I’ve only been a “direct manager” in voluntary situations, where anybody with half a brain know that people will eventually leave. When people left because their “real life” demanded it (finished college, moving, got a promotion in their paying job which involved not being available in the hours we needed) I’m sorry to see them in the “awww, gonna miss you” way; when they left because some other manager had managed to piss them off beyond words, I wanted to strangle the other manager; when the one leaving was a jackass I made sure the door didn’t hit them on their way out.
My experience as an employee (and as a voluntary worker) has been that the bosses who make a huge fuss about you leaving are the ones who were making your work impossible. The decent ones may be happy or sorry, but they act like human beings before, during and after your resignation.
Once back when I was a manager, one of my employees came into my office and turned in a resignation letter.
I read it, we talked for a few minutes, and I gave him back the lettter, and I told him that I would not accept his letter, I told him that he cant quit.
We talked for a little while longer, I asked him what he was unhappy about, I told him that I would make some changes for him, and then he left my office and went back to work.
I always felt that if you took the time to hire a person, then train them, it was more than just a job. There is a 2 way commitment. laying people off or canning them is a failure on the bosses part too. I would do whatever I could to keep an employee, retraining, moving them to different departments or whatever I could do.
I think it’s pretty much a given that a manager feels inconvenienced by the whole transition process when someone leaves.
I probably would have said something like “that’s fine. Just so you know, I don’t plan on coming to the office anymore or doing any more work so I guess you can decide whether or not you want to keep sending me paychecks.”
