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Should you tell your employer that you're looking for a new job?

Robey

Working in HR for many years has left me with a conviction that I can only help a person if I know what they really want.  Lying or being economical with the truth is the surest pathway to poor decisions.

So when I discuss my career needs and decisions with a Line Manager, if I'm unhappy I'm inclined to be honest about it.  But if I know that my current employer can't meet my needs and, as as result, I'm looking for work elsewhere, should I tell them that?

I've always had very open conversations about this sort of thing with my line managers and subordinates, but others I know - outside HR but in a wide range of industries and roles - consider this to be an absolute no-no and are horrified by the ease with which I talk about career aspirations within my circle.  When I've pressed them to explain why they consider it to be such a red-line issue, they're struggled to articulate anything concrete but there seems to be a wide belief that telling your employer that you're looking elsewhere is career suicide, that you'll be the first to be made redundant and that you'll be sidelined from anything important.  Of course, I can imagine that an employer would want to exclude a potential leaver from commercially sensitive work, but isn't it more professional to say "I'm probably leaving, so don't put me on that thing because I won't finish it" than to lie about it then leave your employer in the lurch?

I can't decide if I'm hopelessly naive and trusting about this or if my friends are unnecessarily cynical.

Any thoughts?  What sort of risk might you expose yourself to by being honest about your career plans with your boss?

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  • Robey, this is a great question and an interesting viewpoint for you to take. I've enjoyed your responses so far, and I love that both you and one of your team have both responded; this level of genuine transparency is really refreshing.

    I've seen both approaches with this. Personally, I've not told an employer when I've been looking for another role, mainly for the reasons others have highlighted, but mainly because I did not want to risk my immediate financial security by doing so, despite that being fairly unlikely in reality. That's not to say I wouldn't be open though - I would assess the situation against a number of factors including my boss, the business culture, my own personal security etc etc.

    At a previous employer, I had a HR pro who worked for me who decided to be really honest with me, about all manner of things, including their desire to obtain a new role. As the manager, I was pleased to have been told. It meant I had time to prepare for that eventuality, I had thinking time to consider how I would deal with it if it happened immediately or six-12 months down the line, and it meant I had time to decide if I wanted to change their mind, if that was the right thing to do, or to help them with their search so I had a motivated employee leaving on great terms. In this particular situation, I was glad to be told, continued to treat them as if they were staying indefinitely, made contingency plans, allowed them anything they needed such as time off for interviews, but I stopped there, I didn't proactively go out of my way to hurry the process along, as from a business point of view, I really needed them for as long as I could keep them; they were excellent and replacing them was going to be difficult.

    I'm a firm believer that the employment environment is about to change dramatically, beyond the traditional norms that we have become accustomed to, and whilst I have serious misgivings about the 'millennial' stereotyping and the perceived benefits of the gig economy, I do believe that there is something in the desire to be more transient in how we approach employment. Therefore, I feel that if workers want to move on, develop themselves, try a new challenge and learn new skills then surely it's better as an employer to support them, use the benefit of time to prepare the organisation for the eventuality and part on positive terms as you'll never know when you might need each other in future.
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  • Robey, this is a great question and an interesting viewpoint for you to take. I've enjoyed your responses so far, and I love that both you and one of your team have both responded; this level of genuine transparency is really refreshing.

    I've seen both approaches with this. Personally, I've not told an employer when I've been looking for another role, mainly for the reasons others have highlighted, but mainly because I did not want to risk my immediate financial security by doing so, despite that being fairly unlikely in reality. That's not to say I wouldn't be open though - I would assess the situation against a number of factors including my boss, the business culture, my own personal security etc etc.

    At a previous employer, I had a HR pro who worked for me who decided to be really honest with me, about all manner of things, including their desire to obtain a new role. As the manager, I was pleased to have been told. It meant I had time to prepare for that eventuality, I had thinking time to consider how I would deal with it if it happened immediately or six-12 months down the line, and it meant I had time to decide if I wanted to change their mind, if that was the right thing to do, or to help them with their search so I had a motivated employee leaving on great terms. In this particular situation, I was glad to be told, continued to treat them as if they were staying indefinitely, made contingency plans, allowed them anything they needed such as time off for interviews, but I stopped there, I didn't proactively go out of my way to hurry the process along, as from a business point of view, I really needed them for as long as I could keep them; they were excellent and replacing them was going to be difficult.

    I'm a firm believer that the employment environment is about to change dramatically, beyond the traditional norms that we have become accustomed to, and whilst I have serious misgivings about the 'millennial' stereotyping and the perceived benefits of the gig economy, I do believe that there is something in the desire to be more transient in how we approach employment. Therefore, I feel that if workers want to move on, develop themselves, try a new challenge and learn new skills then surely it's better as an employer to support them, use the benefit of time to prepare the organisation for the eventuality and part on positive terms as you'll never know when you might need each other in future.
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