Been working a job for about two months and I’m planning to leave due to the toxic culture. I have spoken with co-workers and my boss about the culture and all signs indicate the toxic problem has been going on for years and is led by a small group of people.
My opinion is the my boss and others should of shut this down but there is a lot of evidence nothing was done to fix the culture. Our executive team know about the issues and have commissioned a survey to understand the problem better.
All signs point to no change as this seems like a constant neglect of the psychological safety of the people who work there. Employees have come forward to me and expressed how they feel day to day and it’s far from normal.
I’m planning to resign in the upcoming weeks, should I tell them it’s due to the culture?
TL;DR – want to quit my job due to the culture. How do I explain this to my boss and senior management?
24 comments
Nah. It won’t do anything and could come back at you later.
if you’re quitting it’s not your problem. just leave as quietly as you can.
Are there any people in this toxic group who could cause you problems down the road? Because, yeah, protect yourself first. Otherwise, I’d tell all on my way out the door.
Management sounds like it’s already aware of the situation, so I’m not sure what good telling them would do. I’d just leave and let them deal with the problem.
You were there two months. This has been going on for years. You probably are not the first or only one who’s leaving cos of them. So don’t waste your breath giving out this info. They don’t care.
Your employees have made reports. Have you passed those on? Those are separate from your own reasons to leave. Those employees are not leaving, so make sure someone can follow up on those complaints as you aren’t there.
He already knows. And doesn’t care.
It depends. I once quit a job and they actually had an exist interview. They even sent me an anonymous survey to fill out.
I was a very good employee. I told them the truth. I didn’t think I did anything wrong.
What kind of job do you do? Can it come back to bite you? Are you a good employee?
You know you can rate and write review on job posting sites.
Sure, you can tell them, “I’m not a fit for the company culture,” as opposed to telling them nothing. What will they do with this data point? Probably nothing. But you haven’t said anything that they would necessarily take offense to. That’s very different from telling them the culture is (insert whatever negative adjectives here). They don’t want to hear that anyway, and they’ll just be glad one more person who objects to something they’re never going to change has seen their way out instead of grousing with the rest of the employees.
If you want to help the organization, you can request an exit interview from HR and let them know about the toxic place. Especially if it is stemming from anything that could get them in trouble like racial insensitivities.
However, if you want to want to come back to this organization and work there again, anything that you say can and will be used against you. So if your new job absolutely sucks, and if you say something, it might be hard for you to come back.
Unless they have arranged an exit interview with you, no, absolutely not.
(Formerly an HR manager at my job)
Honestly?
I’d just leave unless they flat out ask you why, and then you can say something like ‘This isn’t the work environment I can succeed and create successes in’ or something like that. But the sad truth is, unless you are vital to the workings of the company, they aren’t going to care if people get chased away.
It’s very likely your boss knows, but the toxic people contribute enough that he ignores the issue.
Tell them before they get sued for the toxic group’s actions
You can tell them but the sad reality is they probably won’t care
Odds are they already know (about the culture).
In fact, you told them about it. You gave them the chance to fix it, but they squandered the opportunity.
You’ve done more than enough. Time to leave. You don’t owe them an explanation, but if they ask you can cite the culture.
You don’t. Only
Two months fuck it. Next. Or yea tell them let them know if you actually like the company and want them to succeed (doesn’t sound like it). then let them know if not keep it pushing find something better.
They’re not going to be in the dark about why an employee would resign after only a few months on the job, while they’re in the midst of investigating known problems with the workplace culture.
They’ll know.
How big is this company?
My last job/contract was international, some local “leadership” stuff is what turned me off. Manager was told he’s hands off on me, I had time seniority and was on a different team. He didn’t like that, so shorted kenon a raise.
Long story short I discussed it with regional, offered my contract to the prime (primes aren’t supposed to cannibalize subcontractors, but happens all the time), and started interviewing. Prime offered a job once the interviews started because now it’s retention, not cannibalization.
HQ called me once I took the new offer, off the record, and wanted to know my reason for leaving. Smart answer, money. Wife and kids, need to be laid fair. Then they asked about the offer I was supposedly getting from them. It was about 6K short via the local guy.
Never talked any trash to get him in trouble, but his actions got him.
Nah toxic people can’t just not be toxic. Just say you have something else to do or make up a weird excuse like you dog is allergic to the area or something.
I doubt anything you say on your way our the door is going to help the situation. If you’ve got co-workers you’d go to bat for offer them that they can use you as a reference in their future job searches if they need one from a colleague. But there’s really little to be gained from an exit interview, they already know the situation and have decided that they don’t care.
> the reason I’m leavening
Do you work in a bakery?
No. They know it’s a problem already.
I had this. Was sexually harassed via text message by married people in leadership. Experienced people using racist language racist jokes misogyny was rampant. It’s been a couple years since I worked there but I was still thinking I need to write that glass door review..
He doesn’t care in the yeast about it. He knows that a toxic work environment is bread there. He’s not going to care what your reason for leavening is, he’s just a lazy loaf and has proofed that time and time again.
Just leaven quietly once you have another job lined up, and keep your head down low.
i quit a job like that and my manager said “dont say anything because you might end up back here one day looking for a job”.
or if the boss is well connected & you piss them off you run the risk of them talking shit about you to other companies