Career Coach Reveals The Sad Reason Companies Actually Love When You Quit
They reap what everyone else sows.
RDNE Stock Project / Pexels There are unspoken rules in every workplace and subtle guidelines that hold the social fabric together. These rules can be fairly straightforward, like not stealing lunches from the communal fridge.
Yet some rules are kept quiet for a reason, especially when it comes to the dark underbelly of office politics — specifically when unhappy employees quit.
A career coach revealed the sad reason companies love it when workers quit.
Job search expert and former recruiter Greg Lang offered crucial insight into how bosses reap the benefits of their employees quitting.
He filmed a skit in which he played the roles of employee and boss to illustrate how a particularly sneaky part of the corporate world operates.
In the imaginary scene, Worker Greg broke the bad news that Gerald from marketing quit, yet much to his surprise, Boss Greg exclaimed, “That’s amazing!”
“We really relied on Gerald. How is that amazing?” Worker Greg asked.
“Because now, we don’t have to pay his salary,” Boss Greg said.
“Won’t we just have to pay that salary to someone else when we replace the role?” Worker Greg asked, to which Boss Greg replied, “No, we don’t need to replace that role.”
Worker Greg took that to mean their company would no longer be doing any marketing, but Boss Greg set the record straight.
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“We’ll still do marketing,” he said. “We’ll just make Brenda do it.”
“So who’s gonna do Brenda’s job?” Worker Greg asked naively.
“Also, Brenda,” Boss Greg answered, like a cartoon villain’s impression of a toxic boss.
Worker Greg asked if Brenda would then have two jobs. Boss Greg reassured him that she’d just “have the same job, but bigger and with more responsibilities.”
Forcing employees to take on more work without compensation is, unfortunately, a very common occurrence, especially during layoffs.
It’s a strategy that puts a burden on workers, which inevitably leads to workplace burnout and subtle pushbacks like quiet quitting.
Worker Greg gently advocated for fair pay and employee rights, wondering if Boss Greg would increase Brenda’s salary for the extra labor she was expected to complete.
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Boss Greg admitted the real reason why the rearrangement of work flow was such good news: He gets a “huge bonus” for saving the company money.
“So, Brenda’s going to do twice as much work, and you’re getting a raise now,” Worker Greg said as the reality of office politics revealed itself in all its horrid glory.
Boss Greg’s bonus illuminates exactly what’s wrong with U.S. corporate culture: the prioritization of executive staff at the detriment of lower-level employees.
More often than not, lower-level employees' livelihoods are negatively affected when it comes time to cut corners.
Companies could ostensibly save money by implementing a more even, balanced payscale, one that doesn’t reward executives with astronomical sums because one of their workers quit.
They could allow people to continue working remotely, which would save them money on unneeded office space and boost everyone’s work-life balance in a truly tangible way.
The sad truth is that Boss Greg did nothing to deserve his bonus. The person who should have a higher salary, Brenda, will continue to struggle under the weight of her two jobs until she, too, quits, forcing Worker Greg to take on 3 jobs, and the vicious cycle keeps going.