Comtemplating leaving in a few weeks

Started writing this a week ago and deleted, but its been on my mind for about a month. Realize there are many factors which will tell me otherwise this is a poor career decision, however i can't seem to come to grips with my company and how we're treated. Come to realize my job has been a personal complaint for years, not just now and has begun to burn me out as a person. I always found a reason to stick it out- good upcoming paycheck, company party, a nice work/life balance which is all no more; I simply cannot leave my job for a vacation anymore.

Backstory- 33, no kids and not married, have a bit of savings and could get by for a few years unemployed. Also have a small rental income and some side jobs i can work. Been employed for an equipment manufacturer for 7 1/2 years handling our main industrial accounts; always been a hard worker and know/get along with every dept. within the company. We're essential and have been open for the past couple months 100%. We actually exceeded our MTD and YTD invoiced over ANY previous year in history.

My main underlying problems is i'm extremely underpaid, and recently took a cut because they claim our core product sales have dwindled(due to covid19 like almost every company). They laid off 10% in march including the best guy on my team leaving me with people who cannot do 1/4 of what i produce in a day. My workload has doubled and am forced to put in late hours some nights. On top of that, boss assigned us two projects which he feels will boost our business and thus increase the amount of work i need to do. The constant calls, emails, problems, new requests and changing guidelines of how we do XYZ are burning me out. None of this was existent when i began 7 years ago and don't see it improving.

Proposing I email our VP and tell him I'm preparing to leave the company soon. I don't feel the comp. has been our entire division's favor for years and would rather exit on good terms. My main thoughts are I'm looking for a pay raise to hold me over for..probably another few years. But at the same time - if they don't want to give one to a top performer - I'd rather offer my 2 weeks and be gone.

EDIT 6/11: So I started talking with a new company in May around the time i posted this and was not thinking much of it. Ended up w/ phone interview> and then a Zoom later that week and an in person last week with President; they ended up extending an offer Monday night. It was not impressive but not awful and know they have some margin to work on increasing this but figured i'd run with it for the time being. Ended up emailing our ceo and my boss I was putting in my 2 weeks notice on Tuesday. They replied "you're not leaving" and worked up a new compensation plan yesterday and I ended up taking it. Was a 25% base pay increase and my monthly commission was increased. And the icing on the cake was they offered to rehire my guy who was let go at the end of March and he starts tomorrow. Everything i wanted from the beginning was dropped on my plate, i don't think this will ever happen again, but it felt pretty damn good having such a turn of events and to wake the top management up.

 

Anyone?? Beuller ..

 

Why not ask for a raise first? Have you asked for a raise first?

Sometimes leadership is blind to these issues (by choice or just because) so if you have an issue with pay then you should voice it. If they aren't willing to negotiate then start shopping around. Idk about letting your company know you're leaving, have heard arguments for pros/cons on that

 

If your enployer doesn’t work for you, you shouldn’t kill your self working for them. It can be liberating to leave a job that just doesn’t do it for you anymore. Not worth working yourself ragged just for the sake of a paycheck.

 

It sounds like you want to leave. But man, now might be the wrong time to give up a guaranteed income.

Maybe keep squirreling away savings and tightening up an exit plan for when the economic outlook is a bit clearer.

 

I feel you, but it's just the grind, stick it out till the horizons look better.

 

Life is too short. I was 36 , had some money, quit my job and traveled the south pacific, Hawaii, Fiji, Australia before coming home back to Canada after a year because I was wanderlust. I am now 66. If you feel undervalued, under paid, under a rock, only you can make that choice of what to do. Do you think that a little more money or a lot more money will make you happy, only you can decide. Life sometimes is not easy however you do have something a lot of folks don't have and that is choice.

 

I would also be in the same boat as the other guys, but with unemployment on the rise and I know some highly qualified people being let off; I simply don't think company leaderships would care if you leave or not.
The reason being, there are other people waiting in line right now with the same qualification or better than yours that are looking for jobs and would gladly take a lower-paying one just to pay bills.
Even my fiancee's company had let a lot of people go and are not hiring. Their department is 50% manned compared to pre-COVID and she has to take on a bit more responsibility with the same pay. Those people that were let go/fired can't find a job.

Look at how SpaceX handles all their positions, they literally pay below average for all their position just cause people are waiting in line to get into it to have the title of working for them. It's kinda the same situation right now with any company/business.

If you really can't take it, by all means leave if you have the savings for it. Just be aware that the job market is pretty hard right now unless you have specialized certs that are hard to find (OSHA safety certs, Security Clearance, etc) as those will always be in demand.

 

From the sounds of it you are not happy in the job and it’s affecting your personal well being which is never good. The company has shown itself for the entirety of the time you’ve been there. And as you said yourself you don’t seeing it changing. If you think a raise is gonna make you happy I’m willing to bet you are highly mistaken. You’re young and have money set aside. Imo it’s time to move on and do something you like and work for a company that appreciates its employees. If you do quit live on the least amount of money you can and take some time to decompress and get a clear head. Money will never make up for a poor work environment. I wish you the best of luck.

 

Maybe see if you can land a new job before you leave the old one.

 

I literally just did this on Tuesday. Still feels amazing today!

 

GTFO

 

Thanks everyone, really needed some input from people i don't directly know from all backgrounds. Have a good Memorial day!

Thanks, and i haven't because I don't want to get shut down, or offered a BS raise..i was given one in November which was overdue for about 3 years when promoted. But thank you, probably a better method to ask first before rationalizing.

Great points, and definitely something you will never regret traveling the pacific.

Congrats man! Was supposed to be down there in Austin last month for circuit of the Americas motoGP. My brother is in N Austin, moving to Pflugerville* where he's building a house.

Have thought about it, have a lot of family that has served, brother, dad, uncles, Grandfather back in WW2. My brother enjoyed it for 6 years but felt his time was done towards then end and opted to not re-enlist for another 2.[/QUOTE]

Yes was a big consideration, employment super high, Could leave and relax for a few months, but doesn't mean when ready to go back the market will be strong making it ultimately a bad decision..

 

Just something to think about:

US Federal Reserve released its economic outlook and projection a couple of weeks ago. With the amount of companies filing for bankruptcy and shutting down, the current outlook to reach the pre-COVID economic statistic is no longer the latter half of 2020. It has been extended out to 2021 w/ housing market crash expected to happen in mid-2021 if no further stimulus is provided. Job outlook also dropped in every sector based on the unemployment filing and monetary transactions between banks and businesses.

Just fancy thing of saying it'll take a while to recover and get back to where the US was before. It's not really just cause of the US economy, but they also said because of the global logistics are so messed up right now that global economics is F'd.

Now, some regions are not affected as much as others. It just depends on what your city/region mainly makes money off of.

 

Two-weeks notice is just a courtesy to an employer before quitting and is not necessary at all or legally required. Also, it is better on your resume when you state quitting a job than for an employer to use the two weeks time to come up with termination docs/record before you have officially quit.

It would be prudent to secure an alternative job or career before quitting.

You got this mate

 

This makes me a bit more content about my situation which from the sounds of it is almost identical to yours.

When COVID started catching traction I'm the news, etc. My company first issued a statement in march saying they were not concerned, that our industry is typically unaffected by these kinds of global events and they cited the 2008 recession and claimed that they expected revenue to hold steady. Fast forward two weeks and the panic must've got to them, because they decided to enact a 15% pay reduction across the board as well as wipe all 401k match contributions, in my senario effectively making it a 20% pay reduction, claiming they had saw an decrease in revenue and were taking "preventive measures." Well, that's when the shit hit the fan so to speak, almost as if timed just after the pay reduction went into effect, instead of a slow down most of our clients have been ramping up requests and our team also just "won" another brand new account which I've been placed as lead on, which has essentially doubles my daily work as a conservative estimate. For April and May we were operating under these conditions until (luckily) the top execs must've realized that we are not seeing the anticipated drop they were forecasting and they put everyone's pay back to normal, however decided not to extend anyone a pay raise in 2020. The last pay raise I recieved was in 2018, which I see as a cost of living raise. I've been in talks about my position and salary since this time last year, and have been promised a promotion and pay raise, which has been kicked down the road for the past year now, and now looks to be pushed into 2021. It's also pushed me to "over achieve" in my current role by showing that I am ready for more responsibilities yadda yadda, and I am tired of being used. Similar to OP, I too am one of the highest performers on my team, often handling the workload of two or three of my colleagues who are in other geographical regions, and they know it.

I have been actively looking and applying for jobs, my plan is to tough it out and hopefully have something lined up by fall. My wife and I are expecting and I will be on FMLA shortly to get me into fall. I am hoping I can find something in the meantime but as others have said I am finding that most companies like mine are leery to hire, even if the need is there. I'm just disappointed in my current company that leadership can be so oblivious to what's going on within their own company, and that they dont even bother asking managers if there are any extenuating factors where they should make exceptions.

I guess this was more of a venting than call for suggestions though I am open so please reply. I guess the main thing I wanted to say is that it makes me feel a little better that my company is not the only ones treating this pandemic as an excuse to abuse and leverage their people, maybe you will find solace in my story as well.

 

So I started talking with a new company in May around the time i posted this and was not thinking much of it. Ended up w/ phone interview> and then a Zoom later that week and an in person last week with President; they ended up extending an offer Monday night. It was not impressive but not awful and know they have some margin to work on increasing this but figured i'd run with it since it was out there. Ended up emailing our ceo and my boss I was putting in my 2 weeks notice on Tuesday. They replied "you're not leaving" and worked up a new compensation plan yesterday and I ended up taking it. Was a 25% base pay increase and my monthly commission was increased. And the icing on the cake was they offered to rehire my guy who was let go at the end of March and he starts tomorrow. Everything i wanted from the beginning was dropped on my plate, i don't think this will ever happen again, but it felt pretty damn good having such a turn of events and to wake the top management up.

I feel for you, going on two years with no pay increase is difficult. I'd recommend doing what i just did this past week above ^^

 

Glad it worked out for you man! Sometimes you just gotta play the game I guess.