Workplace Nightmares·
THE RESIGN BUTTON
A coworker abruptly exits via Workday's resign button, leaving HR perplexed and management blindsided, as a toxic split forces a surprise retreat and tests a friendship and future referrals.
Smart exit or bad move for reputation?
Be one of the first to vote.
He quit a job by tapping the resign button in Workday, and HR spent two days calling him as if it had to be a mistake.
The poster had known the coworker for about four years at a company they both used to work for. In an office full of people, he was the one person who shared the poster's love of video games, which made him their "work bestie." Then, in June, everything changed: a competitor bought the whole division.
The poster moved to the new company. He stayed behind in a completely different role.
Last week, the two grabbed lunch, and the poster got the news in person. He had already quit two weeks earlier because he was "super stressed and the role wasn't a good fit." The poster had been trying to pull him over to the new company, so hearing that he'd left the old one came as a surprise.
But the real shock came after that.
Through a team lead still in contact with the old company, the poster learned how he resigned: by "hitting the resign button in workday."
"No email, no call to his manager, did not notify anyone."
The poster said he apparently woke up one morning, clicked the resign button in Workday, and stopped working. HR then called him repeatedly for two days because they thought the resignation might have been a mistake.
"who even does that?"
The poster's disbelief didn't stop there. They said the move made them hesitate to refer him to the new company, even though they had been pushing for him to come over.
In an update, the poster said they had reached out to their buddy and would still refer him when openings are posted in the next week or two. They said they'd put in a good word, too.
The poster also added more context: "the company I used to work for was toxic and a difficult place to work," but the way he quit was still, in their words, "not how I would have gone about it."
For anyone unfamiliar with Workday, it's a popular HR portal, and some companies have a resign option built into it. Hitting it can trigger HR to reach out about resignation details and handing off responsibilities.
The poster's warning was blunt: "You should not be ignoring their calls." Even if someone already has another job lined up, they said, disappearing that way can "tank your reputation in your industry" and amount to "not shooting yourself in the foot."