Should you quit your job?
It was 2012 in the ritziest Philadelphia suburb, and I was climbing the management ladder at a catering company.
I was responsible for a client's huge daily dinner order, which meant I worked normal office hours, 8am-6pm. I had a 45 minute commute, but I didn't mind the long days.
Being out of the house for 12 hours a day wasn’t so bad for me. I love to cook, and making meals for hundreds of people daily was a challenge to my creativity, time management, and leadership. Plus, when you work in a kitchen, you never go hungry. A plate of chicken tikka masala, elote-inspired salad, and brownie scraps, scarfed down while finishing ribs on the outdoor grill? Sign me up.
Then, that client no longer needed dinner. Since the primary things this caterer did were breakfast and lunch, I suddenly had to show up to work at 4:30 am. This meant I had to start getting up at 3:30 am.
3:30! IN THE MORNING! 5 DAYS A WEEK!
For a job that paid me $15/hour.
This was not good for me. After a few weeks, I was so exhausted that I couldn’t function.
I decided to do some self-advocacy and talk to my current boss about getting a later start, maybe 6:30am. I liked the job, other than the timing of my shift, and wanted to make it work.
I went into her office and told her how my start time was destroying me. Her response: “Oh, that sucks, but there’s nothing I can do.”
So I quit.
I didn’t quit on the spot, although my sleep-deprived brain was screaming at me to walk out the door and never come back.
Instead, I lined up another job (this one in a fancy restaurant in Philadelphia which turned out to be even more hellish!) for slightly lower pay, and then I quit.
This job pushed me to the brink of what I could manage physically. But what happens when your so-called cushy office job is driving you to the brink of emotional disaster?
Jobs are not forever!
Even though they bitch and moan all the time, white-collar Boomers had it really good during their working years. They usually had normal office hours, no email or Teams to deal with after work, and looked forward to their gold watches and fat pension payouts after they did their 30 years.
Working people now? We’re lucky if we can keep our role for a year before getting the axe.
And while we wait to get fired, many of us are stuck in toxic workplaces that take advantage of us and gaslight us into productivity so they can please their investors.
I’m bitter about it, and I bet you are, too.
But bitterness doesn’t get us very far in creating the lives we want to lead. So let’s channel that simmering (boiling?) rage into something useful. Here are some questions that can help you get clarity on whether now’s the right time to jump ship.
A note before we get started:
In this labor market, I think it’s exceptionally risky to quit a job without having another one lined up. There’s no telling when you’ll find work again, so if you’re considering quitting without doing a job search first, make sure it’s financially feasible for you to generate 0 income for a long time (maybe even over a year).
How long have I been thinking about leaving?
Remember how you felt about your job a week, a month, and a year ago. Have you been mulling over a change for a year, or is this “I gotta get out” feeling a result of a brand-new project? Examine whether this urge to leave is temporary, or if it’s been on your mind for a long time.
Should I try to make it work with this employer?
Sometimes, the role you’re in is a bad fit, but there are still opportunities within the organization that appeal to you. Or maybe you took on a management role, only to realize that being a boss is way more stressful than you expected. See if there are pathways toward more job satisfaction by making a change within the company.
What would I give up if I quit?
This could be the practical stuff—incentive compensation like bonuses or equity, health insurance, salary, etc.—or the more human stuff like relationships and stability. If you work for a prestigious or well-known organization, quitting may mean you lose the cache of being associated with that brand.
Which parts of my job are making think about leaving?
There are a few areas to look into:
Workload: Am I working too much or not enough? Is the work interesting to me?
Boss: Is my boss supportive or negligent/undermining/difficult? Do they give me honest, useful feedback?
Workplace culture: Do the company’s values (their actual values, not the ones they have on their website) align with my own? How do people treat each other? What behaviors are rewarded?
Boundaries: Can I set reasonable limits on my time and responsibilities? Am I expected to be always available, even on vacation or when I’m sick?
Career trajectory: Are there opportunities for growth and promotion? Does the company invest in professional development?
Mental and physical health: Do I have time to care for my mental and physical health? Is working here making my health worse?
What’s waiting for me on the other side of this job?
In most cases, having a job lined up before quitting should be your goal. In this labor market, it’s very risky to quit without a backup plan. Be honest with yourself—what do you need to do before you can quit? Find a new role, save up more money, start working a side gig that you can transform into full-time work?
Okay, I asked myself these questions. Now what?
It’s all about how you feel and about what’s practical. If your job is actively harming your health and you have a significant financial cushion, you may be okay taking the risk of quitting without another job set up.
But if you have 0 savings and no new roles on the horizon, quitting right now maybe isn’t in the cards for you. However, you can start making a plan to get out. You can start building that emergency fund, networking every chance you can, and polishing up your resume.
If this seems like too much to do on your own, I’m here to help. Book your free 30-minute consultation so we can talk things through!
