Senior staff suspect they're getting replaced after manager demands they fully train new interns: ‘The training has been going mysteriously slowly’

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Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Mar 23, 2026 1:00 PM EDT

Training new employees: A sign you're moving up in the company or being let go altogether?

If your company ever decides to hire a bunch of interns to learn everything your team has been doing for years, for a lot less money, it might be a sign to brush up your resume and start looking for a new job. It doesn't necessarily mean you are getting fired, but as soon as your company has someone who can do your job for a lot less money, it won't be long before they come to the conclusion that they have no reason to keep you around. And when they do, it is much better for you to be as prepared as you can be.

When the company below tasked a team of 8 senior finance employees with training a group of 6 new interns, every single one of the senior employees understood what this meant. Why would the company demand the training of interns to do the same job they have been doing for years, if not for the goal of replacing the senior staff with a newer, cheaper workforce? And why not make it easier on the transition by getting the senior staff to train the interns before they all get fired?

Since the team could see what was coming, they decided to band together and ensure they all had time to prepare before the inevitable arrived. So, instead of properly training the interns, the team decided to sabotage the training process by doing it as slowly as possible. The slower the training goes, the more time everyone on the team has to prepare, and maybe to show the management that they should not be replaced at all.

No one wants to find themselves training their own replacement, but if you do, maybe take a few notes from the team below. They stuck together, and they made sure no one got left behind. And if you have any more advice for them, scroll down to ensure they know it before they are forced to leave.

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  • Manager training new employees
    via izusek

    Manager training new employees.

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Our manager asked us to fully train the new interns. The interns are the same number as our entire team. We're not stupid

    For context, we're a mid-sized company with a finance team of 8. We've been together long enough to have our own lunch table and our own way of doing things. We know the systems, we know the
    via wondergirlLisa
  • quirks, we know which numbers to watch and which manager to call when something quietly breaks Six weeks ago management brought in 6 interns. Finance
    via wondergirlLisa
  • interns. More interns than we have senior staff, which is already a strange ratio that nobody has bothered to explain
    via wondergirlLisa
  • Then last week our manager pulled us into a room and asked us to each "mentor and fully document our processes" for them. Handover notes. Walkthrough sessions. The kind of thorough knowledge
    via wondergirlLisa
  • transfer you do when someone is taking over a role permanently, not shadowing for a semester Nobody said anything in the meeting. We nodded, wrote down our action points, and walked out
    via wondergirlLisa
  • Then we looked at each other in the hallway and didn't need to say a single word The rumor has been circulating for about a month the way these things always do, through half
    via wondergirlLisa
  • finished sentences near the coffee machine, through a look someone gives you when leadership walks past. Word is they're bringing the interns on permanently at a lower salary band and quietly letting the current team go once the handover is complete
    via wondergirlLisa
  • Nobody has refused. Nobody has made a scene. But the training has been going mysteriously slowly. Certain institutional knowledge, the stuff that only lives in your head after years of navigating the same broken processes, keeps somehow not coming up
    via wondergirlLisa
  • I don't know if we're being paranoid or if we're watching it happen in slow motion and pretending otherwise
    via wondergirlLisa
  • But nobody wants to be the person who trained their own replacement and handed them a comprehensive Google Doc with a smile Has anyone actually been through this? What would you do?
    via wondergirlLisa
  • A group of people during business training.
    via Business training

    A group of people during business training.

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • JMLegend22 Here's what you do. You teach them the basics. The basics never do enough but will make them functional enough to realize they don't know everything. Then you guys get let go because senior
    via JMLegend22
  • management thinks you've taught them everything. Keep the institutional knowledge. After that you set up a consulting firm and start going after business similar to your previous company and then
    via JMLegend22
  • when your previous company also calls, let them know it's a premium since they fired you and can't get the job done. Then double your pay as you go back to doing your old work.
    via JMLegend22
  • Somebody in senior leadership will be fired. But you'll get better wages without the interns getting in your way. May have a few new messes to clean up.
    via JMLegend22
  • Nuasus Never pass on your hard earned institutional knowledge. It is the only leverage you have. Give them the basics. Love the idea if your own business.
    via Nuasus
  • NeglectedBug87 I was asked to do this at my old job and I did it for one week and quit I'm doing it at my new job now as well (these companies are funny) but I'm navigating through it slowly but surely.
    via NeglectedBug87
  • Linux4ever_Leo I'm seen this play out several times over the years. The senior staff make too much money, so the higher ups hire less expensive newbies and ask the senior staff to train them. Then without warning, the senior staff is laid off.
    via Linux4ever_Leo
  • WelshLove alll of you should find new jobs ASAP and defo not train them at all
    via WelshLove
  • Ginger451 Yes. I've had to do this twice in my career so far; and it never really gets any easier.
    via Ginger451

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replacement boss workplace-stories employee fired manager job intern ceo workplace company quitting
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