Success in the workplace doesn’t necessarily require sticking around – 8 moments when it’s better to just leave

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I just read an article, and I’d like to recommend it to everyone first. Success in the workplace doesn’t necessarily require sticking around; 8 moments when it’s better to just leave. 2009-3-25 1:01:00? Qian Jing. The tips for navigating the workplace that we can see today all focus on how to get in: study the true intentions of those who conduct interviews like a psychologist, because you need to break through that glass door and get inside ； Speculate like a schemer about your boss’s needs and preferences, because you clearly see the \"path to advancement\" – the way to climb up ； Smile like a scoundrel at your colleague who spits in your face, with a spring-like smile, because you have already kicked him hard in the ass and are about to step on him again. Yet The Money Classic insists that the experiences and skills taught on how to \"enter\" are sufficient, while there is a severe lack of in-depth research on how to \"leave\". In fact, choosing the right time to leave is just as important. Why? Let’s take a look first at what people are like in the workplace Like a monkey climbing a tree – looking up, all one sees are buttocks; looking around, all one sees are eyes and ears; looking down, all one sees are smiling faces. No wonder people like to wish each other good things – continuous progress. Of course, we truly hope you’ll see fewer backsides and more smiling faces. For this reason, people often don’t bother to take care of their own interests. But never forget that the workplace is like fire: it can certainly ignite your passion and desires, but it can also scorch you. Do we have to learn the skill of slipping away when the overall situation turns unfavorable? Of course. Remember, no one is secretly imagining you as a slick trickster who likes to smear oil on people’s soles; you can absolutely portray yourself as a true hero – either by facing challenges together with your boss or by fighting alongside your colleagues for their rights. But everyone has to admit that sometimes, being a \"great hero\" means you have to give up the chance to become an expert in financial management. In the concept of financial management, the importance of minimizing losses is never less than the skills needed to make money. 　　In that case, the sooner one applies foot oil, the better? It can be said with certainty that sometimes this is indeed the case—slowed reactions not only cause us to lose money, but more importantly, they result in opportunity costs—which are often overlooked by us. In fact, some things that seem to come suddenly are actually not without any signs or patterns. If you can understand the ‘weather’ of an impending storm, you can choose the best moment to tie your shoelaces tight – and dash away at top speed. Sign 1: The deadline for spending money recklessly is approaching. Xiao Dong had served as the art director at a well-known magazine for three years; he left because he was dissatisfied with the new management’s focus on office politics, and soon after he joined a new magazine whose editor-in-chief was a friend of his. After earning a high salary for three months, I switched to another media outlet with a much lower salary but some reputation, where I have been working ever since. 　　Never assume that Xiao Dong’s criterion for choosing an employer is \"reputation\" rather than salary. In fact, even before joining the new magazine run by his friend, he was clear that it was nothing more than a ‘bridge institution’. “At the beginning of last year, my friend, who took over this magazine, told me quite clearly that it was impossible to make this magazine succeed due to the extremely limited funding capabilities of its sponsors; therefore, all he could do was spend up those 1 million and then stop working on it. ”Xiao Dong said that when he joined this magazine, his friend had been spending money recklessly for half a year already; “The one-year deadline is approaching – how can I not leave?” ”It is said that this friend of Xiao Dong is open to his staying or leaving. The development of the story has almost no suspense. By the end of last year, that magazine company could no longer pay its employees. 　　In fact, it’s impossible for the other people working at that magazine to know the ins and outs as well as Xiao Dong does. But this doesn’t mean it’s completely passive either. “\"Wearing suits and polished shoes to enter high-end office buildings\" used to be a typical description of that era when people spent money recklessly on the internet, but today such superficial aspects clearly can no longer serve as a basis for making judgments. Whether it’s a boss spending his own money or a professional manager spending someone else’s money, an important characteristic that seems to exist is neglect – they seem more focused on the \"art of spending money\" and lack an approach to making money. 　　Of course, we’re not naively thinking that bosses spend money just for the sake of it; running a business is meant to make profits, and that’s the purpose behind spending money. But they all share at least one thing in common: a strong desire to gamble. 　　“Even though they have started to miss rent payments occasionally, they still refuse to move out of the luxury office building ； The boss has the photos of himself with foreign media figures hanging all along the office corridors to showcase his status, and it seems he is also deliberately emphasizing his connection to the media ； Even journalists are required to clock in for work, so as to give visiting guests the impression that the place is busy and thriving. ”Yang Fan, who has experienced such things before, recalled the costly practices of his magazine in discussing \"Money Economics\". 　　He said that the boss viewed that magazine merely as a financing platform, and Yang Fan and his colleagues never reaped the benefits of that financing – after the boss got a large sum of money, they faced lower salaries and layoffs, because in a sense, that magazine had completed its temporary mission. 　　If you firmly believe that you lack the ability to assess a crisis involving excessive spending, you might think this way: What does excessive spending have to do with me? Is the financial loss one might suffer nothing more than the final moment when the money is wasted away? Then why not wear a stopwatch around your neck – most financial crises strike at the turn of the year. The summary of this pattern is based on certain grounds. Since the money is spent for a specific purpose, bosses usually set their time plans on an annual basis; they also specify a duration for professional managers, in order to make it easier to keep track of things at the end of the period. Sign 2: The sudden use of a mass hiring strategy. “During that period, the company suddenly started hiring on a large scale and conducted ‘training’ sessions in batches; in total, thousands of people were involved.” At that time, I also felt something was off – for example, recruitment took place almost anywhere, as long as there was a job fair, and the requirements were quite low; all that was needed was that one wasn’t from Beijing. After all, we are cultural institutions, and it’s clearly a bit strange to have a recruitment policy that isn’t selective. But I was still optimistic at the time, thinking it was necessary for the company’s business to grow rapidly; even one of my superiors, who was unaware of this, was eager to get started on it. Who would have thought that it would turn out to be the final madness. “Zhang Xuejie is now an administrative assistant at a company, but it seems she still hasn’t shaken off the influence of her previous work experience. 　　At that time, Zhang Xuejie worked at a cultural institution affiliated with a certain government agency, which used educational networks as its platform; three years earlier, the operating rights of this institution were acquired by an enterprise owner. Previously, the organization was able to cover its own expenses and lead a relatively relaxed life, but \"bringing in capital is aimed at achieving better development.\" In fact, despite the successive waves of employees coming in and going out who had all been taught by the boss about the \"market economy,\" business development remained stagnant. The boss suddenly resorted to a mass workforce strategy, establishing business centers across the country, even in small and medium-sized cities. Who can say that this doesn’t reflect an ambition to go all out? To almost all employees, it was nothing more than a drastic measure for expansion. 　　The real truth is as follows: since conventional business practices did not yield the expected large profits over three years, the owner decided to change tactics and try one last time – all franchisees were required to pay a risk deposit of 50,000 to 100,000, which could be fully refunded after three years. The boss, of course, has every trick in mind. If the financial situation is good, then use that franchise fee for free first; if the financial situation is poor, then just take the franchise fee and leave, leaving the mess to the authorities. Therefore, the true intention behind the mass workforce strategy is capital manipulation rather than business operation. This final act of madness is actually not hard to understand; just like playing the lottery, the most effective way is to increase the chances of winning – the more people there are, the greater the likelihood that someone will win the money. 　　What is the truth? The boss took the franchise fee and left. What about the unpaid wages and performance bonuses of the employees? You can look for that **mechanism—that’s of course the usual way of thinking, but it isn’t the most effective approach. Just think, how much time would it take to sort through such complex asset relationships? And moreover, the bad are always worse than the good—who would doubt this truth? A billionaire on the Forbes list, after incurring losses in his media company that owned several magazines, sold the company to his driver for just one dollar. Well, now the workers can demand their wages from that driver. It’s easy to imagine how long this journey will be. Sign three: Absurd “Communism.” “A high salary is not as good as happiness, and happiness is not as good as a long life.” ”“One must first take care of themselves; it’s not the market that is heartless, but our own incompetence. ”Yang Yifei, who three months ago parroted those incisive remarks by the bosses of \"Qian Jing,\" is now experiencing anxiety as he looks for a job. “To be honest, his speech is easy to listen to, and we get excited listening to it. What was puzzling at the time was why the boss, who had rarely shown up before, suddenly started holding frequent and nonsensical ‘training sessions’ for us, talking a lot about the spirit of dedication, yet there was never any actual training related to business skills. “Now, Yang Yifei has clearly found the answer. Of course, the boss wants to lead only “Communist” fighters. Soon after, the boss announced a major pay cut. “It’s absolutely absurd – a salary of over 3,000 yuan was reduced to 1,000 yuan. As a result, people started leaving one after another. Since it was the employees who voluntarily resigned, no one received any compensation. ”Yang Yifei complained that, due to the lack of prior preparation, it was not easy to find a new job that suited him in such a short time. 　　In fact, from a humanistic perspective, an abnormal boss’s mood should often serve as a signal for you to withdraw promptly. Some bosses suddenly develop compassion for life, while others suddenly become more \"humanistic\". If you’re someone who has never been taken seriously by your boss, and one day he suddenly offers to take you out for dinner, reflecting often on the unpredictability of life, then you must not get carried away – instead, quietly tie your shoelaces tight. Sign four: Confusing the truth with performance metrics. “The boss said that everyone in our company should act like a boss.” Therefore, our department also needs to develop a business plan, with everyone’s income tied to their performance. If the task isn’t completed within three months, leave. ”Hearing his supervisor convey the boss’s instructions to him in a clearly dissatisfied tone, Li Tao was completely confused. She has been working in finance for nearly 10 years and has worked at several different companies, but no one has ever asked her to meet sales targets like a salesperson would. She had been working at this company for two years now, and being asked such a thing suddenly left her at a loss. 　　Remember, if your boss “wants you to be the boss,” that’s not a good sign. In less than three months, Li Tao and his supervisor left that health product sales company in frustration – it was obvious that they couldn’t complete their tasks. Only one cashier was left, and the reason is obvious: he is the boss’s nephew. 　　“I’ve become used to this kind of situation by now. ”Zheng Jian was already somewhat famous in the financial media industry, but he was “powerlessly” overpowered by a boss. “The boss suddenly ‘reformed’ the salary system in the editorial department, cutting it all to 800 yuan. Let’s carry out our business tasks separately. If the monthly turnover reaches 100,000, what salary can one earn? And if it reaches 200,000, what salary can one earn? There are several different salary levels. The boss’s outright reason for doing this is that ‘the media needs versatile talents’. As a result, I only got it for a month and it wasn’t 800 yuan, because I included a back-cover ad. ”Zheng Jian certainly does not consider it normal for him to be able to secure advertisements, as for many years he has said, \"I only do news work,\" and he insists that the editorial department should not have any business-related responsibilities. In any case, Zheng Jian felt very frustrated upon leaving that magazine company, so he decided to pursue an MBA in order to \"improve his skills.\" 　　But later, Zheng Jian realized that the editorial staff of this magazine had changed 9 times in less than three years. In every batch, the editors left because of \"connections to management.\" “The so-called ‘editorial staff salary system reform’ has also appeared 9 times on schedule; he has become the boss’s secret weapon – decisive and effective. In fact, among these nine groups of people, there were many outstanding media professionals; they came with the ambition of creating an excellent magazine, but they left due to their own incompetence. ”Zheng Jian believes that \"in fact, these talents have completely different value orientations from those of the boss. The boss’s real intention is to ‘extract the maximum value from each group of people as quickly as possible, make use of their entrepreneurial resources, and then discard them.’\" ” Sign 5: Overemphasis on minor details. Chen is very dissatisfied with the company’s \"inefficient operating system.\" “I asked them how to claim reimbursement for taxi fares incurred for business trips, and they said to wait as a new policy would be introduced soon ； When hiring me, the boss promised to give me a subsidy of 500 yuan on top of my salary. He said he had already talked to the finance department about it, but the finance department kept saying to wait ； Our department needs a color printer; the management has signed off on it, but they still refuse to purchase one. As a result, I have to use a black-and-white printer, which makes it impossible to correct colors in photos. 　　Chen Wei said he waited until half a year later, when the design company closed down. In fact, many long-time employees have already left the company; they believe that the company had been operating efficiently in the past, but now the word \"delay\" is a sign that a crisis is approaching. Chen Weiyi also kept hearing such claims, but he just wouldn’t believe them: after all, he was hired by the boss, who was a well-known expert in his field. But it turned out that the antennas on the older employees were simply more sensitive than his. 　　A company that was previously operating normally began to show signs of decline due to minor issues; either the owner faced financial problems or wanted to give up on the business the company was engaged in, and as a result issued orders to slow down certain departments’ operations. There is another situation: what’s on the boss’s mind cannot escape the notice of the heads of various departments, especially those in key positions, as they are closer to the boss. As a result, the emotions of these supervisors are directly reflected in their work—they act like sensors. Bosses are by no means stupid enough to tell their employees directly the extent of the crisis facing the company; instead, they usually tend to talk at length about the company’s business prospects more than ever before in such situations. Sign 6: Unstable job position, constant moves from one place to another. Fu Wenjun used to work at a well-known Taiwanese computer company. He said that before leaving there, what he was most afraid of was someone asking him, \"What is your main responsibility at the company?\" “I first worked as an editor in the company’s IT department; after working there for a few months, that department was disbanded, so I was transferred to work in the company’s administrative department. In less than three months, I was transferred to work in the real estate development department. Two more months passed, and due to the lack of any real progress in the real estate business, I was laid off and transferred to another department. ” 　　In less than two years at that company, Fu Wenjun had moved through 5 different positions, until he was finally assigned to a department that sold ship models. “It’s not an ordinary ship model; it’s a replica of a ship model with political significance. With a price of over 20,000 yuan, the profit is predictable. ”Hearing the company’s description of the prospects for this business, Fu Wenjun could only imagine that he would need to withdraw quickly. 　　“I haven’t changed positions every time because of poor performance; all departments have high opinions of me. The problem lies with the company; for a long time, it has not performed well in its core computer business, and at the same time it has diversified without any proper planning. Thus, you must follow the company’s fortunes through the ups and downs of rapid startups and quick closures. ”Fu Wenjun’s colleagues in the internet department also left the company later on, but unlike him, they all waited until the end before being dismissed – as, depending on their length of service, they were entitled to compensation equivalent to one to two months’ salary. 　　“I don’t think ending my career at that company early and giving up those few thousand dollars in compensation is a loss at all. Within a month of leaving my job, I completed the book that I had been writing intermittently for some time, earning both fame and profit. This is a great foundation for my future development. On the contrary, if one stays around in that company just to get some compensation, the longer that lasts, the less useful that experience will be for future development. ” Sign seven: The “harem culture” flavor is becoming increasingly strong. In the end, I even got into a physical fight with the ‘bossess’. ”Xu Shan worked for an American company, and later the American boss married a Chinese woman. “The bossess didn’t have much education, and her sister-in-law acted as a watchdog in the company; as a result, almost all of us female employees who graduated from prestigious universities suffered at her hands, and this was one of the reasons why we left the company. ”Xu Shan said she fell ill, and when she entered a company, she first checked to see if there was a female boss. “I also try to stay away from family businesses as much as possible. ” 　　Of course, we do not approve of prejudice against family businesses. In Europe and the United States**, family-owned businesses do not prevent the establishment of modern corporate systems. Of course, we must also admit that family businesses in Asia are somewhat special—this is related to culture. Therefore, we prefer to describe it as a “harem culture”. Because, sometimes, in some companies, even if it’s not a family affair, there is still a “harem”. 　　Most of Yao Yi’s colleagues at her company were pushed out. Although it is a private enterprise, the employees here clearly have no reason to complain about the bossess. The bossess also runs another company. “We have here a former miner, male, in his 50s. His principle is to obey the boss without question, regardless of right or wrong. He went to his boss’s house for dinner every day to report on all the details of the day. It’s normal to raise some questions about the company’s business, make a joke in your free time, or suggest purchasing new equipment, but all of these things are considered ‘negative’ by him. ”That “old miner” was from the same hometown as his boss, and compared to his fellow villagers, the salary the boss paid him was enough to make him cry. When his standard for judging himself is \"no mistakes means success,\" while your boss’s and your own standard is \"no success means failure,\" conflicts are inevitable. 　　There is another person in this unit who cannot be ignored: a female employee who seems to be passed around among various departments by her boss, yet never quits her job. It was only later that I learned how the ambiguous relationship between him and his boss, along with the complicated conflicts among the old miners, often ended up harming innocent people. 　　A typical characteristic of an organization with a strong \"harem culture\" is that, unlike \"imperial court culture\", performance is not generally used as the criterion for evaluating people from top to bottom; therefore, one should never expect to achieve their professional ambitions there. On the other hand, you will “die in a horrible way.” At the organization mentioned above, almost every departure of a professional manager occurs following a vigorous \"campaign\". “Everything seems to be planned, even the boss himself is obsessed with games similar to **fate games. ‘The old miner would occasionally talk about how he started his career in the mines, and how by now he had outdone several MBAs, always becoming very emotional while doing so. ”Yao Yi recalled. 　　Later, Qian Jing approached one of the professional managers who left that company for an interview, and he described that experience as a \"catastrophe ordained by fate.\" “Financial losses are inevitable; no wonder they agreed to your salary request without hesitation from the start, as they already knew that paying you half of what you asked for would be quite generous. If you left the job, they would end up owing you your salary. Who has the time to keep playing games with scumbags like them? But that’s not the most important thing. Because they always use complicated ‘movements’ to pin the blame on you, your greatest loss is the damage to your reputation and the shame it brings to your career. “ 　　The most disadvantageous aspect for those who start working there is that in organizations with a strong \"harem culture,\" it often takes some time after you join and begin working there before you can become aware of it. In any case, you must adhere to the principle of acting as soon as possible – before your workout starts, before the wage arrears occur and before you are officially harmed in any way. Sign eight: Banks and creditors coming around frequently. Even a fool can recognize this situation – it’s certain that, of all the signs we can identify, this is the most obvious one, and thus the one that requires no further explanation. But The Money Magazine wants to remind us that in such times, people often still have illusions about large companies, “because it’s a camel.” But clearly, this notion is not entirely correct—when a company faces financial problems, it is the camel that is more likely to stumble. 　　The problem was exposed by the media—bank creditors showed up one after another—all attempts at restructuring failed, and behind this sequence of failures lay the vulnerability of the financial chain. It can be said that after problems arise in the capital chain, small businesses are easier to rescue than large ones, as they require less capital. At the same time, to ensure greater financial security, large companies often create complex funding structures, but this actually lays more traps for potential crises in the future. 　　Who can be sure you’re not on the Titanic? The difference between a sinking ship and a small boat is just that—oh, it was a major accident with more people dying.