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Not pissed at all.
Rising Star
Not at all…. allow more flexibility to work remotely and perhaps intern would have stayed. He likely would have come to office occasionally too. Your loss because this is an employee empowered market and he did what was best for his life, which your firm couldn’t accommodate.
Ahaha I love how persuasive people here are. Lawyers after all 😂
Rising Star
I know it can hurt to mentor someone and just be left behind, but people do not become morally indebted to you for life for accepting your help.
And didn’t even get paid! The arrogance is amusing
If he has been as great an employee as you indicate, the duration of which has been entirely remote, why not extend WFH? Don’t be pissed at the employee because you’ve placed restrictions on him and he refused to be bound by such.
If it’s really for a family issue, you can’t be mad, these things happen unfortunately.
Even if it’s not. This is ridiculous.
Welcome to capitalism: live by the market die by the market.
I just find it so funny that employers are so stunned when capitalism bites them in the ass. They are the ones that don’t want to pay for healthcare, want at-will employment, don’t want to pay for retirement or pension and then turn around and say, “Gee, I wonder my no one is loyal to me.”
Yeah, gee, I wonder.
Mildly annoyed but not pissed (unless he asked for WFH flexibility and you said no, then it’s on you)
Curious if the “CEO” you refer to is a lawyer/partner or a non-lawyer. If a non-lawyer, why would you allow him/her to have final control over such a crucial issue?
Rising Star
Junior lawyers are not unlike children in that your whole job (if you’re doing it right) is to prepare them to function independently so they can leave you and your nest. Partners and seniors (with any sense) have been doing this long enough to realize that. The majority of people you hire are going to leave at some point, rare is the person that stays and makes partner at your firm, and if they do that, they’re no longer working for “you” anyway, they’re now doing their own thing. You just have to try and feel proud of their accomplishments and hope they appreciate your training enough to send you a holiday card sometimes.
Or in the alternative, you’re a junior associate and no one knows your name anyway and they don’t care at all.
Pro
You’re unreasonable if you’re pissed. Period. If you wanted to hire him for a term contract, you could have. You entered into at will employment so you could fire whenever you needed to. The flip side is that he could leave whenever he needed to. Don’t be an asshole; don’t be pissed.
Not at all. Welcome to the wonderful world of at-Will employment.
In any other year, you might be justified in feeling pissed. But have some empathy in 2021. The pandemic forced everyone to rethink what is important to them in life. Maybe he lost someone, maybe he just woke up and realized family is more important to him now.
One more thing to remember is that law is a small world. This guy sounds good and sounds like he liked you and the firm. Maybe later he’ll send some one else good your way if they’re moving to your neck of the woods. Maybe he’ll refer you business. Maybe he’ll wind up in house and remember his mentor. Can’t have too many good lawyers in your network.
Rising Star
Great point. Don’t forget that juniors grow up. Have a long term mindset.
I love how this attorney probably thought he would get a ton of sympathy for this.
Be flexible or click logout and go run a sweatshop.
You let this person intern for you in law school and they turned in good work, that definitely entitles you to an indentured servitude over them.
Be happy for him and offer him remote. Lasting impressions go both ways.
Not at all pissed. He’s just got his head on straight. Family comes first. Offer him remote at your firm if you can. He’s a known quantity that does good work. That’s valuable.
You have no right to be pissed. Period. End of story. Move on.
He was an associate, not a slave. He gets to live his life, work where he wants, for who he wants, when he wants. If he doesn’t want to be at your firm, for whatever reason, you have no hold on him.
Honestly, you being pissed says more about you than it does about him. It sounds like you found someone who did good work that you wanted to pass off as your own and, now that he’s gone, you need to actually do it yourself. Did I get close?
Pro
Mind you he's been at the firm over over a year. Closer to 15 months total.
Also that intern was hired by you and mentored by you for this long, I guarantee if you got an offer at a different firm with a huge raise better work life balance and a corner office you would take it and leave him in the dust if necessary. He doesn’t owe you loyalty, you admitted he did great work for you for a year, he held up his end.
His life, not yours
I’m not. Making an investment in someone != owning them and their choices.