Ahead of my bonus, should I tell my boss that I plan to resign?
I have a great working relationship with my bosses at my firm, and have been informed of my eventual promotion to Sr. Asso by Sept. While the people are great, the strategy of the firm is no longer interesting to me. I have accepted an offer elsewhere (different strategy) and plan to resign post bonus. Should I inform my bosses pre-bonus? Theoretically, the bonus will be at risk. However, I don’t expect them to stiff me on it. I don’t want to burn a bridge by seeming opportunistic. Any advice?
Dude, no.
Jesus Christ…why the fuck would you do that?
Please don’t underestimate how disposable you all are to your employer
Did you miss the part where he said they’re really close. Like sometimes on a Monday morning they’ll ask him how his weekend was. Or if they run into each other on the elevator up, his boss might call him bud, or guy, or buddy.
Agreed, absolutely not. As much as you want this off your chest, just be patient.
Absolutely not - what do you think that would accomplish?
Absolutely do not do this. Your boss might not want to stiff you, but the owner/mgmt company won’t care
Follow up QQ for all - In OP's scenario, isn't there a world where the firm prefers to know with ~1-2 month lead time in order to do transition/hand-off etc? Versus just peacing out the day of bonus? Defer to those with more experience and who really know what they're talking about. Just curious whether a firm can actually nuke your entire year of bonus because 11 months into the year you let them know you're not coming back for senor associate. And you need to wait until the bonus clears your bank account to let them know. Becuase the second you let them know you've accepted another offer, you are dead to them. Thanks all.
Bonuses (with very limited exception) are discretionary and subjective. In an extreme scenario, they could match your disloyalty with a $0 bonus, with no recourse.
Yes, while giving some more notice to help transition/backfill is nice, it's not worth the personal risk. You can always offer to stay on a few weeks for that, but honestly, we're all replaceable and transitioning work usually doesn't take more than a week or two (assuming you're not the only other investment professional).
Extremely helpful feedback, appreciate the quick response. I'm not there yet, but would potentially be in a similar situation to OP this summer/fall. Definitely something to think about. Tricky stuff.
If you like money at all, which I suspect you do if you’re in the industry, do not say anything until it’s in your account.
Absolutely not! You never tell anyone you're going to quit until you do it. Loyalty to the office never gets you anything until it's YOUR office.
I'm just now noticing the "sheer belligerence" quotation underneath your comments
I laughed quite hard when I saw the original and just had to make sure I remembered it
Uh, no
OP here. Thanks all for the super helpful insight! First time doing this, so wasn’t sure how to optimize b/w keeping the relationship and exiting. Will just keep silent till the check clears.
For future reference, you keep the relationship based on how you did your job/keeping contact after exiting. Telling someone you're leaving before you're all ready to leave and while still have money on the table is a textbook negative free roll - no way it can help, can only potentially hurt you.
Understand your perspective and desire to maintain the relationship, but it's in your best interest not to disclose. As a more senior fellow and having seen / personally gone through this situation a number of times, you should always protect your own interests first (and specifically in this example, you open yourself up to a multitude of risk with little to no reward). Moreover, as you progress in your career, you'll learn to separate professional and personal interests accordingly while maintaining and continuing to thrive on said relationships.
An important point that hasn't been raised yet is that telling your boss about this actually weakens your relationship with your boss, not strengthens it. Good bosses want to have nice Rolodexes with ambitious people who maximize their own self-interest (as well as dedicated employees too, you have to have a mix). Telling your boss this shows that you are bad at maximizing your own self-interest and are consequently a weaker contact to have.
Negotiating well, standing up for yourself, and looking out for yourself are appealing traits vis-à-vis the boss, not the opposite.
Facts, can’t let people take you for granted
Hell no
OP, do not listen to all these haters.
You have a great relationship with your bosses. They do actually care about you. Your friendship with them transcends money.
Tell them asap. They will really appreciate it and likely give you an even bigger bonus than originally planned to show how much they value your transparency.
Are you crazy? Of course you should tell them. Your boss has your best interests at heart.
Like myself, you seem like a good person who really doesn’t like the concept of delivering bad news and leaving your team out to dry.
Doing this your first time around is tough, and it feels wrong and disloyal. You will learn in a few years though that it’s not that serious. For example, when my co workers or someone more junior quits suddenly, I don’t get pissed at them nor hold any grudges even if it means we’re playing cleanup. If they like actually you, it’ll be annoying, but they’ll still have a fond memory of when you worked together so you should be able to keep the relationship. Also, you aren’t rage quitting mid-deal, and I’m sure you know the talking points when you have the convo after your bonus hits.
At my current job, when people quit or get let go, they pretty much leave immediately. It’s ruthless, even if we like the person. That’s just how life is, and it’ll come more naturally as time goes on.
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