Company 'forgot' to renew star employee's contract, so he left — and got a 300% hike to fix their mistake

The desk was clean, the laptop was shut, and the office phone sat exactly where it had been for the last three years. Beside them lay a simple generic "thank you and goodbye" note. This is exactly the sort of resignation many of us fantasize about making, but forget about once the weekend ends. However, that wasn't the case with u/Ornery_Contact1609, who did this not only to gear up for their new job but also teach their old employer a lesson, which turned out to be a really expensive one. 

False hopes

The story started back in 2022, when the person was hired to work on a project. The terms of his contract were pretty simple: three years, working solely on Project A. However, unfortunately, the company had a silent partner who became "increasingly less silent as time progressed." Instead of being a standalone assignment, the project ended up depending on progress across several other internal teams, as well as work being handled by related companies tied to that partner. This created delays, as multiple moving parts had to align before any progress could be made.

From the beginning, the role was presented as a self-contained project, but that changed once the work started. Still, they decided to stay professional and did their end-of-the-job just how it needed to be done. But that didn't help much in the bigger picture due to this complex relationship with the company and the silent partner; quite often, deadlines were shifted, funding was delayed, and budgets that were supposed to be for the project were taken away and redistributed. Amid this, the clock kept ticking, and three years passed, but the project was nowhere near completion.

The big mess-up

Interestingly, despite doing a good job and asking for regular updates, they received little to no meaningful feedback from management. And so, their contract ended, but the team did not reach out to renew or extend it. In the end, the employee left the company silently with another offer lined up for January. They went on a summer vacation in Portugal before joining their new company. It wasn't until a few days had passed that both companies flooded the person's email with messages, realizing too late that he had already left.

While the person initially ignored the messages while on vacation, they eventually responded. The company apologized for missing the contract timeline and offered improved terms to bring them back. However, the employee declined, having already committed elsewhere. Instead, they proposed a limited consulting arrangement to help transition the work. They agreed to assist with a structured handover under strict conditions, including capped working hours, full access to project documentation, and the appointment of a proper replacement, charging consultancy rates 3.5 times higher than their original pay.

Why do projects like these fail?

While this person was able to hand over the job to someone else, incomplete projects are nothing new. According to a report cited by LinkedIn, 71% of projects fail to meet time, budget, or expected results. Additionally, failures like these in the IT sector alone cost the U.S. economy about $50 to $150 billion annually. Meanwhile, at the same time, the way this person left is quite common amongst tech professionals, with nearly 41% stating unsupportive upper management as their reason to leave, according to another study.

Nonetheless, Reddit users reacted heavily to this post, with u/Pitiful-Prior-3337 writing, "Excellent. They are about to enter the find out phase of FAFO with their disorganized communication and management." Meanwhile, u/Piggypogdog suggested, "You will probably find that you will still be receiving remuneration. Stick it away in a savings account."

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