Quitting on bonus day

You could cite that you’re leaving for health reasons?
 
bchadwick Wrote:
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> You could cite that you’re leaving for health
> reasons?
Why? What is there to be ashamed about going to a different job? Why should there be anything to fear? Here’s a simple rule to live by… if you don’t want to tell someone something, then don’t tell them. Doesn’t mean you have to lie. If you don’t want to tell them you’re going to a competitor, then say “I prefer not to say.”
Pretty damn easy.
 
^Agree with saying ‘I prefer not to say’. Or perhaps even ‘I am still finalising the details and am not at liberty to discuss this at the moment - i’ll let you know once it is all settled’. It sounds marginally less like ‘I’m not telling you’.
You should not tell your colleagues where you are going if it is to a local competitor - at least not before you have your feet under the desk for a little while.
All it takes is for one embittered former colleague to misrepresent you to your new employer and you already have a label. The industry is small and there is a chance that people at the old firm know people at the new firm.
Anyone at your old firm could have a million reasons to do it. You have left your boss: disloyalty. You have left your colleagues to go on to something better: envy. You once used your colleague’s favorite cup: pure hatred. And so on.
Not difficult for them to say to their buddy at your new company ‘yeah he presents well so not suprised you hired him, but he really slacks off - watch him’. Or ‘he tends to borrow his best research ideas from better analysts - he didnt think we noticed but we weren’t that impressed.’ And so on and so forth. No need to get your card marked before day one.
Also, agree with what everyone says on bonus & quitting. I give out bonuses to my team. and I get a long list of guidance from HR for what to say to them (esp. if they get a donut…) and what the rules for receiving one is.
Just for the record there is automatically no bonus for anyone:
- Who has handed in their bonus before it has been paid
- Who is on a contract
- Who has received notice of being made redundant
- Who has received a disciplinary warning (written or verbal) and it is still open and on file
Of course, add to that list your manager may decide that you should get no bonus. In this case your manager should have met with you before to raise issues - it should not be totally unexpected. The last situation in the list is the only one where you should proactively try and settle any bad blood to ensure you get a bonus… also if there is an open investigation under way, a bonus may be paid depending on the outcome.
Incidentally, as a manager I am expected to grade staff relative to other staff (sounds a bit like the CFA exams…). With 3 team members, you will have to to select one as your A performer, one as your B performer, one as your C performer. Bonuses reflect that so the guy sitting next to you could be earning more. That is your incentive to be the best performer, although people are happy enough to receive the bonus of a B or C performer.
Just don’t become a D category…
 
Definitely tell them you’ve been recruited by NASA through the CIA to lead an underwater mission to save the world. Also let them know that if the world doesn’t end next week they’ll know you heroically gave your life in the top secret mission but were ultimately successful. That’ll keep them off your back.
 
Danny Boy Wrote:
——————————————————-
> bchadwick Wrote:
> ————————————————–
> —–
> > You could cite that you’re leaving for health
> > reasons?
>
> Why? What is there to be ashamed about going to a
> different job? Why should there be anything to
> fear? Here’s a simple rule to live by… if you
> don’t want to tell someone something, then don’t
> tell them. Doesn’t mean you have to lie. If you
> don’t want to tell them you’re going to a
> competitor, then say “I prefer not to say.”
>
> Pretty damn easy.
Sorry, that was intended as a tongue-in-cheek response, because it is the reason cited by most politicians when they step down from office and don’t want to report a reason.
But I can see you are definitely much holier than me.
 
Reading your posts over time made me wonder if your response was tongue-in-cheek since it was out of character, but there’s no way to tell and many would consider that a good route to take.
It’s not a holy issue. It’s a $$ issue. Your rep is worth $$ and lying is one way to risk it.
 
When asked why you are leaving, I suggest you keep it simple and quote Lil Wayne:
“Th-th-the money is the motive.”
 
Black Swan Wrote:
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Never get nostalgic and sacrifice yourself
> for the company, when the rubber meets the road,
> no firm would return the favor.
This is so true… Unfortunately so far I hav belonged to the people who have to bite to get what they are entitled to, so I completely relate to that.
I would never screw my boss or firm, but I also realised early in my career that nobody will give a sh!t about my career except me, so I only care about my interests.
 
> because it is the reason cited by most politicians
Just saying you’re leaving because you want to spend more time with your family.
Assuming all the potential backstabbing isn’t an issue, recall that employers only care if you’re friend or foe going forward. If you don’t say what you’re doing, they do the smart thing and assume you’re now a competitor. So there’s no practical difference between confirming the fact and dissembling.
 
I probably should have qualified my previous post.
My class of five associates all quit within a week of each other, immediately following bonuses (or lack there of). We had all discussed it, and knew what each other were up to. I went first and avoided airing my long list of complaints so as to avoid tipping off management that my friends and co-workers were preparing to leave.
As it turns out, the manager didn’t care because he jumped ship about a month after we all left. A more dedicated manager may have been more interested in my reason for leaving.
 
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