[Porsche-O-Phile]

Never forget you (and she) is a free agent in this day and age. There's absolutely no harm in looking elsewhere and going there if the situation is better. I'm possibly about to pull the trigger on a similar job change for myself for a number of reasons including (but not limited to) the recent introduction of a similar do-nothing, self-important middle management type in our office. I've been told by several long-timers that such individuals historically don't last long (typically they last about a year before upper management pulls the plug on them for being so costly and not bringing in any new work) but I'm probably not going to stick around since there are other reasons as well (better pay, closer to home, more interesting work, etc.)

My point is there's no harm in EVER keeping resumes current and sending a few out once in a while even if you're "happily" employed. Every overpaid H.R. consultant in the world will tell you this, very few people actually do it (I'm happy to say I'm one of the few that does and it has worked quite nicely to my advantage over the last few years).

Nobody is entitled to my (or your or her) loyalty. It's earned. If the "free market" principle of labor is to work, people need to stop rewarding/reinforcing behavior like this on the part of companies and stop biting their tongues on "exit interviews" when it comes to things like this. Be honest. Be careful how you word things (I wouldn't say "I'm leaving because so-and-so is an a-hole") but I WOULD say that "recent changes in management structure and in particular, my immediate supervisory chain-of-command have created a work environment that is contentious and incompatible with someone like myself, my goals, my work ethic and my desire to advance within this organization". Something like that. They'll be able to read between the lines. If more people did this, it'd make companies realize that they actually DO need to take measures to scrutinize their work force, management structure and what's going on if they want to retain the best people and avoid "revolving door syndrome".

Of course in a down economy all bets are off and employers can be a lot more picky and less concerned about retention since there's often a larger pool of (expendible) labor. Something to consider given where it looks like our own economy might head in the next 6-12 months. . .