I'm talking about my team member whom i heard was thinking of resigning and i was sent to KL to boost up the morale. Apparently, whatever i did or said had not made a difference at all.
Last Tuesday, just the week after i returned from KL, he msn-ed me to pre-alert me about his impending resignation. As there is a manager in KL who handles their administrative stuff, he would have to tender his resignation to her. But as i was his direct superior, he actually informed me first before handing in the letter.
Since i had expected it, it wasn't as shocking as it should have been. Knowing this guy, i did not think that there was way to make him change his mind, but then i'd still have to do my part to talk to him.
So what my boss and i did for the following days were several telephone conversations with that team member for more than an hour everytime. Basically he is happy with his job scope and workload. He also said that he appreciates having good bosses and that was why unlike all his previous resignation, he hesitated for very long this time. In the end, he still made the decision to move on because of what he perceived as a non-conducive working environment, and also because of his current pay.
I then asked him for his bottom line for a counter-offer, to which he quoted RM2K increment from his current pay after a day of consideration. He said this will be a figure that is too big a temptation to say no, and also big enough for him to overlook all the remarks thrown at him. I dutifully conveyed this message to my boss.
Yet, later on after another day of pondering, that team member changed his mind. He said he knew that this is a figure that our company would have difficulties giving, and nothing will change his mind anymore because he said even if we do obliged, he will feel so wrong about it and would have "no face" to see us again. Hence he told us not to go through all the hassles of talking to the company on counter offering anymore.
With that, both my boss and i agreed that we shall respect his decision and not pursue further. At the same time, we are speeding up our recruitment process.
Losing this member is very much like losing an arm, both to me and to the department. He is one of the pioneers who joined our team, and he has very good technical skills that the other team members lack. Even though i always believe that no one is indispensable in any organisation, i do seriously think and know that without this member, we are gonna have a hell of a tough time to come.
Yes, we can always look for a replacement, but knowing the market that is in shortage of such professionals, we can either get one in as good as him at an expensive price (probably amounting to the RM2K extra he asked for), or we can hire one within the budget ted pay but who will not be able to match up to his professionalism. I am really worried for the fate of our team, especially we are doing a few crucial projects now such as the USA and Libya.
Frankly, i feel bad about all these. As a leader, i failed to do anything to prevent it from happening, and then also failed to salvage the situation after it has happened. I really do not know nor enjoy doing all these people management work, but i gotta do it nonetheless, for that is part of my job. Unfortunately, my personality does not seem to fit the profile of a project manager very well.
Sigh, sometimes i really think i belong to the woods, living like a hermit -- of course, that is provided if there is electricity and Internet connection in the woods.
Labels: work
