The Causey Consulting Podcast

De-Stigmatizing & De-Stressifying the Resignation Process

March 17, 2022 Sara Causey Episode 118
The Causey Consulting Podcast
De-Stigmatizing & De-Stressifying the Resignation Process
Show Notes Transcript

In last week's episode, I asked if the old school two weeks notice is dead. Is there a happy medium somewhere between resigning on the spot versus offering a full two weeks notice?

Key topics:

✔️ One option is to make the resignation process transparent and easy. No need for a knot in the stomach or fear of reprisals.
✔️ An open transition plan acknowledges that an employee's time at the company does not have to last until retirement... and that's OK.
✔️ As with many things, an open transition plan only works if the company promotes honesty and dignity. Sadly, there are still a lot of companies that don't.


Links I discuss in this episode:

https://www.robertglazer.com/eliminating-two-weeks-notice/

https://www.accelerationpartners.com/blog/help-employees-leave-gracefully

https://www.uhhospitals.org/Healthy-at-UH/articles/2015/07/the-top-5-most-stressful-life-events

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV2Qfj0ft0o

https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_glazer_it_s_time_to_end_two_weeks_notice

Need more? Email me: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/contact-causey/

Welcome to the Causey consulting podcast. You can find us online anytime at CauseyConsultingLLC.com. And now, here's your host, Sara Causey. Hello, Hello, and thanks for tuning in. In last week's episode, I talked about the phasing out of the old school traditional two week notice. And as promised, what I want to talk about in today's episode is what can potentially replace that, instead of Peace out, I'm gone by see you and just leaving walking off the job, or having to go through some kind of weird kind of awkward and uncomfortable to eat. Notice, what other option might there be. On the last episode, I talked about Robert Glazer and his advocacy for eliminating the traditional two week notice. And I want to quote from a page on his website, naturally, I will drop a link to this in the write up so that you can find it for yourself at Robertglazer.com. And also full disclosure, I have not worked with this person or his company. So this is not like a sort of a paid promotion or paid advocacy. I don't know him so that this is not anything that I'm doing other than out of my own sense that this is where the market is truly heading. So on this article on his website, he has written the two weeks notice norm of exiting jobs is a relic from the command and control era of leadership, it's clearly time to replace this broken paradigm with something better, and quote, and there's a little picture on here of Robert standing in front of like a screen with a projection on it. And the projection behind him says mindful transitions. And then it has like a half circle with different layers around it. And some of these layers read, eliminate stigma around employee departures supports people if they decide to move on open and respectful dialogue, early detection and end two weeks notice period. I think that's what it says he's got a standing in front of some of it. But I would encourage you to go and check this out for yourself. The idea is that we take some of that stigma and the scariness out of having to tender your resignation. Instead of making it this headache inducing anxiety inducing event that causes a great deal of stress in your life. We're just simply acknowledging that sometimes people need to move on. If you've ever had to go in and tender your resignation and offer a two week notice, not knowing how it was going to be received. Or maybe you had looked around and saw when other people tried to leave the firm, they were greatly mistreated. It definitely creates a knot in your stomach, and you feel like you're walking in front of a firing squad. University Hospitals has an article on their website, of course, I'll also drop a link to it in the write up, called the top five most stressful life events and how to handle them. And the life events they're talking about are death of a loved one, divorce, moving major illness or injury and job loss. So whether you are getting a pink slip, the company is laying you off unexpectedly and you're not sure how you're going to make ends meet. Or you have to leave of your own volition. It can be really stressful and really scary. So how do we take the load factor out of all that? In his TED Talk, Robert Glazer attempts to answer that very question. And of course, I'll drop a link to it in the write up so that you can watch the video or read the transcript for yourself. And I'll read a little bit of the blurb underneath the introduction for the TED Talk. So much of how we do business has changed in recent decades. But giving two weeks notice is still the most common way employees exit companies. I'll break in here just for a second to argue that I believe this was written pre COVID pre great resignation, I would actually argue now there are probably more people that are just quitting on the spot and saying, I'm done. I'm out of here. So I think you sort of have two groups of people, the people that just up and leave sometimes with a lot of malice and a middle finger in the air, and then other people who are still kind of stuck in the bygone era of giving the two week notice now we'll continue to read. It's a broken paradigm that is detrimental to both companies and employees and it's time to try something new. openly acknowledging that your company might not be the best fit for everyone long term allows you to completely change the dialogue and relationships with your team members, Robert Glazer the founder and CEO of acceleration partners introduces the mindful transition concept, a transparent, compassionate system that is proven to handle employee departures in a mutually beneficial way. And solve employee dissatisfaction before it leads to disengagement and turnover and quote, again, just to be emphatically clear and totally transparent, I have never worked with this person or his company. This is not some kind of giant paid promotion for them. I'm really just a fan of this idea, because I do think we have to destigmatize resignation. And I think we also have to be very aware that sometimes a job is exactly that. It's a J, O, B, and we're showing up just for the paycheck. If you're freelancing, or you own your own business, you can nod your head in agreement with this too, because you have probably at one point or another had to just step up and do what the crisis demands. take on a client that maybe you had to hold your nose the whole time you were dealing with them. They might have been a Mike the micromanager and Ned the needy and Nancy the nitpicker. That made you want to jump off the roof every time you saw their name in your inbox. But you were doing it because you really needed the money at the time, maybe you got hit with an unforeseen medical bill, a car repair, a home repair, the kids needed something and you just knew that you were going to have to come up with money on the quick. And it may have been the only person standing there offering you the money that you needed with somebody that was a little client that you weren't particularly crazy about. We've all had to go there and do that at one point or another. Now, I would certainly say if most of your clients are poopoo clients, and you feel like most days, you want to jump off the roof, then something needs to be addressed in the business, you should not just be constantly attracting in poopoo clients or poopoo projects that bring you no sense of satisfaction. But let's live in the real world here. Sometimes we have to do that. And likewise, even when you're thinking about it from the perspective of a full time w two employee, sometimes you've taken a job that it wasn't high on your list of career aspirations, you may have just been there for the money or for the benefits. I have a very good friend, obviously, I won't get any more specific than that. But he had to stay at a company that he really did not like for about two years, because they had excellent I mean, outstanding medical benefits, the insurance that he had at that company was top notch. And for personal reasons he needed to be there for the benefits. He didn't particularly like the company, his boss kind of caused some friction with him here and there. But it was something that he felt like he needed to do at the time in order to have access to the benefits that they offered. This is life. This is reality. Some companies still go down this cult like rabbit hole of, well, we want somebody that's bought into the mission, we want somebody that doesn't just see this job as a paycheck. But someone that's going to really plant roots and stay here for the long haul. We want somebody that understands why we're so different. We want somebody that understands why we're so superior. And it's like, okay, but wait a minute. Companies likewise have to live in the real world to this idea of being bought into the mission and understanding why you're so different. First of all, it rings incredibly hollow if you're not actually different. If you're putting out all kinds of propaganda about how different you are and how good you treat your people. But it's all a load of BS that's going to come out in the wash, there's no way that people aren't going to go on platforms like indeed or glass door and spill the beans about how people are actually treated regardless of what you're putting out on social media or what kind of photo ops that you have. Secondly, you just have to be aware that not everybody is going to show up at your company drinking the corporate Kool Aid. Some people find that to be cult like and creepy. And yeah, if you can kind of sense my hands going in the air. It totally is. I'm passionate as you know about exposing cult like tactics that are used in corporate America. And I think this idea of we're on a mission, you need to buy in, you need to be one of us. It's just creepy. Okay, if you're doing that kind of marketing, or you're doing that kind of recruiting, cut it out. So the idea of, hey, if you decide that you want to resign or you decide that you want to take some time to transition out, you're going to continue to do your job duties to the best of your abilities. And we likewise are not going to do anything punitive. We're not going to get in your way while you continue to look for a job somewhere else. That really can be a win win situation for everyone involved. I remember after I finished my bachelor's degree, and I went out on the job market, it was a tough time The economy was still kind of reeling from what happened on 9/11. And at that point in time, there was so much like bias and favoritism towards people that had some level of experience. So when young bloods get out on the job market, and they say, well, everybody wants experience, nobody's willing to take a chance on somebody that just finished college, they all want to to two to three years of experience walking in the door, I have the utmost sympathy and empathy for that, because I lived it myself coming out of my bachelor's degree. And it was one of the reasons why I thought, you know, going into a master's program is not a bad idea. But nevertheless, I was able to find a job. But the first job that I had after going on, I don't even know how many interviews I lost count of how many interviews I went on. And so many of them had the same tone or the same note, you're clearly very bright, you're gonna make a great employee for someone, but not for us. We need somebody that's already been working, you know, we need somebody that's been in the workforce for a year or two, like, we'd love to have you back after you've worked somewhere for 12 months. And it's like, okay, thanks. How do you get experience if nobody's going to hire you. So I took a temp assignment, I called up somebody that I already knew that own their own company, and essentially threw myself on that person's mercy and said, I, I feel like it's going to be easier for me to find a job. If I have a job. And right now, I'm just being hamstrung by this idea of, well, we need experience. So you're fresh out of college, and you don't have any quote, like real corporate America experience yet. So Better luck next time. And I was able to get a temporary assignment there. But the owner of the company was very clear. And so was I that the end goal was for me to find full time permanent employment somewhere else, and that he in his company would be very supportive of allowing me the flexibility to go on job interviews and to use my lunch hour to polish up my resume or to look through the classifieds. Yeah, okay. I'm old. This is this was back before you went on Indeed, and Career Builder and monster and all that. That's, that's back when, like Sunday and Wednesday, were the main days that New Jobs got posted in the job section of the newspaper. want want? Yep, Isagenix, or that was how we did it back then. So everyone was very clear about the end goal. And there was no punishment, there was no cloak and dagger, it was very easy for me to say, okay, I can work on these days of the week this week. But I need this day off to go on job interviews. And after a couple of months, I landed that first real post college job that required a bachelor's degree. I'm not even going to tell you how paltry my salary was, it was it was quite low. It was nowhere near the 5060 Grand that some of these kids are getting straight out of school. Now, I can tell you that. But it did have good benefits. So this was back when a lot of insurance programs were still offering HMOs. So if you went to see somebody in network, I think my copay to see a doctor was like five bucks, a lot of generic prescriptions I got for free. You know, or if I needed to antibiotics for strep throat, I might only have to pay five or$10 for something if it wasn't generic. So even though the salary was low, it was giving me that sort of first real post college job experience. And I did have really good benefits, I can say that. But having that openness and that transparency with the employer that I had, when I was on the temp assignment really helped. And there was no backstabbing, there was no faking dental appointments, it was just very easy for me to help him out as best I could while I was working there, but also go on interviews, and everybody knew what was going on. It wasn't like the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing. And Oh god, it's gonna be awkward when I have to turn in my resignation. It just made everything so much easier. And it didn't reek of dishonesty. I really felt like it was a situation where everybody walked away from that situation happy. And I wish and hope that there can be more of that in the corporate world. If you check out the lecture that Robert Glaser does, so there's two places you can find it one is on the actual Ted website, the other is on YouTube. Some of the YouTube comments are pretty interesting. There's one person that writes just quit if you hate the job, they'll be okay and you don't have to feel guilty about leaving a workplace that makes you miserable. Another person writes two weeks notice as a courtesy, you don't have to do it if you are never coming back or not asking for references. Another person writes, but seriously, if my employer didn't make me feel like a priority, why should I do them the courtesy of a two week notice? Another person writes, this is coming from the standpoint that management is always impartial, dignified and honest. issue is that this is not always the case as it holds true that not all employees hold up to establish standards. The same can be said With management, workplace bullying is a real phenomenon where incompetent management works to derail and sabotage promising employees that threaten their sense of power. These are often undiagnosed malignant Cluster B personality disordered individuals that have snaked their way to higher ranks. These kinds of people don't deserve hard working employees, and in fact, should be fired themselves. But typically won't as too many people turn a blind eye or just not aware enough of these personality disorders, and quote, yeah, I mean, unfortunately, as I've talked about before, there are people in the workplace that are psychopaths, there are malignant narcissists out there, there are people who wormed their way into positions of power. And some of those people are well liked, even though they need to be fired, even though they need to be punished in some way for doing things that they shouldn't be doing. Alas, they may have friends in high places, or they may have cast an image of themselves as being great and wonderful and amazing, when you may have seen the other side of their face. And you know, that's just simply not true. So I agree with what's happening here in the comment section, you know, these individuals are pointing out okay, in a perfect world, yes, we would have some kind of open transition plan. But is that what reality is reflecting back to us right now? Maybe not. I think it's aspirational. I think it's a place that we could go. I mean, we can't just lose hope, guys, because look at what's happening with the great resignation. A decade ago, we wouldn't have thought any of this was possible. Most people working from home or people having the option to do hybrid if they want it, people having more power as employees and they ever have strike Tober, the support of unions being the highest it's been since the mid 1960s. We are in a time of change. And we are in a time of flux. And I will say what I have said again, not only on this podcast, but on other platforms, we need to try to get as much out of this as we possibly can hear me clearly on something. You know, some of you know that I have been trying to expand my farming operation and the sheer insanity of the real estate market right now is vast. The amounts of money flying around, somebody can set a shotgun shack down on a few acres and get top dollar for it. It really is nuts. Can that continue? No, it can't. If you've ever lived through a boom bust cycle before then, you know, at some point, what comes up must come down. And there are plenty of realtors and brokers that sort of you know, they stiff in their back and cross their arms get defensive and heartily put a nose in the air and say Oh, well, this isn't like the housing bubble oh eight or oh nine people are not doing 125% loans with no money down. We're saying if you have a pulse, you're qualified for a loan, even if you're not working. We are so much savvier now than we were then. And it's like, yeah, I remember people during the last oil boom. When oil was caught, I don't know, one. I'm gonna say off the top of my head, I think it was about 120 a barrel before that bubble popped. They were going and getting themselves obligated for all sorts of things, huge houses, boats, cars, trucks, every kind of gadget and bauble they could find. And then when the bust happened, which it always does, they were seeing a lot of repo men showing up at the house to take these things away. And it's a sad situation. So at some point, the market is going to shift back the pendulum is going to move away from this extreme right now it is a candidate and employee driven market, let's make no mistake about it. And I'm not advocating that it goes back to being a client driven market, believe me, there are some really wonderful things that have come out of this period of time. And I just on that note, want to make sure that people that freelance or own their own business people that work for themselves, people that are plugged in as a W two employee at a company, let's get as much out of this time before the pendulum starts to swing back towards the middle again, because at some point it will. And so I think adopting something like an open Transition Program, or at least just destigmatizing and taking the anxiety factor out of that resignation process. It helps not only employees, but it also helps the company itself. Just some food for thought. We hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you haven't already, please take a quick second to subscribe to this podcast and share it with your friends. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next time.