tell them you’ll need compensation for it. If they ask you to stick around, have an excuse ready. Don’t lie, because you don’t need to. “I can’t stay another 2 weeks I have a preexisting obligation.” “No, i can’t say what is it’s personal.” I’ve been through 6 reorgs and been laid off several times. You take it personally at first, but then gain some clarity. The “family” stuff, the promises are all worth nothing. But once you know that it’s ok. You go in with eyes wide open.
meetingthrower 5y ago
Totally agreed. I once gave an ultra long notice because I was going to grad school in six months. I was part of the mass layoffs the next week. Best lesson I ever learned.

deagle50 5y ago

This is the way.

avidiax 5y ago

There are people that will dismiss this as overly cynical because of the presentation. But it is true. In a big company, the VP of whatever department may feel bad about a layoff before Christmas, but they don't know you personally, and whatever numbers or major investors are motivating this don't lie. In a small company, the same is true. They might wait until things are hopeless instead of trending to hopeless, but either way, they'll lay you off when it makes sense for them. You might like your boss, but informing them well in advance of a departure is generally not a good move. Nice as they may be, they can't unknow that knowledge, and it will affect all their decisions going forward. And you, who are so sure you are leaving, may find that your outside offer is rescinded the week before Christmas (see above). 2 weeks is a reasonable courtesy and an acceptable risk. If your company needs you beyond that, contract billing should start at 5x your salaried rate, 20 hour minimum.

TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
Agreed with everything you and OP wrote until your very last line: “ If your company needs you beyond that, contract billing should start at 5x your salaried rate, 20 hour minimum.” Now that’s being a dick. Looking out for yourself does not mean being a dick.
- chottocharaii 5y ago
  Hey, if they’re willing to pay that much for it; charging any less is charity
  - TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
    I don’t know your situation, but it could also be construed as blackmail depending on the circumstances.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
- cpursley 5y ago
  That's what I did and a previous employer occasionally has me do some maintenance work and are glad to pay that rate, especially if I get on it quickly.
- rambambram 5y ago
  This is not being a dick. Before I left a certain job, I had my supervisor (also owner of the company) tell me exactly this. She once quit a job and did exactly this. And was proud of it. Even if I'm happy I no longer work for her, she was completely right about this move.
  - TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
    Your supervisor was once a dick, and proud of it, so it is ok for you to be a dick. Think about that.

MathCodeLove 5y ago

To preface my comment, I totally agree with your take away. Prioritize your own success above any other company, organization, or individuals success. However, I can't help but feel you're painting with an overly broad brush. There absolutely are CEO's out there who would lie awake at night after laying people off a week before Christmas. Does that mean they wouldn't do it? No. They, like all of us, will ultimately make the decisions they need to make to succeed. It may be comforting for you to imagine that everyone in a position of power over you is some evil super-villain devoid of empathy or emotion, but that isn't always the case. Things aren't that black and white. Again I agree with your general sentiment. Be greedy and ruthless in your career. Don't make decisions that benefit your employer to your own detriment. Look out for yourself. 100%. I'm just not a fan of absolute statements like yours and wanted to add that businesses are ran by people too, and while some may be complete sociopaths, not all of them are.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

YZF 5y ago

I agree with the parent but I disagree with you. I am a manager in a large tech company and we care about our employees. We will not fire/lay them off/relieve them of their duty for any reason or not reason. We treat them as we expect to be treated. We will support them if they have some unusual circumstances. We do this because it is the right thing to do, and because it makes business sense. These are not mutually exclusive. Is that the same as saying there's no situation where people will be laid off or let go? No. But it would happen for a good reason. In a previous large company a decision was made collectively to take a wage cut and not lay people off. Employees got stock options to make up for the cut. In the end that all worked out. Being ruthless to your employees doesn't make business sense. Who wants to work at a place like that? Does everyone do that? Absolutely not. It's true a company isn't a person, but a company is made of people, and decisions are made by people, and you want to work somewhere that has good people that give a damn. At least I do. All that said ;) if you are leaving, I agree there's no reason to stretch it out. That doesn't help anyone. In any properly managed project any employee leaving isn't the end of the world. There should always be more than one person that know what's going on. Having someone sit around, like a Schrodinger's Cat, that is both there and not there, doesn't really help anyone. It just feels weird. The rules of the game are set (in your contract), you need to give a notice, you give this notice, you're done. We'll take you out for lunch. No hard feelings. People move on for all sorts of reasons.

rambambram 5y ago
> Being ruthless to your employees doesn't make business sense. Until it does.
- YZF 5y ago
  Not really. It's a market. This is true if employees don't care. But if you avoid these places like the plague then it won't make business sense. Unless you're ok with never getting anyone to work for you. Now if the company's business is failing it obviously can't keep holding on to its employees. Again there is a market question here. Just don't go work for a company that goes through cycles of bad business, layoffs, maybe it's ok, bad business, layoffs. So it's really up to you if you want to play that game. The company I work for, throughout its existence, has never been able to hire as many people as it wants to. Its business is doing great. It has had amazing growth with more growth in front of it. It's maybe not as glamorous as some. I am sure there are plenty of places where there is a good business and you will be treated well. Let's not make it the norm to not treat us well, it's up to all of us. If none of us give this any consideration, ofcourse the market will evolve to fit what we do (I'm sure there'll still be people/companies that do the right thing anyways, but less).

heavyset_go 5y ago

> You have no obligation to be honest in an exit interview Also, you have no obligation to give former employers free insights and advice that they'd otherwise have to pay consultants thousands of dollars to figure out for them. That's what your feedback in an exit interview can be: free insights they'd otherwise have to pay for. There's no reason to give it to them for free.

WelcomeShorty 5y ago
My experience is you can tell them in the exit interview what you want to, it will be ignored just like your early signals.

refurb 5y ago

I agree 100%. Even if you have a great boss who looks after you, they can be replaced or their boss can overrule them. Like that quote from Peaky Blinders “Big fucks small. Always, actually.” It’s a business arrangement, not a family or a friendship. Hold them to the contract. If they ask for more, tell them you’ll need compensation for it. If they ask you to stick around, have an excuse ready. Don’t lie, because you don’t need to. “I can’t stay another 2 weeks I have a preexisting obligation.” “No, i can’t say what is it’s personal.” I’ve been through 6 reorgs and been laid off several times. You take it personally at first, but then gain some clarity. The “family” stuff, the promises are all worth nothing. But once you know that it’s ok. You go in with eyes wide open.

meetingthrower 5y ago

Totally agreed. I once gave an ultra long notice because I was going to grad school in six months. I was part of the mass layoffs the next week. Best lesson I ever learned.