Letters to the Editor
-
Are you really that valuable if the company is failing?
LW, you say you have been a supervisor for a few years in a company that's failing.
What role do you and your dynamic and fun department play in the failing technology? Are you making the bad stuff, lying about it to sell it to your clients, lying about it in marketing pieces you create or fudging the numbers you present to the bank and investors?
In any event, you will be held accountable for your performance whenever you decide to -- or are forced to -- leave. Your business contacts outside the company will not appreciate your loyalty as much as they will your honesty and your performance.
Take a hard look at this company, and the impact your performance will have on your resume and in future job interviews. You have remained long enough to demonstrate your loyalty. You must leave before you demonstrate your incompetence or dishonesty.
As for being too hard to replace, we replace valuable people all the time. The president is arguably the most powerful man on earth and we replace him every four years. The pope died and they found a new one. Brett Favre will retire, someday, and they will replace him.
Yes, sit down and have a talk with your boss (who should have been having regular talks with all the employees). Ask him for his plan and timeline for fixing the technology and how you fit into that plan. Before you go in, research to see whether the industry believes your company can survive or whether another company is poised to smash you.
Tell your boss you're concerned, but have that new job offer in your pocket first. Then when your loyal boss starts fudging and fiddling, or yells at you for questioning him, or fires you for doubting his amazing skills, you will have a soft place to wake up from your dream world.
-
Sad Admin struck a cord.
One more comment for "Sad Admin," AKA "Future Superstar": If these people were not aware of your educational pursuits and did not view them as enhancing your career, then they either were disinterested or uncaring. That's not my definition of family!
This is water under the bridge, dearie.
-
When you share the risk...
...you also need to share the rewards.
If you are sure the company must fail, well then there is no point to staying. You should discuss it with the nice guy you work for, so maybe he won't spend all his money on a lost cause.
On the other hand, if you think it's risky but not hopeless, then it's risky for you to stay, too. So if you do take the risk you need to get shares if you stay. Because sharing the risk means you deserve a share of the reward.
-
The boss may appreciate your quitting
I love the analogy to Whirlling blades, this is may opinion too. However, as a business owner I would like to point out that loyalty goes two ways, and while cutting back has to be a heartless consideration, in small businesses, it doesn't always work that way.
The boss may be hoping to lose people by attrition, so he doesn't have to be the bad guy. Also, he knows that people are looking around, just like the employes know that their jobs are in jeopardy. There is some humanity built into the system in that we all know we are playing the same game. We just have to keep remembering that capitalism is an abusurd situation that we are all stuck with (when compared to our altruisitic impulses).
-
Cary is right
Dear LW
You need to take care of yourself first. Blind loyalty can be a huge liability to both you and your boss. Please move on. It's for the best.
-
communism, anyone?
What a great response! It makes me wish that communism had succeeded (but without the mass murders and soul crushing oppression).
If you wonder why workers in France are ready to fight to the death when anyone suggests changing their benefits or work hours, this is why. The dog-eat-dog mentality of work in the USA turns us against each other. The phrase, “its just business” is unique to America.
How would your life change if you couldn’t be fired? What if you could earn tenure at almost any job?
Some practical advice to the LW: If you are going to jump ship, you owe it to yourself to do a thorough job search and take the very best offer. Take your time. Changing jobs is one of those few decisions in life when your choice really counts. Beware working for friends.
-
Look To The Holy Text For Wisdom
Of course by Holy Text, I'm referring to GF1, wherin Micheal Coreleone utters the immortal lines: "It's not personal, it's business."
Truer words were never spoken on this earth.
Now go forth, and leave the cannoli.
-
What would I do if I couldn't be fired?
Work less.
-
its not just in business...
I do not think that its just work that creates a 'dog eat dog' world. Unfortunately, friends and family sometimes act in their own best interest. I have had my mother who was an account custodian take a substantial amount of money out of my account. Her sister then proceeded to take money from her. I have friends who are jealous and only want to see me fail. They talk behind my back. And yet I still trust people and fall in love with people in a platonic way until they prove me wrong and did, of course, forgive my mother. But my mother still is a lot nicer to me when my career is going well. My retired father asks me almost every day when the company I am working for now will fail, beacause he cannot believe that I am doing well and independent. He tells me that I will never make as much as him and is competitive with me. I don't think that this is a symptom of capitalism. Life is competitive, not the garden of Eden, and we compete for the cutest boy or girl, a secure and prestigious job, friends, and a good education.
Its very rare that you find someone who is unconditionally kind and truly supportive of you, but when you do, you should that you treat them with care and loyalty. You have to keep good people around you! So talk to your boss and see if there is anything you can do to help the company. What has been going wrong with the projects? Why have they all failed? Why is he so optimistic? What does the industry look like? Can you bring in clients? How can you be an asset? Exhaust all of your options before leaving.
Sorry to repeat the same idea from other responses, but the new position that you are interested in, LW, does not sound so good. It sounds like you have a very intimate knowledge of the finances of your current boss, you might even pay his bills or manage accounts receivables. You have concrete evidence about the financial standing of the company. But in the new start up, it seems that you do not have such access to the financial records. There's a saying that applies to any kind of political system: "trust, but verify." Sometimes, its painful to verify with family and friends, so we willingly turn the other way, but with employers its not so personal.