Suffering from Burnout - Can I FIRE?

[dumpster56]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluehero OK, I've finally finished the retirement letter with a last day of June 1 and I am planning on turning it in on Monday.* I fully expect them to have a cow and say I can't leave at least until the new college hires are fully trained to run the system.* Since the methods and proceedures are all fully documented (good old ISO 9000 for you) I feel no moral obligation to stay and train the new troops. However, as we all know there is a big differece between ISO compliant documentation and actually being able to successfully run a complex process like the analysis of operations metrics from a mutinational corp.(nothing ever goes as planned).* When they do put the hard court press on, I am inclined to say my June 1 date is firm, but am open to discussing a severance package(to include more than just salary) to stay on part time for a couple of months until a new manager is recruited and the new troops have things under control. Is this an underhanded tactic or just reality of Mega Corp business?* I have a hard time seeing a downside since the worst they can do is say no and I'm free on June 1. Comments?*

Interesting blue

I want to dance on my principals desk and tell himm to shove the teaching job up his you know
I really want to quit, blue you are my hero, go for it as long as it makes financial sense, NO?

[ESRBob]

So, Blue -- how did Monday go? Any reaction to the letter? Keep us in the loop!

[BunsGettingFirm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wab Seconded! FWIW, I made my ER decision in the spring and arranged my exit for June of that fateful year. It was looking out the window that did it for me, too. Nothing lets you feel the full weight of the BS bucket like a beautful spring day.

Is that why they put us "senior" engineers in cube farms housed in windowless rooms? So that we don't see the beautiful spring days?

[bluehero]

I actually decided to wait until next week. I had to do the exit process for both of my former analysts this week and one of the principles I need to give the retirement notice to was out of town this week. Also being a very conservative person by nature (allfiction of being a Statistician i guess) I am setting up a large line of credit to cover four consecutive years of disaster scenerios without having to access any money in tax advantaged accounts. It's an easier approval porcess still "employed". Should close early next week. June 1 is still the sailing day. I still expect them to have a cow, perhaps even a herd

[ESRBob]

Blue.
Good luck == looks like they're losing an entire department in one swell foop!

pass out the nitro glycerin pills when you tell them

[bluehero]

Turned in my retirement letter at the end of the day to my director. No immediate reaction, kind of like a deer in the headlights, but he did go running right off to the VP. Tomorrow could be interesting.

[Under FIRE]

Blue,

Congrats.

Do keep us posted.


.

[Dawg52]

Congrats! This has been an interesting thread to follow. Good luck with your retirement.

[bluehero]

Well, it just goes to show you that regardless of the HR BS about the importance of people, to Mega Corp you are just a headcount to be sucked dry and discarded. Before I had come in today, they had already sent a broadcast e-mail out around the world to all the senior staff announcing my retirement and praising me for my significant contributions. The e-mail listed my departure date as sometime in late June or July.

This came as a bit of a surprise to me since the retirement letter I submitted specified June 1 as my last day of work. "We'd like you to stay for an extra 6-8 weeks to train the 2 new college hires you recruited to replace your other analysts and prepare the processes for the fiscal year transition. It would really help us out"

"Gee, I gave you a formal letter of retirement yesterday stating my last day of employment would be June 1. I would be happy to discuss extending past June1. Here are 2 alternatives that could work for both of us:

1) I'll agree to work part time 16 hours a week for the next 60 days (days flexible depending on headaches) to execute the AP612 Ops Review process, continue to train Dustin, to perform the system conversion for the fiscal year 07 rollover and oversee the AP701 ops review process, and to prepare for Jay's arrival and execute his training in July. At the end of 60 days I receive a severence package for my grade and length of service as if I had been laid off. Or

2) I can perform the same services as an executive consultant, time and health conditions permitting, with appropriate compensation "

Without blinking an eye, his response was "Ok, so it's June 1 then".


It's such a warm feeling that 20 years of dedication to the company that has resulted in a significant deterioration in my health means so much to them. The first new kid shows up next week. This provides me with little motivation to spend a lot of extra time and effort in the documentation, training, and knowledge transfer processs.

10 more days, one of them is Memorial day, I might get some real bad headaches on a few other days and then I'll be free.

[Bailer]

Wow.* This sounds like the kind of behavior described in the meeting when you were calculating whether or not you could RE!* * Grrrrrrr.* *I am so glad to see that your ducks are all in order (the HELOC, the music, etc).* *

[Bailer]

And, oh yeah....

Congrats!

[ESRBob]

Congrats, Blue;
In a year or so, the memories of corporate life will have lost their sting. We all know what you've been going through. Hang in there -- breathe deeply, take a hot bath, take the wife to see a movie or take a long walk in the woods. Pretty soon you'll have your life back! June 1st! Nothing else matters. 8)

[bluehero]

I agree although, I am having a really hard time swallowing their response(especially the part about announcing to all the global senior managers tht I would be staying until July despite a written letter infromaing them of a June 1 date without talking to me). However, does provide direct confirmation of the increasing toxicity of the environment and an escalation of the amoral behavior that I was finding impossible to tolerate.

My next moral delema is what do I do with the college new hire that shows up tomorrow. I was bummed when I realized I actually have 14 days of work left, not 10. I was raised in a manner that developed a strong inner moral obligtion to always do the very best I can at what I do.

I frankly feel like just occupying space preforming the minimum required for the next 3 weeks and letting them fend for themselves. However, I think that's a hard introduction to working life to the new hire(who was a top BS candidate and I successfully recruited away from many other firms) to throw him in the deep end of the pool with sharks and his hands tied behind his back with weights on his feet.

My Dad surprisingly(a very conservative ex-accounting professor) said sce*w them. You don't owe the company or the new hire any thing. This is modern business and the employment context was a non-contractual "at will" relationship. They can lay you off without a moments notice, all you are doing is laying them off with 3 weeks notice.

I somehow need to get through this sinusoidal cycle of being elatated that I showed enough commitment to regaining my health and family that I finally actually did it, and being pissed at Mega Corp and feeling guilty about abandoning the incoming babe in swaddling clothes. Tommorw, I get to have the Welcome to Tektronix day with the new hire and oh by the way I'm retieing in a few weeks.

The saga continues......

[tangomonster]

Have been enjoying your posts and feel the way you do about it all! I know I'll feel the same way about training my replacement. I think the way I'll approach it will be based on the person's attitude (how much s/he wants to learn, do they think they know it all as 30 (or under) somethings do, are they just there to collect a paycheck, how much energy are they putting into it). It's been my experience that a lot of new hires are more into establishing territory and getting together their creature comforts (which they refer to as organizing their new office) than really learning the essentials of the job and plunging in.

And I know I'll receive the exact same treatment you did when handing in my three week resignation June 12th. Will be urged to stay on to hire and train a replacement. When I try to negotiate as you did (higher hourly pay as a part-time consultant or paying me for my leave time that I will be forfeiting----I have over 400 hours and the company policy is that they'll only pay me for 160), it suddenly won't be so crucial for me to stay on!

Hopefully your last three weeks will go by quickly. You seem to be able to retain your perspective of why you're doing this and seem to have a drive to be as happy and healthy as possible (some people don't and would rather fuel their ego or pocketbook). I'm rooting for you and want to learn from you, so please keep posting....

[bluehero]

First of my last three weeks is over, two more to go. Very strange experience after word started leaking out (The e-mail announcement they sent only went to the Global executive staff). To my peers and others in the organization I am being treating like some kind of folk hero. The executive staff are virtually ignoring me in public and treat me with subtle hostility in meetings.

When my analysts left they both were treated going away parties at fancy resaurants on the companies dime. My boss organized a "no host" (i,e, pay you own way) lunch at a local Pizza parlor for me on my last day Do you think they're trying to send me a message?

They are kind of playing a game of chicken, they don;t want to treat me well, but they don;t want to piss me off too bad, beacuse I am walking out the door with some specialized knowledge and they are worried they might have to hire me back as a consultant to fix things.

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

So, Tektronix is still around? Surprising, considering they missed so many trends and opportunities.

[bluehero]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ed_The_Gypsy So, Tektronix is still around? Surprising, considering they missed so many trends and opportunities.

I have been referring to my current employer as MegaCorp. It may or may not be Tektronix. I suppose I've left enough bread crumbs about Portland for a clever and persistent investigator to form that hypothesis.

You are spot on in your assessment of Tektronix's inability to capitalize on market trends and their repeatedly demonstrated skill to screw up the new markets they do pursue. They are particularly gifted at killing acquisitions. They are still around because Tek knows how to design and build Oscilloscopes like no one else in the world (incuding Agilent).

These comments could be derived from publicly available information such as 10-K's, annual reports, newspapers etc.. I may or may not have any first hand knowledge. Tektronix has had a prominent place in the local economy for 60 years and I am familiar with many technology companies in the Portland area.

Perhaps June 3 would be a better date to continue this musing.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluehero Perhaps June 3 would be a better date to continue this musing.

Ed & I were just wondering when to sell the stock short...

[Leonidas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluehero My Dad surprisingly(a very conservative ex-accounting professor) said sce*w them. You don't owe the company or the new hire any thing. This is modern business and the employment context was a non-contractual "at will" relationship.

I agree with your dad.

The light of that reality hit me mid-career while talking with a former academy classmate who later went on to be the Chief of Police for nearly a decade. I made some comment about my career and he said "Screw this place. This agency doesn't care about your or me and if we die tomorrow by the next year we will be completely forgotten. It's only a career to the extent that your needs and the machine's needs coincide and everything else is about taking care of you and your family."

[ESRBob]

Sadly, I suspect you're right.
Time was when the social contract between employer and employee meant more. It may not have been as efficient, but I think it was a lot more humane. Losing this level of partnership may also be a reason so many of us here are ERd or think about ERing one day. When you treat people like disposable pieces of a machine, they wear out (we call it burnout) and, if they can swing it, move on to something that has more sustainable meaning for them.