Some Good Advice from the HR Bartender on the Right Way to (Happily) Quit Your Job

LEAVING A JOB is never, ever easy — even when you’re jumping to something new that might be pretty good.

That’s because people frequently have mixed feelings when they finally make the decision to go somewhere else.

Even when you have a bad job, work at a horrible company, or have a terrible boss, you still may have great co-workers or elements of your job that you find fulfilling. Leaving such things are never easy.

And many people exit jobs they are generally happy in for all sorts of other good reasons — a promotion, better pay, a shorter commute, or maybe even the opportunity to work remotely.

A little wisdom from the HR Bartender

This leads to a question I’ve had to face many times in my own career: how do you tell your current employer you’re planning to leave?

Well, the HR Bartender has some thoughts on that.

IF YOU DON’T KNOW of the HR Bartender, her name is Sharlyn Lauby and she describes herself as “an HR pro turned consultant.” I know her from when we were both on the Advisory Board of the Kronos Workforce Institute (now known as the UKG Workforce Institute), and she says that, “I created HR Bartender so people would have a friendly place to discuss workplace issues.”

I read her all the time, and a recent HR Bartender post titled Mastering Your Exit: 10 Steps for Resigning from Your Job really resonated with me because she listed some good steps to take when you’re ready to resign and go somewhere else.

What you should do when resigning a job

The 10 Steps for Resigning are good to consider and well worth reading, but here are the ones that jumped out at me:

• Think through the reason you’re going to tell them. The company is going to ask you why, so think about the top 1-2 points you would like to communicate. … Be selective and strategic in your response.
• Write a resignation letter. The company will expect formal documentation that you’re planning to leave. Resignation letters do not have to be long and they do not have to contain specific details.
• Give proper notice. Whatever your company says is proper notice (i.e., two weeks, three weeks, a month), give it. Your new employer should not ask you not to give proper notice. They would expect you to give them proper notice if you left them, so provide the same courtesy to your current employer.
• Be prepared to leave immediately. Some organizations will ask people … to leave the day they give notice. It’s not personal; they ask it of everyone.
• Don’t expect a counter-offer. It’s possible (but highly unlikely) that your company will beg you to stay and give you a counter-offer. … (but) the best strategy is not to expect one.

Sometimes, they ask you to leave — immediately

HERE’S MY TAKE: I’ve left more jobs then I care to admit, and I left them in many different ways.

But the departures were easier when I was a younger employee and lower on the workplace totem pole. That’s because I was leaving for a step up in my career and most employers understand that things like that happen.

The older and more experienced I was, the more complicated resigning became. On several occasions, the announcement that I was resigning led to me being told to pack up my things and get out  — immediately.

I’m glad the HR Bartender mentioned this as one of her 10 steps for resigning.

She’s also right to note that you shouldn’t expect a counter offer, but this is a subject worthy of an entire blog post because it gets into what happens when an employee has sudden and unexpected power (a good job offer) and gives it up to stay for a few more dollars and/or a better title.

I can’t tell you how many good friends I know got fired not too long after doing that.

Navigating the dreaded Exit Interview

ONE MORE THING: Back when I departed my first post-college job as an assistant news editor at the late, great Los Angeles Herald Examiner for a better job at another newspaper, I was warned by a friend to NOT say anything of substance in my exit interview.

That was good advice and I followed it then and continued to follow it throughout my career. I even wrote about it over at TLNT.com back in 2012 in a blog post titled Exit Interviews: How Can We Make Them More Than a Waste of Time?

Here’s what I said:

“My counsel to anyone leaving a company is that they should treat the exit interview experience as you would as if you were being cross-examined in court by the other side’s attorney: say as little as possible, keep your answers to ‘yes’ and ‘no’ if you can, smile a lot, and get out of there as quickly as possible — because no good can ever come from an exit interview.”

The HR Bartender also mentions this, saying that you should:

• Participate in an exit interview. If the company asks you to do an exit interview, do it. But … know what you’re going to say about your work experience, your manager, and the company. There’s a way to be truthful without creating animosity.

Yes, her advice is similar to mine, and as a former human resources professional, my friend Sharlyn undoubtedly knows that exit interviews are something companies do, but not something that soon-to-be-former employees should see as anything other than one final hurdle to get over before departing for that new job.

Other trends and insights 

And your latest dose of AI news … 

• Survey shows that CEOs are divided on the value of AI (From ChiefExecutive.net)
• Can ChatGPT Handle HR? Here’s What Happened When We Put it to the Test (From FastCompany.com)
• The 6 Disciplines Companies Need to Get the Most Out of Gen AI (From HBR.org)
• AI Can’t Replace Teaching, but it Can Make It Better (From Wired.com)

ALSO: Here’s a Quartz story that speaks volumes about the changing nature of today’s workforce — A third of millennials and Gen Z-ers would take a pay cut for more time with their pets.

Management insight of the week

“Many organizations have taken a punitive approach to getting people to return to their very expensive offices. Some have called them layoffs in disguise. … 

Dell, on the other hand, didn’t fire anyone with its touted RTO order. What they did do was give people a choice: People who came in about three times a week would be eligible for promotions. People who didn’t could continue to work for Dell indefinitely but they couldn’t be promoted. 

In essence, they provided a carrot for their employees. They hoped that putting promotions behind an office door would entice employees to make the trek into the office. … 

How did it work out? Half of the workers rejected the offer, preferring their comfy confines to the mere possibility of being promoted. Say what you want about the effectiveness of convincing people via force versus incentive, this is not the outcome Dell wanted. …

As a work leader, I can’t imagine how disheartening that must be. The ability to move up and develop is one of the top things people ask for from a job and one of the top reasons they leave. They had to figure they had something cooking with this plan — especially with the tech industry still reeling from layoffs. 

While Dell can go back to the drawing board … (or simply just accept that half their workforce has opted out of moving up), I think there is a lot of unanticipated soul-searching that came with this plan. How much easier will it be to pry talent away from Dell? For new hires, will they be strictly looking for people who are willing to come in to backfill those roles? 

I’m guessing we’ll find out.”

— Lance Haun in The Starr Conspiracy’s Work Leader Weekly newsletter

Loyal Readers: I’ve been compiling this weekly wrap-up for over 20 years — from Workforce.com to TLNT.com to Fuel50 and now here at The Skeptical Guy. I’d appreciate knowing what you think, so email comments to me at  johnhollon@yahoo.com.