When you quit a job you hated, should you let the company know why?

The first time, I did, because I was young and the people that were doing the exit interview seemed to care.

The second time, I didn't bother, because I knew nobody at the company would care and it would change nothing.

The last time, I really loved the company but really really hated my manager, who was incompetent, and I made one final plea to the CEO/founder, who was my prior friend and well respected colleague. They basically gave me a "Yeah, he does indeed suck, I'm sorry this is happening to you". So I quit. Which resulted in my manager being terminated. Unfortunately, and for reasons I still do not understand, they didn't take action prior to me leaving, which would've made me stay.

I've done this when I was younger and it never turns out well. You're essentially burning bridges for personal satisfaction with no real benefit. If you're taking a job in a similar or the same field it is likely you may meet some of these people or have to work together with them or people who know them in the future. So feeding your ego is fun but thinking long-term what value does it get you personally? I can tell you for many years of experience working at both good and bad jobs that it is very rare for a company to be completely oblivious about managers who are horrible at their job and/or for a company to be unaware they are a toxic workplace. Generally these managers and their boss and the company leadership all know exactly who and what they are and they do not care about grinding through talented people because they want people that they can just grind to dust and make money off of. It's the kind of place that the term a "human resources" was invented for because the people are just a commodity resource doesn't matter if you're good or bad at your job they will grind through you and find another and they know exactly what they're doing and they don't care.

So it's best to move on politely and quietly because you may work for another company that will have business dealings with your former employer. Even if you think that's unlikely no one knows what the future will exactly bring and vindictive places like that can be vindictive.

Even if you wanted to take the opportunity in your exit interview to give a totally non-eagodriven emotionally detached assessment of the work environment, it is a waste of your time. They honestly don't care what you think because if they did they would have listened to you before you got to the point of quitting. They're not hiring you as a consultant so that's another reason why they would not listen to you. Anything you say that is even slightly negative you will absorb all the blame for it. The best way to leave a bad company is to make them miss you and give them no reason to think anything bad.

Some time ago I've been in the same situation. My manager was an incompetent prick and I spoke to the CEO about it. He promies to "look into the matter", promies that in max 2 months I will be transfered to a new team. Fast forward 6 months, nothing happened. I gave my resignation letter, and they asked me "why"... Are you kidding me? Either this is some kind of a HR bullshit politics, or companies really don't care and forget issues like this as long as the noise dies out. My next job was light years better, and now already 8 years I am working there. :)

If I just hate the job, I usually stick to a generic “thanks for the opportunity” approach. If I’m leaving because I hate my boss, or other manager - I make sure they know I’m leaving because I hate them.

I had a job I did not hate, but two of my teammates left and, just in case, I started looking for a job.

I got an offer for $25/hr extra. I told it to my manager and he offered me $25/hr over those, i.e. $50/hr more. That *** made me work 70 hours per week and after 8 months I never got the increase.

On the exit interview, his manager, which was a good boss, told me: "I'm sorry I don't have much time". I said: "It's OK. I don't want to waste your time," and I left. The next day he arranged a nice exit lunch and invited the two coworkers that left before me.

One episode of many. I scheduled an exit interview and handoffs for a Friday. 12, 1, 2 ... no-show. I just dropped the docs off with the key.

Boss probably got the hint earlier on. We were talking and there was a magazine on my desk with an article entitled "Is your boss a psychopath?"

Could have been HBR, Fast Company or Psychology Today. Well, he couldn't take his eyes off the damn magazine. I didn't offer him the magazine.

Yes, he was.

If you're the one who leaves, you're probably not going to impact with a direct honest but raging outburst. Things won't change. It happened to me to be told or recognized that I was right about things years after I quit. That's much more satisfaction coming in.

HR is there purely to look after the companies interests. Exit interviews are nothing more than a show.

If you state the reason why you’re leaving is due to bad management, they will of course promise to look into the matter - but only so you leave the interview feeling that you’ve made a positive impact.

In reality they want all employees to leave with a smile so nothing negative is spread about the company.

It’s naïve to believe otherwise.