So… you say they’re hiring?

Yes, you heard right. The turnover is so astoundingly high at LRN that the company published “principles” (and held an hour-long town hall meeting to underscore its specific expectations) on how to leave the company. Below is an excerpt.

“Colleagues who decide to leave LRN should communicate their intention to do so AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE. The decision to leave LRN is a significant one, and should not be based on limited information or mistaken assumptions by either the colleague or LRN. If the colleague begins a conversation before he or she decides to leave LRN, there may very well be a way forward that neither party previously considered. The Executive Committee and People & Principled Performance Council are EAGER to have such conversations and will warmly embrace colleagues who seek them out.

We seek to maintain healthy and productive relationships with colleagues who choose to leave LRN, and to create an active and robust alumni network that can both broaden and deepen all of our relationships and our impact in the world. Therefore, LRN will fully honor colleagues’ decisions to leave the organization, will continue to treat them with courtesy and respect when they have communicated this decision, and will not take adverse action against them for doing so.”

Given the comments by Another FormerLRNer and Former LRN Employee (Still Scarred), you’ve probably already guessed that this is really a ploy for when Dov has one of his little birds counsel an employee who’s fallen out of favor to devise an exit strategy—”oh yeah, and can you send an email stating your intentions? maybe say you want to consider something like a six-month transition period so you can explore your options without any pressure. nobody’s gonna hold you to that. it just lets everyone know you’re looking.”

Of course, you can guess what happens next—”hey, better ramp up that job search, Dov says your last day is in 3 months now. something about an email you sent?”

SOOO CLEVER, RIGHT?? This way the company can frame it as a resignation rather than a termination! The number of star performers getting sacked for no good reason is artificially lowered, outcry is minimized, apologies are circumvented, and Dov can save face!

Or at least think he can (the real story is told in whispered voices behind glass doors).

Maybe our griping helped the NYT dodge a bullet.

You’re welcome.

I was working at LRN when the shame email and the half-baked apology was written. It was truly horrifying. But horrifying communication from management and the PPP was an astonishingly regular experience at LRN. Someone was always getting sacked (usually for crossing Dov – he once canned a top saleperson to avoid paying him a big commission – yeah, this in an ETHICS company) and we would wonder how the PPP would spin it. Normal human beings under normal circumstances would never write that stuff.

It was all done in fear of, for, and to please, Dov. Given the outcry over the original email, the saving face email was crafted — again, in fear of, for, and to please Dov.

So when the rats are painted into a corner the exit is messy and awkward.

Thanks for posting this!! Dov has a lot to be sorry for and will never EVER apologize in a way that conforms to his own rules.