4 Bad Reasons to Quit Your Job
Simply Hired Staff
Anyone who’s changed jobs before knows that one special moment when they knew it was time to go. Maybe a boss said something inappropriate, or maybe you were passed up for that promotion yet again after years of waiting.
We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the right reasons to leave a job: a vertical move, a better salary, a new location. But sometimes silly things pop up that have us frustrated, worked-up and ready to leave our job. Here are four situations to protect yourself from so that you never leave a job for the wrong reasons:
The new hire is super annoying
A bad new hire can disrupt the energy of even the most efficient team. But an inexperienced or loud-mouthed teammate so annoying he’s worthy of a Dilbert comic is no reason to head for the door. If it’s a new boss, this is your opportunity to manage up. If it’s a new teammate, it’s an opportunity to learn patience and appreciate diversity.
A co-worker saboteur or toxic boss might be cause enough to leave your job, but don’t leave a good opportunity just because of an annoying new hire — your next job may have one, too.
The office kitchen smells (and the AC is broken again, and the chairs are awful…)
Smelly, uncomfortable, dirty, inconvenient… whatever describes your office kitchen (or your chair or your conference room) is unfortunate, but not a reason to say goodbye to a steady paycheck. With enough politeness and persistence, an uncomfortable or inefficient working environment can be adjusted over time. Before you dismiss your employer as poorly managing your physical environment, bring up your concerns with your manager and see what you can do to enact change.
Of course, if any of your concerns are cause for a health crisis (such as toxic mold from a damp kitchen or chronic back pain from second-hand chairs), it needs to be addressed immediately so that management can come up with a company-wide solution. Leave for health concerns, but not for day-to-day unpleasantness.
The boss sided with someone else on an important decision
You made an excellent point, you’ve been with the company longer than the other person — and your boss still sided with someone else on an important decision. Before you flip out and question why you’ve been so loyal over the years, take a minute and think it through. As with everything else in life, we often don’t know what goes on behind the scenes of a workplace decision and managers often can’t reveal all the details.
Don’t focus on the issue at hand; focus on your boss. Do you trust them to have taken your thoughts into consideration, or do you not? If you do, extend your boss some loyalty and hope you find out the details someday. If you don’t, that’s not such a petty reason to leave a job.
You think you deserve more money
This is a tricky reason, of course, because compensation is often a valid point of contention. But here’s something to consider before you quit without bringing the problem to your HR manager: there’s never “extra” money in the budget for raises. As we learned in a past article, raises take a long time to review, process and defend. And if you aren’t actively participating in the process, it’s unlikely to happen for you.
Before you get worked up about how much more your skills are worth, put together a business case for your raise. Research the industry standard for your position, make a list of your achievements and the ways in which you’ve added value and present them candidly to your boss.
Thousands of small details go into figuring out whether a job is worth keeping or leaving. Don’t let petty annoyances prevent you from getting the most out of your current job.
