When to resign on a PIP
Hi all,
ER Associate with one year of experience. Went through a lot of personal grief these past few months and my performance dropped. Got put on a PIP early April which ends at the end of June. Managers have been getting more hostile and they are putting a ton on me mentally. Got an offer at a different ER team at a rival firm about a month ago (lost a year and am coming in as a new 1st year associate as opposed to a 2nd year, but eternally grateful that I got another job in the same space) and am still awaiting the background check to clear. Given the time I have left on my PIP (don't see it turn positive at all and with a written notice coming at the end of it) and the mental health pushing me down in a place I don't want to be, is it wrong for me to just go ahead and resign. I have been told is my background check is in final stages and am reaching the back end of their timeline. The copy of the background check I got shows that it is clean. I am feeling horrible, and it is affecting my diet (only eaten about 3 sandwiches in the last 4 days, feel sick to eat more). New firm also wants me to start ASAP and I live in the same city so would likely have a few days off max. I really understand that logically I should stick it out till the end of June to maximize income and minimize risk but at some point does mental and physical health become more important?
You should look into why this is making you so freaked out that you've eaten 3 sandwiches in 4 days. People have jobs that don't work out all the time. Inevitably everyone gets fired / laid off at some point.
Fuck your current team. You're clearly employable and just waiting for a background check to clear. Put in for a week vacation or something and quit when you get back. Or keep your head down and do the bare minimum. But remember that lining up another offer allows you to not go out on your knees - so good for you.
Thank you for your advice.
This is the first real rut I have hit in my life to be honest. I have been on the track that almost everyone touts as the target wall street track. Went to a top private school from K-12 (lower middle class so got financial aid), Ivy League, got my return offer no problem and my first performance review in January was fantastic. Death of a close family member hit me very hard and while I did not just stop working, definitely just went into a going through the motions phase.
I feel like its stress from just worrying about the new role falling through either through my team badmouthing me or the 0.01% chance the offer gets rescinded and I am left with nothing and no job. I am terrified to take a vacation and actually cancelled a vacation I had planned with family when this PIP hit.
I’m really sorry for your loss. Sounds like your boss is an asshole or you didn’t communicate what was going on or both. What did you do to get PIP’d? I guess it doesn’t really matter but did you tell your boss about your personal situation? It’s not a sign of weakness to tell people when things are really tough. If anything, it should make them empathetic or shows their true colors.
I would HIGHLY recommend you find a way to take a week or ideally two off between jobs. Go see family, go sit on a beach, just unplug and recharge. It’ll do wonders for you and help you reset. I’d even try and just tell your new team that you want to go see family after the recent loss and that your old group wouldn’t let you. Assuming that’s relatively true, it makes your old team sound awful to work for and should make them sympathetic to you. If they won’t give you a little bit of time then they’re assholes too. Best of luck friend.
I’d second all this said above and more.
Only other piece I’d suggest is finding a good routine can help with grief in terms of meditation, exercise, eating well, spending time with family and friends, etc. make sure you get enough time in between jobs that you can start building a routine before your next one starts.
Exercise is therapy that can help you regain your confidence from such a traumatic experience. It will help you feel stronger and feel like you can overcome these obstacles.
Best of luck my friend. I haven’t had such a traumatic experience myself fortunately but I know how personal challenges can really affect your performance, and it’s no reflection on yourself at all. It’s perfectly reasonable to be going through what you are.
I do not believe they are assholes. On the contrary had quite a good working relationship prior.
The general feedback (and was not wrong) was that I was going through the motions, and they felt I was not showing any interest or enthusiasm in the field for the past few months. Unfortunately, as you both may affirm, this is much harder to come back from a more standard "poor attention to detail" or "errors in work" as this seems to have severely impacted my seniors outlook and confidence on my future growth at the firm.
I did not mention how it was affecting me, but they were aware of my overall personal circumstances.
Given the timing on the PIP and the relative lack of time I anticipate between once my background check clears and the actual new job start date as well as my personal mental and physical wellbeing, am I wrong to just want to resign now and get 2-3 weeks off instead of 1 week. Obviously in a world where I was switching jobs without the deadline of the PIP looming over me, I would stay till the background clears but I unfortunately am not in that position.
I’d just leave once the check officially clears. Can take some time to recuperate so you make a good first impression at the new shop. Good luck!
The concern is that I do not know if my check will clear before my PIP ends.
Additionally, one of the key things that went in my favor was that I am in the same city with 1 YOE coming in as a 1st year and so they are expecting me to start with the other first years in early July so time there will likely not be extended break between jobs and that is not something I can ask for.
What did they say on your PIP? I think you should take some days off for sure.
I’m worried if that would have a record on your background check?
Just said they needed to see more enthusiasm and saw a lack of interest in the field and I needed to show them that I care more essentially.
This stuff does not come up on a background check. This is purely internal. Background check confirmed my lack of criminal activity and my prior experience.
If I get fired, this will show up on my U5 which is when it will be an issue.
OK, so you’ve made a clear case for quitting.
And the case for staying is . . ?
You’re asking if it’s “wrong” to quit a firm that already fired you and is being hostile to boot? OK.
My main worry is quitting before a background check clears seems to be something that is professionally known to be dumb. I have no clue when it will clear for me or a start date, have just been told early July as a potential start date.
Mentally I have been ready to get out for weeks now.
Can you just quiet quit? Swipe in, watch some youtube, long lunch, go through the motions and get a few tasks done etc. You should be relishing this time.
Back in the old days, when analysts training entailed also some level of EQ development, the best lesson I learnt was one from Damodaran - "keep always savings of at least 6 motnhs of your costs so in case if you feel you cannot grind amymore, you can quit freely. Do not spend your first few salaries on something fancy, but instead buy yourself luxury of freedom". During one of the jobs, I had quite difficult family situation as my father became terminally ill, and I could not balance work and caring for him, and also could not get the extended leave. I decided to quit with no future job lined up, and took a few months to care for him, and also step into some of family business matters. Ultimately - I got many questions about this gap when looking for job afterwards, but just waited for the place that would accept that I would put first my family and my own mental being. Nowadays, that gap is almost invisible in my CV. Hence, would suggest to just either take holidays if you have any left and in theory, that could even extend your PIP or just quit given you have high level of posiblity that you almost secured a new job.
Finally - take good care of yourself. Not sure if your employer has any EPA services but sometimes they could be helpful for grief counselling , and also you should explain your personal situation to the manager too. If you have private medical care - look for referral to talking therapy, or alternatively, look into covering from your own pocket. Also look for some online resources - Headspace has qutie good library for overcoming grief, and also Unwinding Anxiety could be helpful - https://unwindinganxiety.com/
is this a BB or smaller firm? Would expect that at a BB there's less micro-focus on you specifically (even on a PIP) that you can just coast til your other process is finalized
Not at a BB and but from friends who work at a BB it is quite the opposite. They told me managers there are laser focused and it is a much more monitored and structured process than it is for me which is relatively laid back but the message is clear.
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