Great resignation….population me! Wanna hear about it?
Medium sized family-run company of about 1K employees. I was the head of IT with one helpdesk tech under me. My boss (The CFO) could whip a spreadsheet's ass but was not so hot on caring about people. He wanted to make the numbers go up dammit! He had zero desire to deal with people and their bullshit complaints.
The CEO was the founder's son (The founder is dead) and a very Trumpian figure. You know the type – handed everything but thought he deserved it…The company makes a shit ton of money so he thinks he's a genius. Not an asshole – just not a strong leader with a concrete vision.
I was implementing some basic security practices as recommended by our cyber insurance provider and agreed upon by my boss. Our corporate lawyer said thanks, but no thanks I'm not going to be doing that. I visited with her and had a respectful exchange of ideas. Well, I was respectful – she shouted me out of her office. Shouting was her common method of dealing with anything she didn't like and she didn't like much! EVERYONE had been berated by this lawyer over the years.
I visited the CFO who is also her boss – (yes, I know it's a weird arrangement) and said Its ridiculous that employees think they can opt out of policy just because. I further explained I was done taking her abuse. His advice was to just walk away from her if she was getting hostile. He put the onus on me to deal with her bullshit.
I contacted her a few days later to implement this policy and she berated me further and hung up on me. I walked into his office and quit on the spot.
The CEO the CFO and the director of HR called me a few days later to see if I'd be willing to come back. My point was simple.
Management didn't seem to give a shit about employees. Allowing this employee to abuse other people was just my breaking point. I listed off some other examples of the poor way management treated employees that varied from the slightly annoying to the profoundly humiliating.
My sole ask was that the management team needed to work to improve the wellbeing of the employees. And as an sign of their commitment they should implement a new vacation policy that is closer to what the rest of corporate America is doing. Our vacation policy was DREADFUL.
The CEO said he'd look at it, and I said that's fine. When you're ready to announce that a new policy is coming I'll be back on the job.
About an hour later they called back and said they decided against my suggestion and my resignation was accepted. So at this point they've got one helpdesk tech to run a multimillion dollar company. He's a sharp guy so he could do it. Might be some bumps in the road though.
But it gets better!
I emailed my helpdesk tech on his private email address and told him what was up and thanked him for all his hard work. Turns out when they told him I wasn't coming back he said he said to consider it HIS two weeks notice. Inexplicably they told him two weeks notice wouldn't be needed and today was his last day and escorted him out of the building.
So if you're keeping count they're down to zero IT employees at a multimillion dollar company. It seems like those jobs would be really hard to fill. What is a new candidate going to say when they show up and there are NO IT employees? How do you explain that away?
I expect them to come calling when something unusual goes pop. Standard freelance rates apply. 1K an hour 8 hour minimum payable up front? Sounds reasonable.
Cheers bros!