Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To quit new job after 2 weeks?

51 replies

Lochnessgiraffe · 27/08/2021 07:19

I started a new job 2 weeks ago and I was told it would be a difficult project. I naively thought it would be OK. The last project manager quit after 3 weeks due to the hours we work 830-530 they were doing 7-7. I'm doing all hours and it's affecting my family. I've been getting up at 5 to do some work before the children get up and working from 7-9 in the evening as well as core hours. This isn't sustainable. It's a 6 month contract and I turned down 2 jobs for this. Aibu to quit?

OP posts:
Dozer · 27/08/2021 07:21

Do you have another job to go to? If not would secure one first.

Another option is just to do the contracted hours and outline what can’t be done to the target timescales or quality within that time, and what you’re prioritising.

44PumpLane · 27/08/2021 07:23

YANBU, but I do think the suggestion by Dozer should be your first option.

Outline to the employer what can be achieved in the contracted hours and let them know you're not willing or able to commit additional time.

Original poster
Lochnessgiraffe · 27/08/2021 07:24

The problem is everything is a priority. Too many meeting that are needed and no time to do the actual work. I've been Brought in at the end of a project with hard deadlines and it's a shitshow. I've actually got a couple of interviews lined up

OP posts:
GoWalkabout · 27/08/2021 07:24

Yanbu if its not working for you. As they have struggled to keep people is there any room for renegotiating your responsibilities and someone else coming alongside you? To save the contract?

Brefugee · 27/08/2021 07:25

You need to tell your employer this - they are facing losing another employee due to burn out and how are they going to handle it? And (you don't need to tell them this) you should try your very best to stick to your contracted hours.

It is easy to get carried away with a new company, especially if they do one of those rousing "all hands to the pump, we know it's difficult right now but it will get better, this contract is important to our company and it will ease off because it will lead to more work and we can take on more staff. Huzzahh!" type speeches to the team.

But in your shoes? I'd be looking for another job right now, or if I could afford it i'd jack it in right now. And on my resignation letter AND my exit interview (which I would insist is with boss and boss-of-boss) i would be making it very clear why i am going.

KentishMama · 27/08/2021 07:26

I don't know what industry you're in, or what the project is. However, I would greatly respect a project manager who calls a crisis meeting and asks for a review as the project clearly isn't going well. Usually you have a few options on a project like this: change scope, change timelines, change resourcing... So think that through. What would have to change to make it feasible?

Is that an option?

Penners99 · 27/08/2021 07:28

Do the hours in your contract, nothing more, nothing less.

Brefugee · 27/08/2021 07:29

I may or may not very recently had a very similar experience.
Everyone else in my team (still there) is about 20 years younger than me and in a different stage of their carreer.

One thing i had to do for the project was make a weekly status update with a traffic light system next to each comment - I set them all at red one Friday early on and added a banner across the top with a link to an appendix in the report with details on each part of the project of what was putting it at risk. Alongside each one i had two things: unproductive meetings ("that meeting could have been an email" may have been used more than once); unclear responsibility chain; lack of escalation to decision makers; not enough staff.

And then i went home for the weekend at 5pm. Monday was a complete shitshow, and I'm now working on a different project, but they did take it on board and the other project is now mostly Amber/green and just about on time after they reorganised and took on more staff.

I say that to show that i know it's possible to do this - but it also depends on your personal circumstances which path you prefer to take.

Original poster
Lochnessgiraffe · 27/08/2021 07:31

It's IT. The scope keeps increasing as it was never defined. The developers are working evenings and weekends. It a this will get better all hands on deck type company.cant change deadlines and we can't work more hours.

OP posts:
TheKeatingFive · 27/08/2021 07:31

Another option is just to do the contracted hours and outline what can’t be done to the target timescales or quality within that time, and what you’re prioritising.

She won’t last long if she does that. Better to quit on her own terms.

OP, if you can cope with the uncertainty in the short term then go for it. The exact expectations of a job aren’t always obvious until you get into it. I doubt there’s much to be gained by trying to tough it out.

GoodnightGrandma · 27/08/2021 07:33

Do your contracted hours and tell them why it’s going to fail, in a constructive way.
If it doesnt improve, leave.

Dozer · 27/08/2021 07:39

It’s not the case that ‘everything’ is a priority.

If time is the priority and deadlines are actually ‘hard’, then the company will need to spend more (eg to increase resources) or de scope.

Would just work your hours, state what YOU are prioritising and don’t have capacity for, and continue to job seek.

Company may be a shit show, but you can set boundaries for yourself.

Dozer · 27/08/2021 07:41

It’s not a given, TheKeatingFive, that the company will fire OP immediately if she doesn’t work long hours

spicychickenwing · 27/08/2021 07:42

I think id walk into a meeting with a resignation letter in my bag.

Id try to have the conversation and id pitch it as-this project needs an overhaul-these are my recommendations. I believe this is a) the only way for the project to succeed and b) the only way any pm is going to stay and run it for you.

If you leave it will cause delays. So they may as well push out deadlines anyway. Either way its not going to work. Then they will have to find someone else and bring them up to speed.

If they are cloth earred and wont make any concessions at all then hand in the letter snd walk. But you will know you tried.

TheKeatingFive · 27/08/2021 07:44

It’s not a given, TheKeatingFive, that the company will fire OP immediately if she doesn’t work long hours

If it’s the company culture, everyone else is doing it, deadlines are imminent and she’s new/under probation, I’d be astonished if the didn’t.

Well not fire exactly, but not pass probation.

Original poster
Lochnessgiraffe · 27/08/2021 07:44

I've just logged in and there were 25 emails sent to me between 8 and 4 am. All critical stuff for today!

OP posts:
mogsrus · 27/08/2021 07:45

only you know how this decision would affect your life,how long would you survive without income?

maddening · 27/08/2021 07:46

Go in with a "road to green" presentation.

Include the change in scope, what is required to accommodate the increase in requirements- more developers, xyz software etc etc outline all issues, what you see is needed to fix then.
Say when the fixes must be found by in order to hit their hard deadline.
Advise that you will not stay if they cannot meet these requirements and that they are definitely set to fail currently based on the issues and timeliness that you have outlined.
They need see that they are at crisis point in terms of their project missing their hard deadline.

Sundancerintherain · 27/08/2021 07:48

You have my sympathies. I worked on an everything is a priority project.
I took all of the emails & made a list of everything I had been asked to deal with as a priority ie, within 3 hours , & placed it in the desk of the ops manager & asked him to rank the tasks for actually priority. When faced with the evidence he had no option but to increase my team by 2 members.

maddening · 27/08/2021 07:48

If they say no resign

Ellmau · 27/08/2021 07:50

The scope keeps increasing as it was never defined. The developers are working evenings and weekends. It a this will get better all hands on deck type company.cant change deadlines and we can't work more hours.

Then they need more people. This is a management/planning failure.

daisychain01 · 27/08/2021 07:54

I'd walk into a meeting with your manager carrying a mug emblazoned with the words:

"Lack of planning and scoping on your Project's part
Doesn't constitute an Emergency on my part"

Penners99 · 27/08/2021 08:09

Classic IT project.

Fail to define + fail to resource = project failure

fizzybootlace · 27/08/2021 08:17

@TheKeatingFive

It’s not a given, TheKeatingFive, that the company will fire OP immediately if she doesn’t work long hours

If it’s the company culture, everyone else is doing it, deadlines are imminent and she’s new/under probation, I’d be astonished if the didn’t.

Well not fire exactly, but not pass probation.

I'm afraid I have to agree with this judging by my own recent experience. After 6 months of putting forward zero or low cost solutions for a project I was working on, and being told repeatedly "we'll look into it" yet nothing changed. Obviously I mentioned it at my end of probation review and was then summonsed to a meeting, accused of not being able to manage or prioritise my workload and threatened with my contract being terminated!!

While less than ideal, I quit without a job to go to as there was no way I was having that on my record after working all hours and presenting workable solutions. I'm afraid there does seem to be the "be grateful you've got a job" culture at the moment and sometimes the only way to respond is with your feet.

Good luck with the interviews!!

Pipsquiggle · 27/08/2021 08:19

So I am guessing this isn't your first rodeo, you have lots of project management experience etc.

You need to draw up a list of things that would make your job doable:
More people
Defined objective
Key stakeholder who you can say - this will be done by x, we are disregarding this request as it isn't urgent.

If they can't help / won't listen, make your decision.

I've had bad feelings about jobs and wish I had listened to my gut a bit more and left

Sounds like a bit of a nightmare which is not of your making