Lindsey Nordby

As some of you know, this last week I both gave my notice and left my position at the company I was working for, after working there for just shy of 1 year and 3 months. I did this for a number of reasons, not all of which I will disclose here, however I will get into a few.

When I started working there, I thought I loved it. Shortly thereafter, I realized that it wasn’t the work that I loved, but that for the first time I was finally being treated like an adult in regard to my work responsibilities and trusted to get my work done. In previous jobs, I had been severely hand held, to the point to where I felt constantly babied. When I took my new job, it felt like a breath of fresh air, finally being treated and respected like an adult. Well – that was short lived. It didn’t take long before a few individuals felt the constant need to ask for progress every step of the way, needing to proof and edit everything I did, with no trust that the final product would be a good one.

Also when starting, I knew the commute would be a major downside. However, getting hired into a hybrid position made it worth it. Only having to commute 3 days out of the week was a major benefit. In my interview, I was told this benefit would start 4 weeks after hire. It was when I started, however, that I found out it was actually 6 months after hire, which immediately put a bitter taste in my mouth that I was over promised, and yet the company did not deliver. June comes and I finally get my hybrid benefits, then about 6 weeks later the company revokes the policy. Thus, leaving me feeling bitter and resentful that the silver lining of the commute only being three days a week was now permanently five. Commuting this far, for me, leaned towards a deal breaker.

Flexibility was another huge downside. While I will say my manager tried to be as flexible as possible within company parameters, the company as a whole was inflexible. Especially after revoking a policy the company had for years throughout COVID, suddenly expecting your employees to be in seat in office five days a week with little consideration for outside obligations that had become part of their normal hybrid life is inconsiderate of the employees lives outside of land title. The feeling of shame when needing to request a remote day or time off is slightly ridiculous and is cultivated in the mindset that work is our lives, and not the other way around.

Working conditions at this company were old school and out dated. Companies today are offering their employees better working conditions in order to better their lives. A standard 8-5 may be required of some people at the company in specific roles, but requiring that of your support and operations employees is an outdated concept. Let people choose their start time and let them leave 8 hours after! Or offer 10 hour work days for a four day work week. Or do 9.5 hour work days and half day Fridays. There are so many better viable options that people are actively seeking out and other companies are offering. We don’t need to feel stuck to an 8-5 schedule.

I think if there was a greater concern for the employee’s lives outside of the office, this job would have been manageable. Offering a greater understanding of what the employee’s are wanting in terms of flexibility, working conditions, working hours, etcetera will ensure your employees are more loyal to the company and more likely to stay long term. With the push back into office last fall, it felt a lot like the company put an emphasis on customers and pushed its employees under the rug and said “deal with it”.

I think overall this company is a great company, however it needs to have some modernization to bring it up to being the best. Additionally, I think employee’s need to be treated with their best interest in mind. When I gave my notice, albeit being a short turn around, I was treated incredibly disrespectfully from two particular individuals and was essentially written off immediately. It felt incredibly low and disrespectful, and ruined my experience there. I made a decision that was best for me, and while I was told my decision was being respected it was absolutely evident that it was not respected. My life is not that company, yet I was treated like the bad guy because I left. Like the gum under people’s shoes.

My boss was decently upset at my leaving. And at first, I took that very hard. I felt very upset and momentarily re-evaluated my decision to leave. However, talking it out, I realized that her needs weren’t mine. I wasn’t happy at the company. And staying just to make her happy was appealing my people pleasing need but was going to make me unhappy, and I couldn’t stay unhappy for any longer. I spent too many nights in tears over the job I had that I couldn’t subject myself to that any longer.

Something that I truly learned through working at that company was that you really do have to prioritize what is best for you. I am a people pleaser at heart, however it got to a point where I really had to stand back and realize how that position and how that company was affecting me, and realize how being in a position more suited to me would make me and the people around me happier.

The few things I spoke about above are things that were some of the reasons I decided to resign from my position, but not all of them. But what I will say is this: you spend the majority of your life in your job. So, it is so important to be doing something in the day to day that you do enjoy, at least a little bit. Being in an environment that you dislike will make you feel bitter and resentful towards the company but also will make you less likable in your life outside of work, as you will likely always feel negative and heavy.

For me, the best decision was to step away from this company. It is so important to prioritize you! Never let others affect what you know is best for you. Follow your heart and dreams and always allow yourself to take the path in your best interest, even if others get upset at you doing so.

So, I am on to the next thing. I have a really great job lined up that I will start after some time off that I think is going to be a really great fit for me. For now, I am resting, and will jump into the next venture in a couple weeks!

Happy Sunday!

xoxo, Linds