Resigning at 24

This is premature, too me.

While most fresh graduates are so excited to join the labor market after 5 years of burning midnight oil, this one chap strikes different cord. He tendered 24-hour resignation notice just after joining the company in Feb 2012. Reason given is to be closer with family in Melaka. The pressure from the wife and his in-laws seemed so intense that it finally broke down his determination and perhaps sanity to decide wisely. Yes living separately due to work location is not a cuppa tea for every married man or woman. Highest degree of understanding and trust are prerequisites.
In this case, there is an option, Plan  B. Be a weekend husband until your transfer is approved. But he has different plan. Wish him all the best.

Rezeki masing-masing.

Resigning at 48

A cool and highly experienced senior technician who was supposed to be transfered to Basra to support our Iraq operation next month or so made a bold decision. He tendered resignation to everybody's surprise.

Resignation is for the brave and bold only. Making a decision to resign is not a cup of tea. Especially resigning from a well-paid job. Or from an established and reputable company, like this company. Many I met said they had to think over and over and over again before coming to a decision to quit. Quit checklist so lenghty. WHo will pay the bills? All sorts of bills -- water, eletricity, gas, ASTRO, Celcom broadband, cukai pintu, manitenance fees if you are staying in condominium. All sorts of monthly committments -- house rent, home 1 installment, home 2 installment, car 1 installment, car 2 installment, children school fees, childrens pocket money, airtime reloads for all the mobiles you and kids have. School bus fares, petrol money for car 1, petrol money for car 2, money for old mother back home, maid salary. Eat-out expenses, yes once in a while kids and their mom crave for some kinda western meals at McD or KFC or pizza hut. All those are not cheap and are in different league as nasi lemak or mee kolok. They cost a bomb for a penniless. Being used to travel on now-everyone-can-fly airline, you need to continue the tradition. Sedekah to masjid, haji, umrah. All those activities need to be revisited once you resign from the company.

You see that the quit checklist is pretty long, thats why I said tendering resignation notice is for the bold only.  It is certainly a collective decision, should be supported by a spouse, more so if you are the sole breadwinner in the family. In this organization where there is no pension scheme, only KWSP savings is your goldmine, quitting anytime makes no difference. Quitting means you simply lose income from the company you are quitting from.  But quitting closer to retirement age has an advantage. You can withdraw from KWSP to do things you want to do and enjoy doing it. 

Pushing factors

Another resignation. This time a senior executive in procurement department or in this organization, we call it supply chain management.  7 years in the company. Quite an experience. Given a couple more years, he could become an effective manager. But he wanted to leave. What can HR do? Technically nothing. It is employee's right, enshrined in Labor Laws.

Another exit meeting for HR people. The intent is not to persuade him to stay, but to make sure others do not follow him. One staff leaves, one more headache for a recruiter. To find a replacement, with  equivalent experience, is an uphill task, a time consuming process.

To get to the bottom, probing must be structured, questions aked one after another. Some will hide the actual reasons, so as not to hurt current superiors or company. Or not to be seen greedy especially when monetary compensation is concerned. However reasons of staff leaving could be summarized into 2: pushing factor or pulling factor.

As for this procurement guy, he was rather straightforward, blaming superiors for not keeping promises. He talked like he is a caring family man but his the problem is his family is not in Miri. So the reason for leaving is to be closer with the family --- personal reason, I'd say.
His story started in October 2011. He was told he is too new in Miri to be considered for transfer to KL. He began to accept the fact and activated Plan B ---  bring the family to Sarawak. He worked hard to transfer the teacher wife to Miri area to the extent of seeking recommendation from Deputy Prime Minister Office in Putraja, via his brother's UMNO political link. The wife transfer was about to materialize when suddenly the superior promised him that he could go back to KL in March 2012 due to department downsizing. With this good news, he dropped everything about bringing his wife to Miri, putting DPM recommendation letter into a dustbin. He felt guilty to everybody who helped him -- his brother and above all to DPM. He waited for March. Came January, the superior dropped a bombshell on him. He was not releasable for reasons that downsized structure still needed experienced personnel like him to stabilize the operation. He got frustrated so much. All his plans came down to ashes. You know what happened next --  this Plan C.

I could see his points.

On the exit interview form, I summarized what I heard and ticked the PUSHING FACTOR.

WITHDRAWAL OF RESIGNATION TENDER NOTICE

May 2008

An executive staff tendering resignation would like to withdraw it
within tender notice. Is it possible? This is new situation to me as
an HR Manager. My executive staff in charge of IR is very new -- only
3 months in position -- and she is of no help either. Networking did
it. I called my seasoned HR friend. I consulted with my manpower
planning executive who happened to have vast experience in Industrial
Relation matters from her previous position. She is very resourceful
and sweet I must say. (I write about her later -- remind me). I made
reference to an IR Guide I got from attending an HR seminar couple
years ago). So can he withdraw his resignation? The answer is YES but
subject to the management's agreement. It is the management
prerogative. If the management wants him badly they will agree for
him to stay, else off he goes.
I consulted CEO and he agreed to take him back. We felt the key
reason for leaving is not that he is not loyal to the Company or
something like that, but because of other personal matters.

Lesson Learnt: It is an employee right to tender resignation, but in
case of withdrawal of notice of resignation, it is the management
prerogative. We talk about a contract here where two parties agree on
something.