In a previous post, “How to fall in love with your job again” I talked about 8 alternatives to quitting your job, career, or business. While I am an advocate for giving an employer a reasonable tenure (the standard is at least 2 years), I feel there are times when a situation can be so bad that we have no other option but to leave. I’ve seen this many times in my own career, and in other’s as well. How do you know when it’s time? Let’s explore some of the reasons why the “grass may actually be greener” somewhere else in the organization, or somewhere else entirely.

Here are some signs that you may be ready for a change: 

1. When you feel as though you have to force yourself to go to work
2. When you are completely burned out
3. When you feel nothing but dread, discouragement, and drudgery every time you go to work. 
4. When you’ve genuinely done everything within your power to make it work, but it just won’t change for the better, in spite of all your efforts. 
5. When you feel like you are compromising yourself, your principles, beliefs, personal ethics, and integrity to make it work
6. When you feel the organization lacks integrity or ethics, or worse, you suspect corporate corruption that could sink it – in that case, before leaving you ought to tell someone like FINRA, the SEC, or some equivalent  governing body that can hold the organization and its leaders accountable.
7. When there is toxicity or dysfunction that is beyond reason or repair
8. When you have learned all that you possibly can, and you see no further opportunity for growth, development, or advancement
9. When there is nothing more you can contribute, improve, or innovate in some way
10. When there is legitimate workplace hostility or harassment
11. When You have a horrible boss, and have learned all you can from them.
12. When you have another opportunity that is so compelling that you have no choice but to take it (That said, I’ve observed that many next opportunities are not that, they are often a step sideways, or a slight step up, or back. I’ve made the mistake of leaving a position long before I should have, and lived to regret it.
13. When taking “sick” days is the only alternative you have left to cope with where you work

Quitting is always easier than fighting to make it work, and many times we quit long before we’ve done anything to make it work. This is especially true in cases where we don’t see opportunity for professional development, growth, or advancement, or feel that we have a bad boss. Before quitting, I would ask you to consider a few things:

Have you completely mastered your function? Chances are there is always something more to learn in your field. You don’t need your boss to help you to learn more in your field, you can create your own professional development plan. You just need YouTube, podcasts, blogs, and your local library – and you can do all that for yourself for FREE. Just because your company doesn’t pay for it, doesn’t mean you can’t get professional development.

Have you tried presenting new ideas for innovation to your leadership? If you are an expert in your function, have you shared any ideas that you can actually run with, that cost little or nothing for the company to implement, but might actually improve product or service quality, reduce costs, reduce risk, or cut unnecessary steps out of the process?

Have you told someone about that workplace harassment issue? You shouldn’t have to be the one to leave, but it does provide a good enough reason. Again, go to an appropriate authority like your Human Resources (HR) division and let them know about it. That is a key function of HR. You shouldn’t have to suffer in silence, or give up a good job or career over someone else’s inability to appropriately deal with other human beings.

Have you learned all you can from your bad boss? A bad boss shouldn’t be the reason you leave. In fact, there is a reason why they became the boss, and you do need to learn what that is. Were they the previous hot shot in your department, function, or field? Were they politically connected to someone in leadership? Are they unafraid of looking tough, mean, or aggressive? What is it that made them the boss? Even a bad boss can teach us a lot. You need learn all that you can from that boss, and milk them for every good lesson possible – when you feel you’ve done that, then you have my permission to leave. Plus, you never know, your renewed interest in learning from your boss may actually change the way they are toward you for the better.

There are times when the grass is truly greener on the other side, and those times become obvious, especially in cases of hostility, harassment, and corporate corruption. These situations often stem from underlying root causes (and people) that we can’t control, influence, or change. But there are also times where we do have some leverage to make the circumstances around us better. So, I would ask you to at least consider exploring all of the options in your current situation first, then you can say in with a clear conscience, that you did all that you could to make it work. If you genuinely have done all that you possibly could, then I will say – in the immortal words of Han Solo – “You’re all clear kid, now let’s blow this thing and go home.”

Question: When do you think is an appropriate time to move on from your job? 

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