Ghosting my job - Starting a new job without quitting
So I work for a small startup in CA (no longer with Yahoo) and executive management has lied to us, ignores our technical suggestions and blames us when their ideas break things, and I’m pretty sure has commited investor and client fraud. All of engineering is leaving, but they have no clue, YET. We also all work remote. So here is a crazy thought expiriment. I plan to find a new job in the next month or two (Holiday slows things down). When I have secured new employment I will tell my fellow coworkers I am leaving in 2 weeks. On my final day I will return my computer to our office. I will then start my new job and wait for management to discover I no longer respond to any communication. I estimate I could possibly go 2-4 weeks before they realize I am gone. They have very bad track record with actually laying people off, so I can see me still being “employed” anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months. At some point they will have to fire me, but curious as to how long that will take. I am okay with screwing upper management and I would make sure my current coworkers were aware of what I was doing - ghosting my job. I NEVER will work for anyone in upper management again. Thoughts? Has anyone done this? Have you heard of it being done?
Your professional integrity is what makes you valuable. At some point this kind of behavior is likely to catch up to you. You don't want that in your past.
With the fraud I have seen take place, if I were to delete all of their data it would fall in the bounds of “professional integrity” - I plan to go to the press anonymously about the illegal portions I have seen once coworkers are clear of this clusterfuck.
Sounds like you should be ready for an aggressive response if they function the way you think they do
What is the hypothesis of your experiment?
My hypothesis is that they will take a minimum 2 weeks to deduce I no longer work there. Maybe longer. They are really BAD at the business side of things. With a recent actual layoff they forgot to pay them a final paycheck for weeks and thus owned them back pay.
No problem with your approach. This is considered job abandonment and has well established legal precedent. If you simply stop “going into work” which in your case is remote so you stop responding, then the previous poster’s concerns don’t apply. Send back any company stuff, don’t log in again, and you’ve legally abandoned the job (ghosted it, in millennial parlance). It’s their problem, not yours, to notice and give a shit. Let us know how you fare. I’m rooting for you! Edit to add: subsequent responses indicate low degrees of confidence and an over abundance of caution. Reputation and the like are bullshit. Employers in CA are super cautious about negative references. They will only confirm employment dates and your last job title. You could burn a bridge with a thousand pounds of thermite and unless you are at an executive level, it will disappear like last week’s fart. Nothing to worry about.
I’m not worried about the reputation aspect. If I explained the details with an employer and they thought my reasoning was poor then I probably don’t want to work for them anyway. My company is doing illegal shit, I don’t trust them. When I find a new job, I do not want a pay gap, so they will receive no formal notice. I HOPE it takes them months to remember to actually fire me.
Illegal? Report it
I will clear it with anyone left in engineering before I do it. I don’t think they will have a problem with it.
Techlead (Ex-google) got fired for monetizing YouTube videos. Do you want that with new company? They may not know. If they know, no one will standby you. You will be fired.
This is the equivalent of two children behaving badly, and one of them shouting "he started it." I send both kids to time out when that happens. This experiment has a potential professional cost to you that's too high to pay. I know of businesses that can be lenient, but then decide to make an example of someone. It might be you. Anyway, you should do the right thing even when it's hard.
While I often agree with a “do the right thing” approach, there is value in “they fucked me over, time for me to fuck them over” approach. The ghosting idea is a lame fuckover, but simple. Me, I’ve fucked over past employers in fairly spectacular fashion. $25k bonus then quit the next day fuckover. Try harder OP, but you’re on the right path.
Yes but the way you did it at an at-will state is not wrong. Getting paid while not working and not telling his boss he quit is stealing.
What's your objective? Screw over the management (which seems unlikely since they don't give a F to begin with) or collect "extra" income (is it even worth the money)? I don't see any upside to doing this, even if there are no legal consequences
1) Extra paycheck. Even if I can do it for a month that’s 20k extra. Not a bad parting bonus. 2) screw them over. The F that management would give is when the servers stop working. We are getting down to a bare ops only crew. It might make them have to pay extra to those who remain to entice them not to leave. 3) Management (really the owners) only understand money. It’s the only language they speak, costing them 20-40k in wages might make them wince just a little.
Money. $$$. It’s all they care about. Good for you.
If you signed an employment contract with either company you can and will be liable in court for dual employment and potential IP leakage. You would be the scape goat for all that’s wrong with the startup and will be ruined. Don’t experiment like this
I live in an at-will state. They can’t stop me from taking on side gigs as long as they aren’t in the same industry. I would not take a job in the same industry.
At will doesn’t mean you can’t be accused of stealing secrets or taking advantage. There is nothing to gain here and lots to loose. Tread lightly.