Ask a Manager: My Coworker told HR I had an interview and HR posted my job

[minoanmiss]

https://www.askamanager.org/2021/07/my-coworker-told-hr-i-was-interviewing-and-now-theyre-posting-my-job.html

ugh. my computer is being very slow so I must eschew copying over the text. But I wanted to reblog this because I wanted to ask -- I thought this was SOP if an employer catches a whiff of jobhunting -- they push the jobhunting employee out as roughly as possible.

Comments

[heavenscalyx]

In my experience, loonytune toxic companies will push the jobhunting employee out by punishing them with more work, less flexibility, etc. Less toxic companies (let's admit it, all companies are toxic by dint of Capitalism) are more likely to ignore rumors from coworkers, or at most materialize some more money and maybe do a followup meeting that is NOT explicitly attached to the coworker rumor (possibly stated as "we're chatting with a selection of employees on these topics") to see if there's anything they can address (but a manager should do that and NOT HR, and this LW is in a position where their direct report is the company president who is an absentee boss at best).

I currently work for a company with a history of loonytune but a current top brass that are trying to be less toxic, and the company has a long history of taking people back after they left -- I'm on my second "tour of duty" myself. One manager (now thankfully retired) was known to be passive-aggressive vindictive, and we all openly talked about it. When one of my coworkers gave notice to jump ship and then had her offer retracted, she was able to come back, but we all knew -- and talked about -- the fact that she was going to be punished for it. It took her several years to work off that history until the manager's Wheel of Hate spin landed on someone else.

[jamoche]

Not always. Sometimes they'll try to counter-offer, sometimes they accept it as part of doing business. At the bigger tech companies it's common for people to come back and they don't want to burn bridges.

[lannamichaels]

Yeah, my place non-sarcastically loves when people who left want to come back. I think it's an ethos of "let people move around and eventually they'll move back here" combined with "let people move around, they're needed other places, too".

[lannamichaels]

My place actively encourages job searching, and will send out internal-transfer job postings to all staff, we usually get a handful a week.

[melannen]

Same. I avoid mentioning it to managers not because I am afraid they will try to push you out but because they will decide they need to "mentor" your "career growth" and you will know no peace.

[lannamichaels]

"Thanks for the link to that training opportunity! Unfortunately, it has nothing at all to do with what I do, and we don't even do that here. But I appreciate your thoughtfulness!"

[green_grrl]

I love, love, love that Alison’s messaging is consistently, “Say what you have to say to not get pushed out of your job. It’s your livelihood and if bosses are going to be shitty about it, don’t give them the total truth and don’t even feel bad about it.”

[jadelennox]

honestly this company seems reasonable to me.

Unreasonable, or mistakes:

1. LW for the goof of telling colleague
2. co-worker for telling HR
3. HR and company president for being bizarre wankers about an employee with the very reasonable ask of having a chain of command

Eminently reasonable:

1. Packing up your stuff in a company with a history of firing people once you know they're ticked off
2. Posting the job once you know an employee is job hunting, especially when their ask is for something you have no intention of giving.

Above and beyond:

1. Offering more money and trying to make LW want to stay.

[minoanmiss]

Ugh, I hate capitalism.

(I am contemplating jobhunting and this is just a little terrifying. If I wanted to jobhunt while unemployed I would quit first, and even that wouldn't look as bad as getting fired as soon as they find my replacement. Why couldn't I be in possession of a small fortune?)

[beable]

I agree with Alison and disagree with everyone who thinks the company is acting reasonably here. Or the co-worker.

Maybe Id be on board with the job posting itself, but the way they did it and the actions if the HR person are SOO over the top and iut of proportion for a single fucking interview.

[xenacryst]

I'm with you. Maybe it's my peculiar part of the business world, but in almost every job I've had, I would expect the followng from $MGMNT if they got any actual evidence of me looking to leave (not rumors, actual evidence - rumors I would expect nothing to change except, maybe, as was mentioned up there, some minor effort to make sure I was happy) - a) I'm sad you're leaving, b) is there anything we can do that would make you think about staying? c) I'm excited for your future. In fact, I have done just that in at least two jobs where I essentially gave several months notice (one where we knew we'd be moving when my partner finished grad school, and knew at least a year out when that would be, and the other when my partner didn't get tenure and knew there was no future for us in that town, and that was at least four months out - in both cases my management was sad to see me go and absolutely on board with making sure I landed on my feet). Nevertheless, I don't tell my manager or coworkers when I'm actively job hunting, if for no other reason than I know how damned tight my job market is - I've sent out zillions of resumes and had oodles of interviews over my career, and I've gotten a grand total of FIVE job offers in my professional life. There's a hella high chance that at any time I'm job hunting absolutely nothing will come of it. But if my current employment DID get wind of a current job search and acted like this? I'd quit on the spot, no notice. That's toxic. I'd tell my professional colleagues not to work for that company. I'd make sure that people knew that people aren't valued there. I'd know that my knowledge isn't valued, my experience isn't valued, my emotional life isn't valued - the only thing that matters is a warm ass to fill a chair. Now, granted, from everything else that LW says, it's pretty clear that the place they're at already thinks that.

[minoanmiss]

*reads this*
*continues to hope there are jobs that value people that I can get*

So I was thinking about this

[minoanmiss]

Espccially because you are one of the people I look to for advice:

What (besides "don't confide in that coworker") would you say to me if I were LW? Because as I mentioned I'm likely to be in that position soon. I know the business world is unfair but it just seems -- harsh to me to get rid of someone the moment one finds out they are even contemplating leaving.

Re: So I was thinking about this

[jadelennox]

Hmm. I would say, first of all, I don't think them posting the job necessarily means they're getting fired (they did offer LW a raise, after all). But it's safe to assume that it's a risk, so the point stands, true.

I would err on the side of not feeling obliged to let any colleagues know your plans. (Keep in mind I screwed this up at my last job; I trusted an colleague I believed to a friend, while forgetting the often-relearned lesson about ambitious white men. When it backfired I had a three day breakdown before I remembered I'd rather get backstabbed sometimes if the alternative is never trusting white men at work.)

So the goal is, don't tell colleagues, don't give out your current employer as a reference (and explain, if they ask, that your employers don't know you're looking--which is totally normal). Just keep it on the down low. Sometimes that means you'll be in the final round of a job search while simultaneously planning for the future at current job, and that's fine and normal; think how often your colleagues have done the same thing. Plan to give two weeks notice, plan not to leave things in chaos when you go, and then keep it secret.

Re: So I was thinking about this

[minoanmiss]

writes this all down to reference in the coming days

Thank you. :)