Resigning - looking for moral support

[TheExtraGuineaPig]

About 6 months ago I started a new job after a 2 year career break (not maternity, as my kids started school) in a field I have worked in for a long time but with a small company who deliver project work. Basically I took the job as I was approached and it was with people I have worked with before (a long time ago) and with clients I know.

I think it was a bad move though - the company is badly run, there's no planning and although the work isn't shoddy we are often in difficult situations with clients because it's not planned or scoped properly, there's no process and we are terrible at quoting and billing. Sometimes there seems to be no business coming in at all and there is no structure - we just do whatever falls our way.

I am 90% sure I need to resign - I am really lucky that I can support myself for a while without working - and I have a plan to study in September. But, for some reason I feel really guilty. Partly because we have just employed a lovely au pair that I will have to let go early (although happy for her to stay a couple of months) but also because I feel like I'll be letting my team members down to deal with the disaster! I also feel I'd be letting our clients down. If I was motivated to stay I think I could improve a lot of the problems but I think even if that were the case it would still be a bad fit for me - the way the company runs would be fundamentally the same.

I think my mind is made up and I'm asking for moral support and some strategies to help me do the deed... I feel sick at the thought of it :(

Gosh, just tell them it isn't working out and you're tendering your notice.

It will feel great once you've done it

Firstly, no need for guilt. It's not your fault or your problem that their outfit is badly run.

Stuff like this happens - my Boss has quit today because his new boss has made his job a total misery - it's a shame because he's a great boss (IMHO) but nothing lasts for ever.

If it was me, (and apologies if I'm stating the obvious) I would either make up a white lie about why I was leaving, or just not discuss it at all. Oddly enough I was having the same discussion with my boss - he isn't going to state the obvious about why he's going because everyone knows anyway.

You won't win any friends by pointing out how bad it is (even though it's true) - and who knows, you might end up working with some of them again somewhere else where you can both laugh about the crappy place you used to be at.

I wouldn't let anyone guilt trip you either - I resigned once place for a big increase in salary and a company car at a time when I could only just pay my mortgage - one of the old duffers in the office said "there's no loyalty any more" and my boss wrote me a snide letter about how disappointed he was - within 2 years that office had closed and they had all been made redundant.

Oh good grief, run for the hills and don't look back. You don't need to give them a reason. If the shoe were on the other foot there would be no hesitation.

Thank you everyone! I have trouble putting my needs first so this is really helpful. Now my boss hasn't turned up all week (literally, not turned up) so I haven't done it yet but I will....