I was so excited when I found this thread that I immediately wrote up an old story to share. That was five days ago. Since then I've managed to read about 20% of the thread (up to page 13).
I'm feeling therapized!
I've had a troublesome run in my current position over the past two years, first working under a manager who meant well, then absorbing a number of his responsibilities, then being rejected when I was stupid enough to apply for his job when he left. Eventually it all adds up to another FU story, but I have not reached the end of it and I probably don't have the perspective to write it up well just yet. My main lesson for the summer is HR always sides with management.
My question for today: why should I put in the effort to be honest in my exit survey? It's not (yet) an interview, they have a long-ass survey I'm meant to fill out on the HR portal. Should I tell them where I will work next? Surely I have no obligation to do that. But more importantly, is there any reason for me to spend time explaining their problems that they should already know about?
My supervisor was in his role for about 4 years. He had been there and proven himself incompetent for so long that people actually apologized to me about it when I arrived. He was there for another 1.5 years before moving to another role. The higher-ups kept talking about how the company had failed him. WTF!? Failed him? What about the 10-12 people who have to report to him?
[Aside: He's really an OK guy, but somehow completely incapable of making a decent decision as a manager of people. He always tried to find the one most important factor in every situation and would then make a one-factor decision based on that. I can see how that strategy could work wonders in some scenarios, but it rarely worked for what we do. He was also deeply cynical about people and their motivations. He tried not to show it, but inside, he really thinks people will take everything they can get away with and slack off as much as possible. I feel sad, because I don't think anyone could become a leader starting from that kind of belief system. Anyway, much to Mrs. BK's consternation, I do not blame him for this situation. He reached his Peter Principle job and was smart enough to walk away from it after 4 years of professional suffering.]
At a personal-level, the culture is pretty respectful here, which I'm thankful for. But the bureaucracy shows otherwise clearly. If the rules you have in place institutionalize a process of treating people like you cannot trust them, the message gets through.
A fairly simple message to corporate leadership: if you're spending a lot time time repeating "we value our employees" it's most likely because you have not done the things that would SHOW you value your employees.
BUT, back to the base question, is there any reason I should try to share this in an exit interview? I do not need an emotional release at this point, I'm moving to a better situation. I could lean FIRE today, but I'm holding off because the market highs have me feeling nervous. So I'm starting a new job at a new company in the next couple of months. What good will it do to spend my time and effort trying to tell HR things they either already know or would already know if they cared enough to pay attention?
EDITS: Clarity, missing words.