Feeling guilty over leaving my team

Hi guys,

I'm an analyst at a MM PE firm. My team is great, and I have so far enjoyed the position. However, management has recently rolled out new policies making the analysts way worse off (among other things cutting food expense budget for analysts to zero), so I have decided to leave the firm. I pretty much have to 2 offers lined up, both with better pay (~40% increase) and better perks. I know this seems like a no brainer to take one of the offers, but I can't help to feel like I'm letting down my team. I figure I'm not the first to feel this way, so what advice do you have for me? How do I best get over feeling guilty over leaving my team?

4 Comments
 
Most Helpful

That is a totally reasonable feeling, and you're a good person for feeling that way, but generally:

  1. It's not a big deal. People leave all the time.

  2. If anyone else on your team got a 40% bump in pay they'd leave too.

  3. If your company found a problem with you, or just needed to cut headcount, they'd fire you in a second and not think about it twice.

If people are your team are worth the consideration you're giving them, they will be happy for you to find something better. If they aren't happy for you, they're not worth your concerns.

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

This 100%.

Sounds like you're on to bigger and better things. Don't feel guilty about it.

"Out the garage is how you end up in charge It's how you end up in penthouses, end up in cars, it's how you Start off a curb servin', end up a boss"
 

CRE addresses this perfectly.

Your sentiments are natural and normal, they show you are compassionate and look at your co-workers as people, not cogs in a wheel.

Bottom line is this though: your co-workers likely wouldn't think twice about taking an offer they deemed better for them and your company wouldn't think twice about firing you or laying you off if it's what your company deemed best for them.

You're not abandoning your co-workers. Your spot there is likely to get refilled.

If you really like/connect/get along with any of your co-workers, share you phone number and email and stay in touch. Two of my oldest and dearest friends are people I first began working with. You will also figure this out with each new job you get, some co-workers will become friends of convenience [you grab coffee or lunch together during the workday] and some will become true friends: people you will choose to spend your after-work hours and time with.

Good luck in the new gig!

 

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