Ignoring an overworked employee can become an expensive mistake.

This agency kept denying one valuable worker better pay and extra help.

During a major client meeting, he finally decided it was time to make his next move.

Keep reading to see how quickly the mood changed.

I resigned during a meeting with a huge client

Some years ago, I worked at a digital agency that was actually a big player in the national scene.

It was me who was responsible for maintenance and availability for some software used by our core clients.

I also ran the team who did the same for other clients.

Year after year, I got denied raises or got a pay rise that was just laughable.

I asked so many times for a partner or sidekick as I was drowning in work.

This man was denied a promotion yet again.

They didn’t feel the need, as I was still able to keep it running.

While I was simultaneously running myself into the ground.

Here comes the 6-month performance review.

And yet again I voiced my concerns about my well-being and financial situation.

Once again, I was denied anything.

So he accepted an offer from a competitor company.

Unbeknownst to them, I was offered a position at a competitor granting me better pay and better workloads.

After the performance review, we had an in-person meeting with the second-biggest client for contract renewals.

As I was responsible for maintenance, I was also included to give input on SLA conditions and pricing.

During that meeting, I was rereading the offer, which my manager saw.

I emailed the competitor to say I accepted their offer.

I got the contract in my email within 5 minutes and digitally signed it within 10.

He emailed the key stakeholders of his resignation right in the middle of the meeting.

I mailed HR, my manager, and some execs my resignation.

Fun fact: all the execs I mailed were also in the meeting.

It didn’t take long for faces to turn red with anger, and they paused the meeting.

I got pulled aside and was questioned about what the hell I was doing.

I explained my side of the story and was met with utter disbelief.

Now, his career is soaring while his former company is downscaling.

My manager and HR got chewed out.

I got better pay and better working conditions at the competitor.

The client renewed their contracts that year, but left the year after because of inadequate maintenance.

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And the company not being able to meet the 99.999% uptime SLA.

Career is popping off. My old employer is downscaling business because of a “harsh market.”

Let’s read the responses of other people to this story.

This user shares their personal thoughts.

This one makes a good point.

A lot of corporations won’t pay good employees, says this person.

Here’s another honest opinion.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who isn’t happy with the company’s new time tracking rules, so decides to find a way around them.

Finally, short and simple.

This overworked employee accepted a competitor’s offer and resigned while his bosses sat beside him in an important client meeting.

He received better pay and working conditions, while his former agency eventually lost the client because it could not maintain its service.

Turns out the harsh market was sitting at their conference table.