Has a company collapsed because you left?
Discussion
We've just had a guy hand his notice in with the typical 'this place will collapse without me' speech. The trouble is he was the biggest problem, not training people because they wouldn't do it right, abusing customers etc. Just very immature for someone in their mid 30s.
So, has anyone caused a company to go under because they were just that good? Or is it really just a case of life goes on and you become a long distant memory.
So, has anyone caused a company to go under because they were just that good? Or is it really just a case of life goes on and you become a long distant memory.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha !
never has this happened unless its been the owner who has walked away and wound it up, of the likes of rattener who made a crass joke that killed his business.
never has this happened unless its been the owner who has walked away and wound it up, of the likes of rattener who made a crass joke that killed his business.
Not collapsed but inflicted issues. I worked for a logistics company that supplies on behalf of a DIY firm. I was pretty good with sap and after the warehouse burnt down had to deal with aftermath, contacting customers etc.
I noticed straight away how the supply chain planner had set sap up for replacements was incorrect and flagged it up but to deaf ears.
Took them a few months to realise so decided to implement a team to fix which I was helping. In meantime had handed my notice in. I noticed straight away fix was again wrong but this time said nothing and carried on. I spoke with a friend after leaving they had to do it all again after I left, probably tens of thousands to resolve.
I noticed straight away how the supply chain planner had set sap up for replacements was incorrect and flagged it up but to deaf ears.
Took them a few months to realise so decided to implement a team to fix which I was helping. In meantime had handed my notice in. I noticed straight away fix was again wrong but this time said nothing and carried on. I spoke with a friend after leaving they had to do it all again after I left, probably tens of thousands to resolve.
I had a customer who got into a bit of a spiral, missus left him, booze problems etc. who burnt through a half a dozen jobs in as many years. Each time he was found out & shown the door, he'd confidently predict the firm would last six months. All still going in rude health. None so blind etc. etc.
Tony Starks said:
Or is it really just a case of life goes on.
No-one is irreplaceable. The beauty of the world is that you only ever get to see the one outcome so you never know how the alternative approach would have panned out. It may make a material difference to the business / profitability/ whatever, but you'll never actually know by how much so why does it really matter. I have been at some places where some really world-class engineers have left. In some cases, whole experienced departments have departed over the case of a few years leaving nothing but juniors behind - it must have had an absolutely massive effect somewhere but the company is still going, still recruiting and still making money.
Young man, as you perambulate down the pathway of life toward an unavoidable bald head bordered with gray hairs it would be well to bear in mind that the cemeteries are full of men this world could not get along without, and note the fact that things move along after each funeral procession at about the same gait they went before. It makes no difference how important you may be, don’t get the idea under your hat that this world can’t get along without you —Abilene Reporter.
I often think of this, working in a small business when things go tits up, staff wise.
I often think of this, working in a small business when things go tits up, staff wise.Yes but confidentiality applies on the detail, I'm afraid. I can think of a professional services partnership I dealt with early in my private sector career.
It was run by a clique of, frankly, coasting equity partner (semi-retired) duffers who pissed off the younger dynamic fee earners (salaried partners) to such a degree that the salaried partners resigned en masse and formed their own partnership.
It was the usual story of some of the more old-fashioned partnerships - entitlement, punishing hours on the promise of equity partnership that never materialised, lavish payouts to the partners while constraining salaries...
The equity partners reacted to the resignations by putting the leavers on gardening leave and invoking the non-compete clauses in the leavers' contract. During the gardening leave period, the new partnership did all the preparatory work to establish itself, but scrupulously observed the terms of their contracts. There was ultimately no need to poach clients as many contacted the new partnership themselves, although some had inevitably drifted away in the interim.
The old partnership, having not only suffered a drop to its income through not having staff to honour its existing commitments, actually had to call on its equity partners to find additional funds to cover the leavers' salaries, thus also effectively funding the start up of a competitor.
It was wound up about eighteen months later, with some losses, although I suspect that the equity partners had maxed out their pensions in the preceding years.
Not a happy tale of self-inflicted damage that could have been avoided had people been less greedy and treated people better.
It was run by a clique of, frankly, coasting equity partner (semi-retired) duffers who pissed off the younger dynamic fee earners (salaried partners) to such a degree that the salaried partners resigned en masse and formed their own partnership.
It was the usual story of some of the more old-fashioned partnerships - entitlement, punishing hours on the promise of equity partnership that never materialised, lavish payouts to the partners while constraining salaries...
The equity partners reacted to the resignations by putting the leavers on gardening leave and invoking the non-compete clauses in the leavers' contract. During the gardening leave period, the new partnership did all the preparatory work to establish itself, but scrupulously observed the terms of their contracts. There was ultimately no need to poach clients as many contacted the new partnership themselves, although some had inevitably drifted away in the interim.
The old partnership, having not only suffered a drop to its income through not having staff to honour its existing commitments, actually had to call on its equity partners to find additional funds to cover the leavers' salaries, thus also effectively funding the start up of a competitor.
It was wound up about eighteen months later, with some losses, although I suspect that the equity partners had maxed out their pensions in the preceding years.
Not a happy tale of self-inflicted damage that could have been avoided had people been less greedy and treated people better.
Sort of. I worked for a small company that worked in a very niche area. I was the expert on a complex software calculation engine, it was written to a standard but there were only a handful of people in the country who understood it. It had to be approved by the government each year
It wasn't so much me leaving but the owners mistake in replacing me. I said you need a decent senior dev / team lead who can come in and learn very quickly the system and get on with it so it can be re approved (if you didn't get it approved by a hard cut off it was game over). Anyway the owner decided he wanted a non technical business expert to replace me and so hired one of them instead. The devs were left to their own devices and whilst there was some good devs they needed direction. The software didn't get re approved and the company was hastily sold off to a competitor.
It wasn't so much me leaving but the owners mistake in replacing me. I said you need a decent senior dev / team lead who can come in and learn very quickly the system and get on with it so it can be re approved (if you didn't get it approved by a hard cut off it was game over). Anyway the owner decided he wanted a non technical business expert to replace me and so hired one of them instead. The devs were left to their own devices and whilst there was some good devs they needed direction. The software didn't get re approved and the company was hastily sold off to a competitor.
The last two (small) businesses I left, suffered temporary setbacks. It's not just what I did but my personality.
On a serious note, being an ideas person but also willing to knuckle down and do more than the job description does help when a small business is growing.
On a serious note, being an ideas person but also willing to knuckle down and do more than the job description does help when a small business is growing.
Gameface said:
Yeah, Barings Bank went down after I left for the Far East...
Not a company but a premises within one.
I'd started a Saturday job at a shop that was in the wrong location. Poor footfall and no loading area for customers when we sold big, heavy stuff. The job turned into a full-time role when I finished college and I put a lot of effort into getting footfall up and sales up by a large amount (~25-30%) to the point where it was generating a greater profit than some shops in a better location and with twice the floorspace. The regional manager was always popping in to see me and my small team, giving us bonuses and random gifts (the whole team got a Playstation each once just after they had released!). A few times head office tried to close us down citing our poor location but every time the regional manager fought for us to stay open based on our profit figures and customer loyalty scores. It was the only shop of it's type left in the company for a few years, every other shop had moved to retail parks by then. Anyway, I left to transfer to another shop and the sales of the place went downhill as the new 'me' was terrible at keeping morale up with my old team. The regional manager drafted me back in after 6 months as that is how long he had to turn it around before it was closed. 2 months later it was removed from the closure list! Then 1 year later I left for a different job entirely, sales again went down and the place closed 6 months later. The regional manager actually phoned me when it closed as he'd got very attached to his 'little big hitter' shop that would regularly outperform a lot of bigger ones. Even now, 15 years on, I get the odd old customer, some who I deal with in my current job, reminiscing about that place.
I wasn't the key person in that place, it was the combination of me and my team that just worked. One of those jobs where it wasn't hard to find the motivation to go to work at all, one very tight knit family that would be broken if anyone left it. Sadly the company no longer exists, nothing to do with me!! It just ran it's course and was slowly wound down.
I'd started a Saturday job at a shop that was in the wrong location. Poor footfall and no loading area for customers when we sold big, heavy stuff. The job turned into a full-time role when I finished college and I put a lot of effort into getting footfall up and sales up by a large amount (~25-30%) to the point where it was generating a greater profit than some shops in a better location and with twice the floorspace. The regional manager was always popping in to see me and my small team, giving us bonuses and random gifts (the whole team got a Playstation each once just after they had released!). A few times head office tried to close us down citing our poor location but every time the regional manager fought for us to stay open based on our profit figures and customer loyalty scores. It was the only shop of it's type left in the company for a few years, every other shop had moved to retail parks by then. Anyway, I left to transfer to another shop and the sales of the place went downhill as the new 'me' was terrible at keeping morale up with my old team. The regional manager drafted me back in after 6 months as that is how long he had to turn it around before it was closed. 2 months later it was removed from the closure list! Then 1 year later I left for a different job entirely, sales again went down and the place closed 6 months later. The regional manager actually phoned me when it closed as he'd got very attached to his 'little big hitter' shop that would regularly outperform a lot of bigger ones. Even now, 15 years on, I get the odd old customer, some who I deal with in my current job, reminiscing about that place.
I wasn't the key person in that place, it was the combination of me and my team that just worked. One of those jobs where it wasn't hard to find the motivation to go to work at all, one very tight knit family that would be broken if anyone left it. Sadly the company no longer exists, nothing to do with me!! It just ran it's course and was slowly wound down.
After 32 years in engineering - there are stories galore….
Have a company collapse because I left? No
Have a major customer berate our new (prick of an) owner in a large meeting because their technical go-to (me) had just left? Yes
A good friend (genuinely very good systems developer) left a 90-person company for an 80% increase in salary. The boss rang him up 5 days after he’d left and offered him a 100% salary increase, and (as this is PH) a brand new 16V Astra GTE as well to go back. Despite telling the MD that he needed to get someone in to replace him while on 3 months notice, the FD told him they could cope easily without him. 3 days of copious pooh hitting large fans had made the MD realise just how important he was.
A friend worked at a large-ish manufacturing site (about 750 of them) which was split into 2 product ranges. Resulting in 2 separate officed engineering teams, 7 in one, 8 in my friends. The other product range to my friends got a new engineering manager who was a
hole extraordinaire and peed off all his team. They complained over 6 months, nothing was done. People were taking Mondays and Fridays off at short notice. One Friday morning, the engineering manager got 7 notices landing on his desk- in a quarter of an hour – that whole product team was going. He thought it was a prank. Technical director tried to play it down (engineering manager was an old friend of his apparently) until lunchtime in the canteen when the MD found out. BANG! Half an hour later, the engineering manager had gone, and the technical director was suspended and got pensioned out early. Just 2 of the 7 stayed. My friend said that product range never really recovered.
I’ve known companies give up on a whole product range because their technical go-to person (usually a principal engineer) had retired.
Another good friend (business development manager) saw a major new product range they were introducing just collapse on its backside because the much-respected marketing director was killed in a car crash on the way home after the pre-launch presentation. He puts this product collapse as one of the factors behind the site eventually closing.
OTOH - I’ve known a team celebrate when their sales manager “decided” to retire early.
Have a company collapse because I left? No
Have a major customer berate our new (prick of an) owner in a large meeting because their technical go-to (me) had just left? Yes
A good friend (genuinely very good systems developer) left a 90-person company for an 80% increase in salary. The boss rang him up 5 days after he’d left and offered him a 100% salary increase, and (as this is PH) a brand new 16V Astra GTE as well to go back. Despite telling the MD that he needed to get someone in to replace him while on 3 months notice, the FD told him they could cope easily without him. 3 days of copious pooh hitting large fans had made the MD realise just how important he was.
A friend worked at a large-ish manufacturing site (about 750 of them) which was split into 2 product ranges. Resulting in 2 separate officed engineering teams, 7 in one, 8 in my friends. The other product range to my friends got a new engineering manager who was a
hole extraordinaire and peed off all his team. They complained over 6 months, nothing was done. People were taking Mondays and Fridays off at short notice. One Friday morning, the engineering manager got 7 notices landing on his desk- in a quarter of an hour – that whole product team was going. He thought it was a prank. Technical director tried to play it down (engineering manager was an old friend of his apparently) until lunchtime in the canteen when the MD found out. BANG! Half an hour later, the engineering manager had gone, and the technical director was suspended and got pensioned out early. Just 2 of the 7 stayed. My friend said that product range never really recovered. I’ve known companies give up on a whole product range because their technical go-to person (usually a principal engineer) had retired.
Another good friend (business development manager) saw a major new product range they were introducing just collapse on its backside because the much-respected marketing director was killed in a car crash on the way home after the pre-launch presentation. He puts this product collapse as one of the factors behind the site eventually closing.
OTOH - I’ve known a team celebrate when their sales manager “decided” to retire early.
Worked with an engineer who somehow bullstted his way into re-designing plant across several sites.
He boasted that he cost barely 1/10th of the national/global players, and could design & build something infinitely better.
After a 18 month delay on a 2 month project, the owner employed one of these nationals to check & report. They stopped during the first survey as they found it was in danger of catastrophic failure, and cheaper to rip it all out and start fresh.
The business, suffering 18 months of on-off working plant could not sustain the additional cost and went bust - but the engineer did leave first...
tted his way into re-designing plant across several sites. He boasted that he cost barely 1/10th of the national/global players, and could design & build something infinitely better.
After a 18 month delay on a 2 month project, the owner employed one of these nationals to check & report. They stopped during the first survey as they found it was in danger of catastrophic failure, and cheaper to rip it all out and start fresh.
The business, suffering 18 months of on-off working plant could not sustain the additional cost and went bust - but the engineer did leave first...
When I joined sainsburys at 16, the store manager said if we were late and he fired us, we would never work in the town again.
Someone was fired, gave the whole yroure finished without me etc etc.
You know what: high street shops really have been decimated since he was fired. Maybe he was onto something afterall...
Someone was fired, gave the whole yroure finished without me etc etc.
You know what: high street shops really have been decimated since he was fired. Maybe he was onto something afterall...
A previous employer did fold after I left, but it was due to many factors, and I decided to jump rather than go through the inevitable uncertainties of a failing business.
Vehicle rental took a massive hit in 2008-2009 after the recession - being heavily dependent upon engineering and construction, they were the firs to feel he bite, and subsequently only 30-40% of our fleet was out earning money.
The American parent company decided to put us into restructuring measures, and a few of us were told that whatever happened, we would be the last to walk out through the doors - whether that was a closure or a sale.
Nobody wanted to buy 30-40000 vehicles at that time, we couldn't even shift the excess stock at auction because the market was so depressed. There was only ever going to be one outcome.
I left voluntarily in September, and the business closed in the December. The dozen of us who were told we would be the last to leave were indeed the last to go - most of them went into similar roles within the parent company's other business groups across the UK.
Vehicle rental took a massive hit in 2008-2009 after the recession - being heavily dependent upon engineering and construction, they were the firs to feel he bite, and subsequently only 30-40% of our fleet was out earning money.
The American parent company decided to put us into restructuring measures, and a few of us were told that whatever happened, we would be the last to walk out through the doors - whether that was a closure or a sale.
Nobody wanted to buy 30-40000 vehicles at that time, we couldn't even shift the excess stock at auction because the market was so depressed. There was only ever going to be one outcome.
I left voluntarily in September, and the business closed in the December. The dozen of us who were told we would be the last to leave were indeed the last to go - most of them went into similar roles within the parent company's other business groups across the UK.
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