TLDR at the end.
I am moving an hour away and have a need to WFH. I found a solid opportunity. The company is waiting on receiving the funding for the position and when they receive it, I will start with them. So my start is tentative, no start date yet.
I enjoy my current job for the most part. Not very difficult, office setting, mental health field, love most of the clients. Management is just sketchy.
My particular supervisor is one of the better ones usually. Older man, very understanding and helpful, been there forever.
The director on the other hand is none of those things – all about the money.
When I received the opportunity with the new company, I went ahead and made my supervisor aware so that they could take the time to get prepared (they are notoriously always unprepared). I realize now that no good deed goes unpunished and I should have just kept my mouth shut.
My supervisor was perfectly fine with this and even told me if the funding takes longer than when i'm supposed to move or even if the job falls through that I could work out of a branch office that would be a 30 minute commute rather than an hour commute to my current office until I find another remote opportunity. I already work out of this branch office twice a month so I have plenty of clients there. It was a good deal.
We recently received a grant and are now working with a new program. They hired a lot of new people to work in this program. Well, this week we discovered that they ended up hiring more people than they needed and they are scrambling to find places for these people. One of the girls, they decided, will be taking over my positions after I leave. At first I was pleased by this, thinking they were actually getting prepared for once.
Well, the next day (this past friday), I get pulled into a meeting with my supervisor the director and they first tell me that the branch office deal is no longer an option for me. That they won't have any work for me there because a coworker/friend of mine will be taking over my clients there. (I later called her and asked her about this – she had not agreed to this nor had they even brought it up to her yet. I knew this was the case because she is getting a new job and leaving too, they just don't know that yet). My supervisor acted like this deal was something we briefly spoke about, but it was something that he promised me.
Then they tell me that they need me to submit an official resignation letter with a resignation date. Their reasoning was they want to send out an email to the staff about the transition and want a date to tell everyone? I reminded them that I do not have a start date with the new company yet and they confirmed that they remembered that, they just really needed me to do this. They even tried to act like they were doing me a favor saying “If you even need to leave earlier than your resignation date, you would be able to without a notice since we will have Your Replacement trained already”. Which isn't even what i'm worried about, i'm worried about it I would need to stay LONGER than whatever date I submitted.
My theory is this – the girl who is replacing me was previously paid 50% through the grant and 50% through the company. Now that she is taking my place, she is being paid 100% through the company. I believe they are trying to push me out ASAP so they do not have to pay both of us. They are always so stingy with money. it's ALL about the money with them.
So, I sent this in an email right before I left on friday (so I didn't have to deal with it until monday lol):
“After a lot of thought, I have decided that I am not comfortable with submitting a resignation date without a firm start date with “The New Job”. I am not comfortable potentially jeopardizing my income when I have a family to take care of, as I am sure both of you understand. I will not be resigning until I have received an official start date with “The New Job”. Thanks.”
Now I am very nervous about what will happen tomorrow. I can see them either ignoring it and pretending nothing happened or firing me lol. I actually could see them maybe calling me into a meeting and trying to convince me to submit a date and them giving me an ultimatum of firing me. usually I would think they wouldn't do that because I am the only one with ny job title, but they have my replacement already, they want me to leave ASAP, and they've straight up fired people for way less before.
What do you all think? My friends and family think i'm right about their intentions but part of me feels like I might be overthinking it. I just wish my new job would receive their funding already lol.
TLDR: Made boss aware of tentative job offer and now due to staffing mistakes, they are training my replacement already and asking me to submit a resignation date when I do not have a start date with my new job yet. I suspect this is due to them not wanting to pay me and my replacement.