Employer Crit

So I recently moved on from a position from a small design company (about 7 people), on my own will. When I was there the management was, uh, not-so-good. During my time there, we had 5 or 6 designers come and go “because they didn’t work out”. There were, two cliques in the office, the ones who were there from the get go, and what I would call the “outsiders” and there was an extreme lack of trust of the outsiders. This clique type atmosphere cause a really poor moral among the few employees there not to mention seeing how bad the turn over was in the office. I can really describe the whole scenario here so here is my question.

I would like to see the company succeed as the people there are good people but I feel like they are going to fail if they continue to have the same problems they have. And as there is this lack of communication between the two cliques I want to make that evident with a letter. I know I should just move on, which I have no problem doing, but would it be a bad idea to send a letter constructively criticizing the poor moral/working environment in the office to at least make it evident that there is such a problem? Most likely, if I am having a moral qualm about sending a letter then most likely, yes, I shouldn’t do it.

Thoughts?

I wouldn’t say anything. If there was an exit interview you could have raised the feedback then, but I wouldn’t expect an airing of grievances after you’ve left to do much of any good for anyone. Especially if you decide to later use them as a reference you don’t want to burn any bridges with a letter that could be interpreted the wrong way.

I’d move on. Likely management is on a level aware of the situation but is in a combination of denial/unwilling to change. If I had 5-6 designers leave my department in a short period of time, I’d be sure that something was up. Most of the time, awareness is not the issue, it is the will to do something about it, and your letter won’t change that.

In most cases like this, the messenger is shot. It will be easier to say “That Taftos guy was a jerk eh? First he leaves us in the lurch, then he sends us a letter saying how messes up we are!” That it will be to do something about it.

The silver lining is that you have moved on and hopefully you know better how to spot a place like that in future interviews. Hopefully your new position is a better environment.

Thanks for the replies guys. That was right along the lines I was thinking, no use burning bridges, cause it would most likely be taken the wrong way no matter how I worded it.

The new place is much better environment.

Your concern is commendable though. If only it was as easy as a conversation. I’ve always bitten my tongue when I’ve left places, but I’ve had a few friends who have spoken out of concern and it just never went well. In the end, every place has its pluses and minuses, the trick is find those that suit you best I suppose.