I'm not happy here. But I also know my friends at other companies have it worse. So I'm staying for now. But I'm curious about people who are ready to leave. What would it take? What would be the final straw that makes you quit?
9 replies (most recent on top)
A new job. Heck, I’m not Ben willing to take somewhat of a pay cut. I do want 20 plus days vacation!
The benefits are good here. But, working environment has been poor
The grass is always greener over the septic field.
I have golden handcuffs also.
I get not just a Scrum master but also a leader, because what’s better than one layer of coordination? Two, of course.
I get to perfect the art of sitting around, as decisions now require a multi-day pilgrimage, since lower leadership won’t dare risk stepping off the sacred path of ‘leadership’s intent.’ When ‘commander’s intent’ is guarded like a state secret, every minor decision gets to detour through the org chart.
I get lots of change. I especially love the biannual reorgs, op models, or whatever the transformational word of the day is. Why wait for results when you can change course before they even have a chance to say hello? Sure, you pay all the disruption costs and bank none of the benefits, but hey, it’s only money! The best part? No one has to worry about measuring success, because leadership swaps out the plan before the data even wakes up.
And if you ever feel lonely, don’t worry, Smoky the dog is always available for existential conversations about workplace purpose. He’s a great listener, especially compared to the org chart.
Yes, life is wonderful—free pizza shows up roughly once a month, just often enough to remind you what happiness tastes like. The motivational posters are everywhere, radiating so much forced positivity that they create all the excess energy to make the zombies look like happy people working. I have no doubt they mean every word, especially the ones reminding us to "embrace change"—right before the next reorg.
Most employees are not happy but they cant say otherwise wothout being targeting.
You know pulse is overly inflated with positive reviews…
No one speakes up during town halls…
Its all hunky dory…
We got a dog now!
Yea!
I kind of have golden handcuffs. I was able to negotiate a pretty high salary because of my previous employer/experience/education, so it would be hard for me to replace that salary at other employer in San Antonio.
USAA isn't what it used to be, but I try to remind myself of the positives whenever I can. I try to look at the whole package. 401k match is still phenomenal, and better than any other employer in San Antonio (at least to my knowledge). The new "pension" is a poor replacement for the Retirement Plus contribution, but it's better than nothing. Insurance benefits are really good. If you have to work in an office, the home office is a very nice campus to work in.
Most of the issues people complain about at USAA aren't issues that are unique to USAA. RTO isn't a uniquely USAA problem. Poor leadership definitely isn't a uniquely USAA problem. Most large companies have employees feeling anxious about layoffs. The grass isn't always greener. It certainly can be, but isn't always.
So aside from an imminent threat of termination, for me to leave of my own accord, it would take:
- A comparable compensation/benefits package. It wouldn't necessarily need to be a huge raise, just not a huge step backwards in terms of pay, 401k match, etc.
- A fully remote position, or at least one that is more flexible than USAA. I'd even be willing to work at a company in Austin that required a couple days a month in the office and just commute every now and then.
- A company whose mission and/or business model I respect (i.e., not a publicly traded company whose only focus is quarterly profit to maximize stock price). I've worked for both types of companies and while USAA is obviously a for-profit company, the fact that it's member owned makes an enormous difference in terms of how it operates.
- A company with a good culture and a reputation as a good place to work.
That said, I'm always job hunting and interviewing when I can. It's easier to get a job when you have a job. I'd just need a unicorn job to actually leave on my own. Until then, I just keep my head down and do my work.
If I was laid off or fired, I'd just take the first job I could get in my field until I got a better position.
Always be job hunting.
Especially when the job market is bad.
They are placing top performing bank employees on paid leave, then sending exit emails 2 weeks later. I'm assuming this is how they avoid severance. I think AI chatbot is rolling out soon, so say goodbye to chat reps.
But it might be a better option to begin the search now, since you know you want to leave even if the job market is bad.
I’m not leaving for free. They can pay me severance to go. Until then, I’m hanging in there. The job market su-ks.