Oh dearly departed – or one woman’s view on leaving a company

Recently, a dear friend left her role as an IT development lead in a major company.  She penned the following note…one I would submit shows she’s still on pain for her self-chosen departure.

How would you respond?

• Good for you!
• Businesses are not people?  They are cold heartless entities.
• This is natural as people leave…it is a defense mechanism and unrelated to you.
• Get over it…
• Something else…..

Personally, it speaks to me about how companies need to think about departures with a similar focus as onboarding.

Please share your answer in the comments.

I will say this to you but to no other because I think you alone will understand.  I was stunned at what occurred during the last two weeks of my tenure, but perhaps it should have been expected. In cult-like fashion I endured a good old fashioned shunning and then as if to emphasize that I made no significant contributions to the organization, ever, not a single soul from management searched me out to ask exactly what it is that I did day in and day out for almost fifteen years.  Personally I understand why there was no cake, no pocket watch and no rocking chair, but professionally it is shocking to me that there was no formal transition of duties nor invitation to participate in some type of exit interview process.   On Friday evening I simply packed up and left the building…  and it was over.

In some respects I feel badly for leaving my past employer, primarily for the operations folks I leave behind who desperately need the help and then for the customers who ultimately will suffer the most.  This being said, I can’t tell you how free I felt when I walked out Friday without a cell phone!   No more interrupted vacations, holidays, weekends or middle of the night phone calls to support systems with absolutely no vendor support!   It took a few days, but only then did I realize the tremendous burden and personal responsibility I carried.   This weekend I had the best sleep ever, or at least in a zillion years!

I am extremely happy to be with my new employer and am winding my way through the on-boarding process.   I believe I have found an environment where we are encouraged to act entrepreneurial and given the time to innovate, which I know will be both personally and professionally fulfilling.   My husband and two school age children are extremely happy that I am out from under my last employer, they have independently commented that I seem happier, or at least according to my daughter “not as cranky” as I was after being up all night long!

In the end I believe things worked out for me in the best possible way.   

Full disclosure: permission was granted to share this personal note albeit without attribution.