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One place I left I "named names" during an exit interview. I know it didn't help right then, but I also know I wasn't the first, and I told colleagues that I n

One place I left I "named names" during an exit interview. I know it didn't help right then, but I also know I wasn't the first, and I told colleagues that I named names. After a couple more people left, they also named the same names. Many months later, there was a bit of a cleanup, and the named names were dealt with. I almost wanted to go back because by all accounts it was a much healthier environment after the named were let go.

tdees40 12y ago
This is my primary beef with this post. Keeping silent could punish the people left behind. I've had some bad work scenarios, and the people who said nothing in their exit interview did a great disservice to those who stayed. YMMV, though, I guess.
- mgkimsal 12y ago
  That was mostly my thinking. Everyone keeping shtum because "it can't help me, only hurt me..." well... if it's bad enough for you to leave, you may be the only one in a position to speak up for colleagues/friends who can't do much of anything right now. One lone voice doesn't necessarily help, but in my case, there was a pattern that was noticed after a while.
noehp 12y ago
There are at least ten great engineers who've left my current company at least partially because of a single toxic individual. Every one of them decided to be 'professional' to not 'burn bridges' and they did not name names. The toxic individual is still there. He is still incredibly powerful, and he is still destroying value left and right. I really, really wish they'd named names. Right now management knows that they had ten undesirable voluntary terminations. They don't realize that they all have a single primary contributing factor. As such, there's no possible way the problem will get fixed.
- jackmaney 12y ago
  If the situation is as you describe, then there is probably no way to truly fix the situation. Even if the toxic person was fired tomorrow, the culture would take a long, long time to change and recover.
  - mgkimsal 12y ago
    That's not always the case. In my situations, much of the damage was done in terms of people leaving, but after the primary individual was gone, things got 'back to normal' (with some new staff) within 6 months. Much of that will depend on management, and if they let the bad actors go on that long, one might question their ability to repair things, but it's not impossible.
- wesd 12y ago
  Is that person a manager? If not, how doesn't his manager not notice his impact on other individuals to a point where ten people leave the company?
  - mgkimsal 12y ago
    when their manager is an absent owner, or distracted CTO, or something like that, a lot can happen and be explained away before it's seen as a problem.
  - noehps 12y ago
    The toxic person was hired by the CEO and predates his manager. The toxic person was likely valuable early in the company's history (he's great at throwing together prototype-quality code), and that reputation makes him hard to fire.

tdees40 12y ago

This is my primary beef with this post. Keeping silent could punish the people left behind. I've had some bad work scenarios, and the people who said nothing in their exit interview did a great disservice to those who stayed. YMMV, though, I guess.

mgkimsal 12y ago
That was mostly my thinking. Everyone keeping shtum because "it can't help me, only hurt me..." well... if it's bad enough for you to leave, you may be the only one in a position to speak up for colleagues/friends who can't do much of anything right now. One lone voice doesn't necessarily help, but in my case, there was a pattern that was noticed after a while.

noehp 12y ago

There are at least ten great engineers who've left my current company at least partially because of a single toxic individual. Every one of them decided to be 'professional' to not 'burn bridges' and they did not name names. The toxic individual is still there. He is still incredibly powerful, and he is still destroying value left and right. I really, really wish they'd named names. Right now management knows that they had ten undesirable voluntary terminations. They don't realize that they all have a single primary contributing factor. As such, there's no possible way the problem will get fixed.

jackmaney 12y ago
If the situation is as you describe, then there is probably no way to truly fix the situation. Even if the toxic person was fired tomorrow, the culture would take a long, long time to change and recover.
- mgkimsal 12y ago
  That's not always the case. In my situations, much of the damage was done in terms of people leaving, but after the primary individual was gone, things got 'back to normal' (with some new staff) within 6 months. Much of that will depend on management, and if they let the bad actors go on that long, one might question their ability to repair things, but it's not impossible.
wesd 12y ago
Is that person a manager? If not, how doesn't his manager not notice his impact on other individuals to a point where ten people leave the company?
- mgkimsal 12y ago
  when their manager is an absent owner, or distracted CTO, or something like that, a lot can happen and be explained away before it's seen as a problem.
- noehps 12y ago
  The toxic person was hired by the CEO and predates his manager. The toxic person was likely valuable early in the company's history (he's great at throwing together prototype-quality code), and that reputation makes him hard to fire.