When I was the Chief Government Test Pilot at the Sikorsky Factory as soon as you declared your intent to leave, a guard escorted you to your desk with movers and packed you out...all badges, access to Sikorsky computer networks and company equipment taken and you were escorted to your car and watched as you drove off the property.

Same when folks were laid off or fired except the guard and movers just showed up and then the employee was taken to HR.

I asked why. Apparently, and I was never able to get hard evidence, a fired employee once changed engineering specs on some drawings before he left.

Hope everything went well.

There's no reason it needs to get ugly.

Simply state that you are moving on to a company with more growth opportunities and a better personal work/life balance that best reflects your current objectives. This is not a failure of (current company) but a reflection of the tremendous opportunities offered in the new role.

If they ask you to reneg, you simply state that you have signed another offer and it would relfect upon you poorly as a professional to go back on a business agreement. Thank them for their concern with retaining you, but this is the right decision for all parties involved.

Dont think you want to play that game. If current co thinks you are worth the extra, why arent you getting it already?

Good call. Depending upon the company and the employee, they may let you work the 2 weeks or they may walk you out right away. I never can predict which it will be. Some folks that I thought would be left to work have been walked out and some folks that I would have expected to be walked out have been allowed to work.

If I'm planning to give notice, I start slowly cleaning out my stuff so if they want to walk me out, I don't have to grab much.

That is how it typically works for IT stuff as well.

Of course a *real* BOFH will grab copies of the CEO/CFO secretaries purity tests and fabricate compelling evidence that the CIO is in to animal porn, bukkake, etc in the first few hours on the job. He will also know the location of the three nearest construction dumpsters, the nearest construction site that is pouring a lot of concrete, where to get sacks of quick lime at weird hours, and of course the schedule of specials for the nearest bar/pub/tavern.


Posting from my phone. Envision green where appropriate. Or not :)

Exactly, they should have been paying you already, but wanted to get a good deal. They got a good deal for a while, but if they'd wanted to hang on to you, they needed to pay you what you are worth.

Thing is, you can't just give people raises every time a competitor offers more money when trying to poach someone. People would double their salaries every 2 years. In theory job satisfaction isn't just about money, so you have to incent people in other ways as well.

So the counter-offer is one in which you recognize the value of the person *and* the cost of replacing them, and time lost to finding a new hire. That they didn't get this bonus before doesn't mean they aren't valued.

Some bosses only respond to pressure and need to know you're ready to walk before they take you seriously. When I went to give my notice and got a 40% raise on the spot, that pretty much confirmed for me that they could have paid me more long before it got to that point, especially since I was crushing my numbers and not making close to what they said I'd make if I were any good. I really loved the job, so I didn't get all butt hurt about it.

But sometimes the best raise you'll ever get is going to a new job. Not too many employers are willing to give a 40% raise to an existing employee. That kind of stuff gets around and the other employees will revolt or go find something better on the outside.

The maintenance people still wonder why I wanted a spade shovel for my "snow" shovel for the office sidewalk. ;)

Good advice here.

Personally I went to my boss Monday morning and told him Friday would be my last day. Like pulling off a band aid. I did communicate with them for a couple of weeks after that with issues that came up.

About 7 years ago I mentioned to my boss that I most likely wouldn't be around past the end of the year (6 months) and that i would be willing to start training a replacement if he wanted.
It was about 50% bluff but didn't care if he called it.

I got 3 raises in 3 months and they started giving me a significant retention bonus every year, but they don't mature for 3 years.
Gotta stick around to cash them in.
So far I've used them to put my daughter through college and buy the wife a new car and pad the retirement fund a bit.

Last year I was recruited to do R&D for a "green energy" company.
Part of the deal I asked for was, they had to match the retention bonuses that were already on the books. They didn't bat an eye.

That's prolly enough for my Son's edumacation at USC or Cal Tech.
more than enough more if he chooses UCLA (harumph!)

it helps that he will gradumacate from high school with enough AP course credits to cover about a year and a half of college at most places.

As everyone has said,, take the high road, and say as little as possible.
Hey how's the water down there? Hope you're staying dry.. We're pretty snowed in up here in Virginia City..

http://visitvirginiacitynv.com/about-virginia-city/live-virginia-city-web-cam.html

:)

Ya, someone at the gas station this morning told me you got 5'.

We'll, I took the high road, and all the advise helped me to conclude that would be the right decision and it was.