A sudden exodus of employees is causing leadership to panic and suddenly puts me under a microscope with questions like:
- Are you going to leave?
- What can we do to keep you from leaving?
- Do you see yourself here in 1 year?
These are all semi valid questions to ask in the best interest of the company. But I’m curious how this information could be used.
This all got me thinking – at what point could – “no - I don’t see myself in a year” be used as a resignation with a 1 year notice – and then terminated after ~3 months and be ineligible for unemployment since you “technically” resigned.
First, don’t say “you see yourself leaving” in one year. The question is a worthless. Give it an equally bullshit answer like " I hope I am still here in one year".
Second, even if you say you might not be there in as year, that is not a resignation. Never say that sort of thing in writing unless you are sending in your formal notice of resignation.
Is this a “help I answered my boss’ questions truthfully and now I’m worried I may have sunk myself into some trouble” post? If so, you might want to share what you’ve said. (Like, if you said you don’t see yourself there in a year, maybe try speaking less in the hypothetical.)
If you’re asking for guidance for how to answer questions you anticipate being asked, the way I’d probably answer is:
- Are you going to leave? I don’t have any plans to leave.
- What can we do to keep you from leaving? Given my current situation, the main thing(s) I can think of that could make an offer from another company hard to turn down would be _______(higher pay, more vacation, travel benefits, better medical insurance, whatever). I wouldn’t have asked for such from you had you not asked me directly, but if you wanted feedback on what to focus on to be compeditive in the jobs market in this field, that would be my answer.
- Do you see yourself here in 1 year? I hope to be here in a year, yes. (If you quit within the week, you can say things changed between this question and your resignation.)
Try to smile, be polite. Chances are the people directly asking the questions of you will find it as awkward as you do. They’re only doing it because they were told to.
If you’ve already told them things like “I don’t see myself here in a year” (or something lesser like “I dunno” or “it’s hard to predict that far out” or anythjng), don’t sweat it. I really don’t think there’s much you could have said that could actually come back to bite you. “I don’t see myself here in a year” is not the same as “I won’t be working here in a year.” I doubt anything you’ve said could qualify as a resignation.
Appreciated - fortunately for my anxieties I don’t think I dug myself too deep before I raised this.
I’ll keep some of those comments in mind. My current mindset is to just leverage it for a promotion and run with that while I start working with my network to see what else is available. Ideally the promotion will come with a significant bump in base pay and not all be time based vesting instruments.
@Vanth@reddthat.com is correct. I would just add that you should always apply for unemployment when you leave a company and do not immediately have new employment. Don’t disqualify yourself. That’s the job of your state’s department of labor.
When answering “Are you going to leave?” or similar questions don’t say yes or no. Say you are always interested in whatever options are best for your career. If the business can continue to provide the best option then there is no reason for you to leave.
We’re incentivized to lie to our employers. If they ask where we see ourselves in X number of years, any answer rhst doesn’t involve that company is a red flag to management, and likely a reason to terminate your employment.
We live in an age where company loyalty and hard work translating into promotions & higher pay aren’t real things. This is not the 1970s anymore, despite what many of our geriatric politicians say to the contrary.
These days, the only way to get a promotion or a pay raise is to quit and go work for someone else. Employers don’t like to admit it, but that’s the hard truth. There is zero incentive to work hard for, or be loyal to, any company.
If you are fired during your notice period, in most US states, you’re still entitled to unemployment insurance for the time between when you were fired and when your notice period would end
The default standard at law is whether a reasonable person would interpret your statement as intent to resign. Generally, that means giving a specific date and not just a nebulous idea of some time in the far future. This would probably be down to a case-by-case basis. If you said “I won’t be here in two weeks”, that’s different than “I don’t see myself continuing to do this job five years from now.”
“A raise would help my loyalty”
At my company, we had someone who told us they were planning on moving countries within a year, but hadn’t given a firm date to leave. We interpreted it as we weren’t given an official notice until they confirmed the date.
Even after they gave a date, we still treated them as a normal employee, but we did tell them we expected that their quality of work wouldn’t drop during this period. I don’t know how that would work in positions where the policy is to cut off access after someone gives their notice.
