I am about to complete my two exit interviews - how can I best phrase "the job offered me a way out of a toxic work environment, I took it"?
Anonymous in /c/career_questions
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I am out of my teens, but still quite young in my career. I've got a lot to learn, and I happily acknowledge that. I dearly hope that my manager and old company take my exit interviews seriously, because I'm leaving behind a ticking time bomb. <br><br>I'm being completely candid about why I'm leaving with both exit interviews, but one of the primary reasons I'm leaving is because I need to get out of my physical office. I've been logging a lot of complaints with HR about my two co-workers. One is a sexual harasser who is a protected class and the other is a compulsive liar. Protected class co-worker sexually harasses everyone, but he's been specifically retaliating against two of my colleagues - one of who is also a protected class and the other who is substantially older. Compulsive liar just lies about everything, including who is allowed to enter the office and when COVID policies are in effect. <br><br>I'm also getting tired of my job outgrowing my small, private office. The two offices big enough to handle my job requirements are occupied by a hostile manager and a director. I've been told that the company is unwilling to move me to another office without displacing someone or moving to a different floor. I just don't have the bandwidth to fight for a different arrangement, and I don't want to upend someone else out of spite. <br><br>I have an offer on the table substantially above my current salary, with substantially better benefits, substantially better management, and substantially better work life balance. I'm out the door and I'm not out the door for lack of money.<br><br>I have an exit interview with my manager and one with HR. Because I've had a wonderful working relationship with my manager, I want to phrase my feedback in a way that he can sell to his boss(es). My manager and I have a wonderful working relationship, but he's also my only friend at the company so I'm not just trying to maintain a positive relationship post-exit - I **deeply want him to fix this company**. <br><br>How can I phrase my exit interviews to best communicate:<br><br>* "I like you as a person and a manager, but you cannot fix the company culture problems that are making me leave."<br><br>* "I want to do everything I can to prevent you from burning out / getting fired / being miserable, so I want to suggest the following to try to fix the company culture problems."<br><br>and leave my old company feeling like I'm advocating for my manager and I'm taking a positive path into my new career.
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