I've been through several layoffs before, but this time is a little different. I have been very unhappy in the job, and have already been looking around for something new.
The default option is just to carry on until I actually have another offer in hand. However, it feels kinda bad to lay off teammates, only to quit myself several weeks later.
Do you think there is anything to gain by being transparent with my boss about my intent to leave? I could be fired on the spot, but that doesn't leave me much worse off if I just quit. Best case, I could negotiate my own severance, and/or leave on very good terms.
Any advice or experience from those who have been through similar would be appreciated!
There is also no guarantee that your team will be safe if you tell them you are leaving. They might decide to just get rid of the whole team and leave another team whole (instead of taking a pound of flesh from each team). Again, without knowing what your current company is like we can only speculate but tread carefully.
In a company or boss that can't be trusted, keep your mouth shut and provide for your family and yourself. If you quit 3 weeks after the layoffs, so be it. They earned that lack of transparency through their prior actions.
If they are good people, it's okay to give extended notice of your desire to leave. A lot of places would love to have time to bring someone else up to speed and for you to wrap up what you're doing. It also means you have an easier time going to interviews and such and can use your current superiors as references. The only case where it is in their best interest to terminate you right away is if they are hemorrhaging and need to cut labor costs fast, but if that's the case your job isn't particularly safe as it is. I would suggest having a conversation with someone who would be a decision maker in such a scenario about long term vision to get a sense of how things would go down if you were to take this approach before taking the plunge.
If you think they might act out of spite, wait until you have an offer. If your giving notice would have prevented a layoff, odds are they're just going to try and rehire that person so it would at worst result in a few weeks of stress. You're not a dick for quitting after a layoff, they're dicks for mismanaging a company to the point they need to lay people off and not being good at determining who to lay off.
Win-win all round.
I love quitting a job, it puts the power in my hands. I'm fortunate to work as a dev and have almost infinite employment opportunities at the time. Is the same true for your team? It might be that some of them want to leave too, esp because of the severance.
An incredibly brave but potentially great thing would be to open up to your team about it. Maybe some of them would be happy to get severance, another is say having a baby and wants stability. Someone mentioned this on hacker news recently.
You’re going to need to tell them, “I’m willing to quit in exchange for X.”
At the company I'm working for, there is a hiring slowdown (that can turn into a hiring freeze), and the announcement felt like "the writing was on the wall" and I expect that things will get only worse as time goes by. It's a mobile team and I am worried that the whole team will be let go and the company go forward with web only.
I decided to look for another job, had some interviews, and I realized that most other options I am a good candidate for are not significantly better than what I have now.
I decided to improve my "whiteboard" interview skills, get some big wins at the current company to improve my resume, learn a new technology in my free time, improve my open source and public portfolio for another half year and try looking for a job again later.
My point is: do not assume that you'll easily find a better job in no time, especially if your current job is not that terrible.
I'd err on the side of caution and, first and foremost, protect myself: no disclaimers to either the bosses or coworkers.
They may even know they'll lose some of their most competent and have priced it in.
Feel no guilt for keeping your mouth shut. (and don't assume you can negotiate anything, especially if they aren't forward thinking.)
Otherwise, if you are comfortable with quitting before securing the next thing for yourself, just do it if you think it will help one of your reports. At least it will help you clear your conscious.
If you think you have a good shot at getting severance out of it, tell them you're leaving. Otherwise, keep quiet and leave when you have a new job lined up. But why would they give you severance if you're going to leave of your own accord anyway?
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I have probably 5 or 6 previous teammates that if I heard they were open for work and my company was hiring I’ll refer them in a heart beat because I’d love to with with them again!
This is how two extremely talented mentors of mine left BigCorp jobs.
Otherwise you’ll probably be fired on the spot or laid off as they’re looking for cuts anyway.
No. Keep doing your job, move when you find another.
You can get severance and try to find a job.
The organisation's looking for people to cut, which if you want to quit anyway is lucky - it suggest VR may be accepted (or it may be involuntary anyway if you wait).