Man with low pay and burnt out in his job feels guilty for wanting to leave his supportive boss

SINGAPORE: A Reddit user who’s been working for two and a half years at his job has recently confessed to feeling burnt out and wants to resign, but feels like he may be at fault for wanting to leave his boss.

“My boss has sent me to a lot of leadership/development courses and has given me a lot of projects and I received quite a fair bit of credit, won quite a few internal awards, and had very good appraisals. I am aware that I have been earmarked and am in line to be promoted once that position becomes available. My boss gave me a 5-year timeline for promotion when I joined (I have no degree, so I saw this as a very good deal),” wrote u/loneranger_26 on r/askSingapore on Thursday (May 25).

However, he has recently become jaded, burnt out and even impatient.

After the company had a high turnover of employees, many newcomers were hired who received more pay and fat sign-on bonuses.

“What made me very unhappy was that one of the newcomers had questionable work ethics and, though he eventually left, he made me question my values and my worth in the company,” the post author added.

And to make things worse, when he asked for a pay raise, it was denied due to inter-departmental politics.

These events have demotivated the post author, who is now considering moving to other competitors where he can get better pay.

But his internal struggle has been because he feels that he would be “betraying my boss and giving him a big slap. Worse, I am worried that this will cause burned bridges and may affect my future career prospects in this industry in the future.”

“AITA (am I the a**hole) for wanting to leave?” he asked.

Commenters overwhelmingly told him he’s “NTA” (not the a**hole).

“NTA. At the end of the day your own welfare is the most important.”

“Your boss is ultimately an employee of the company and he should understand that it is beyond him that you are leaving….Speak to him and you can always keep in touch with your boss as a mentor.”

“NTA please. If put in the same situation, do you think your boss will hesitate for a second about leaving because he feels bad about you?”

“NTA, this is part of normal industry dynamics.”

/TISG

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