A Geek's Life

Photo by Nataliya Melnychuk on Unsplash

Such is the spate of news impacting my industry that the mood in the office on my three mandated days is meh at best. One is increasingly likely to see clusters of people talking in hushed tones, presumably attempting to collectively digest what the latest salvo – internal and/or external – means for the company, the site and the country. A number of people appear to have quietly disappeared from the global directory, the final exits from the last round of cuts, it would appear. Bring your child to work day is increasingly the one bright spot in an otherwise bleak summer of discontent.

At lunch the other day whilst catching up with someone I worked with a few years ago, the conversation turned to us and our paths in the company. As it turns out severance, and the state of our accrued benefits, is something that has been increasingly on our minds in the last few months, mainly for the reasons above.

A lot hinges on being a “good” leaver, whatever that means in practice. I am increasingly beginning to think that this, as well as long notice periods, cannot be anything but value-destructive in the long run. One wonders how many quiet quitters remain, shackled by the weight of a benefit which is only kept if leaving is at the instance of the business.

We, my friend and I, are both in that space where we haven’t been there long enough for the severance pay to be meaningful. There is therefore no real incentive to wait it out, except perhaps the hope that one avoids been placed on the chopping block. With a milestone birthday for me in a few years, I am finding it all a trigger for soul searching. The big question is really where the effort-reward balance sits for me, and given that, what the optimum decision for me is: stick or twist.

I have the fortune of not having a weighty thing around my neck. I would like to think that means I can be a little bit more clear eyed about the decisions I might need to make, sooner or later.