How To Quit Your Job PROPERLY.
There's a post making the rounds today from Mark Suster on "how to quit your job", the gist of which is that if he hires you he wants you to start within two weeks but your old employer will want you for more than two weeks, so you need to apply some salesmanship to get out of there on time.
To address this problem he gives his new hires a script straight out of a used-car salesman's handbook, and I left a comment to the effect that I thought the approach he outlined was shady and I would not only not ask my employees to follow this script but that I would walk out on an employer who asked me to use it.
To my surprise he responded that in fact he couldn't see what I was upset about, so Mark, this post is for you. Where to start? My comments inline:
"I had a tactic of writing out the line of reasoning for the employee so they knew what to say. The follow are the employees talking points
- I’ve been offered a role in a new startup that is an exciting new opportunity for me. It’s a lot of responsibility and has fantastic upside. I’m really excited. [JKolb] Fine. Good.
- So unfortunately I’m going to turn in my notice [JKolb] Fine. Good.
- They’re pressuring me to start next week
[JKolb] Wait. What? Mark, I didn't see anywhere where you actually pressured them to start next week. Did you? If so, that's not cool, two weeks is customary. So you're asking them to LIE to their old employer? And you're going to hire them then? Shame on you.(this is called “anchoring” (setting short time frames))
[JKolb] And experienced negotiators will recognize this as a cheap tactic, call you out on it, and try to get you to refocus on the actual problem you're both trying to solve. Or, if I'm the employer, I say good riddance.
but I obviously told them that it would be unfair to give you less than 2 weeks’ notice. So I just want to confirm with you that you want me to stay the full two weeks ( a “presumptive close” (which makes it sound like, “of course this is the normal sequence of events. I’m just confirming what I’m sure you’ll agree.))"
Ok so what's the big deal here, it's a little white lie right?
Wrong.
The problem is that you're telling your employees two very nasty things:
- That lying is okay. (Are you one of those people who tell your employees that everything is fine up until the day you tell them that there are layoffs, too?)
- That the object of the game is to win, and only one person can win.
... he wins if he is prepared for you to leave at the time you actually leave, whether that's tomorrow or in 6 months.
Creating a win-lose scenario where you have a position that you are locking yourself into is called positional negotiating, and it is almost NEVER the best way to solve a problem. The proper way to approach a problem is to look at each sides' underlying interest and try to come up with creative solutions that address all parties' needs and concerns in the most efficient way possible.
Here Mark, let me help you out with your script, I think we can improve it pretty easily:
"My new employer obviously wants me to start as soon as possible, but I'm sure there are some things that you'll need to take care of before I leave. I've prepared this list of my responsibilities and a transition plan for them, please look it over and see if I've missed anything. I've even recommended a replacement, a great guy I know who, coincidentally, is looking for a job right now.
I'm confident I can get this taken care of in two weeks, probably even sooner.
By the way, if I can get everything on this list taken care of by Monday can you see any reason for me to stick around longer?"
There, fixed. Now you both win. And your friend. That is called creatively coming up with a solution that benefits BOTH parties, as opposed to manipulating the person you're trying to persuade into doing what you want. It is not just the RIGHT thing to do, it often ends up working out better for you anyway.
That is the proper way to approach ANY situation where you're trying to move the ball where you want it to be. And it is just good business.
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