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‘He said we made him feel like a burden’: New hire quits within just three weeks
The manager shared that when the new hire resigned after only three weeks, he realised where he had gone wrong as a boss.
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In the world of small startups, "we’ll just figure it out" is often the unofficial motto. But for one 23-year-old new hire, that lack of structure led to a swift exit. A viral Reddit thread details a manager’s realisation that his own busy schedule, filled with back-to-back meetings and forgotten logins, created a toxic environment for a fresh graduate.
The manager wrote, “My new hire quit after 3 weeks. He said we made him feel like a burden,” adding, “We are a small team, like 15 people. I am not even a real manager, just the guy who ended up being responsible for new people because no one else wanted to do it. lol so we hired this kid, fresh out of school. Smart guy, eager. I was excited. Day one. I was swamped- meeting after meeting. I told him to grab a seat and shadow someone. I thought that was fine.”
The manager recalled that by day three, he was just sitting, without anyone speaking to him and without any access to a system.
Fast forward to week two, when the manager gave some work to the new hire, which he messed up, and the boss recalled getting annoyed.
What happened next?
“Week three. He sent me a message on Slack and said he appreciated the opportunity but this was not the right fit. Then he told a coworker the real reason - we made him feel like a burden every time he asked a question. I felt like s**t,” the manager revealed.
The individual shared that after the new hire left, they realised, “We did not have a plan but just assumed he would figure it out, and when he did not, we got annoyed at him for slowing us down.”
How did social media react?
An individual advised, “Your onboarding sounds like a hot mess. You need to fix that ASAP, or you're going to run into this again.” Another added, “I ran into this with my last job, and just kinda went with the flow. Just a lot of ‘look what I am doing so you get an idea,’ which is obviously a great way to learn. Coasted for about 6 months before I left for a better opportunity, but I knew I was seriously lacking in some skills. I learned some valuable lessons, though, most importantly that I should have been a better advocate for myself. It was a good learning experience, but it's not something I would throw on a resume.”
A third expressed, “You can't onboard someone without a plan. You gotta get them squared away, access, and some quick wins to get them churning to the machine. Good for him for leaving and hopefully finding something that fits for him.”
A fourth wrote, “Manager 101. Don’t schedule an onboarding on a day when you are busy. When it does come, you clear your calendar, mark yourself busy all day and decline/delegate anything you can. If you absolutely can’t, the new guy comes to your meetings with you to just sit there, meet people, and absorb things. My first week out of school, my skip level attached me to his hip. It was one of the best onboarding sessions I have ever had.”
(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)
