Manager Shares Why New Hire Quit Job Within 3 Weeks: "Made Him Feel Like Burden"

A new employee's brief tenure at a company has sparked an online discussion about onboarding and workplace culture. In a Reddit post, a user shared how things unfolded after they hired a fresher, who was "smart" and "eager", but quit within three weeks, claiming that his manager made him feel like a burden. 

"Day one. I was swamped- meeting after meeting. I told him to grab a seat and shadow someone. I thought that was fine. Day three. He is just sitting there. No one is talking to him. I forgot to set up his software access. He could not even log into our system," the post on r/managers subreddit read.

"Week two. I gave him a task, explained it fast, ran to another meeting. He messed it up, I got annoyed. Did not yell, but you could tell I was frustrated."

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Eventually, the new employee resigned after sending a text, saying that he "appreciated the opportunity, but this was not the right fit".

He told a coworker the real reason, which was that the managers made him feel like a burden every time he asked a question.

"I felt like shit," the user wrote.

The post suggested that the manager's behaviour made the employee feel undervalued, and there was a lack of clear expectations and support. The employee might have felt they were slowing down the team.

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my new hire quit after 3 weeks. He said we made him feel like a burden.
by u/jorjiarose in managers

Social Media Reaction

With nearly 800 upvotes, the post gained significant traction. More than 300 users commented on the post, sharing their experiences. "Your onboarding sounds like a hot mess. You need to fix that ASAP, or you're going to run into this again," one user wrote in the comment section.

"You mean just thinking someone will 'figure it out', apropos of nothing and given no tools and then being visibly upset when they don't magically absorb your processes through osmosis isn't a complete onboarding process?" wrote another.

"You can't onboard someone without a plan. You gotta get them squared away, access, and some quick wins to get them churning to the machine. Good for him leaving and hopefully finding something that fits for him," said a third user.