Dear Employees: Here's How to Quit Your Job

How to Determine if Quitting is the Right Option

Turnover contagion is real. Will Felps, who teaches management at the University of New South Wales, led a 2009 study of turnover contagion. He and his team found that a single quit could result in a hot spot of quits due to "peer effect." In other words, the behavior of a single person can dramatically influence similar behaviors in others.

LinkedIn recently asked its users: Has a colleague's resignation led you to consider leaving your job as well?

And of the 25,881 people who responded, nearly 60 percent responded: YES.

When teammates quit, a common reflection is, "Should I quit, too?"

The only way to know for sure is to get crystal clear on your reasons for quitting:

• Without hesitation, if your work culture is toxic, your boss is a bully, or your team is a miserable lot, then it's probably time to look elsewhere.
• But if you're thinking about leaving because others have, or because there are parts of your job you don't like but just as many or more parts that you do, leaving may not get you closer to what you want.

But your boss might.

"As I hear about employees leaving, I also hear about the lack of communication that leads up to the final conversations. What I find interesting is that the resignation is often the first time a manager is learning that an employee is unhappy or dissatisfied. What I've come to understand is this: if an employee with a strong work ethic and positive attitude communicates with their manager about what they need or aren't getting, the manager will respond with solutions – more pay, different projects, a job change, flexibility. But if the employee doesn't communicate and the manager doesn't inquire, then it's too late and the employer can't help." Martin Schager, Director of Strategic Operations at Actalent

The truth is, many people struggle to have these conversations, even though they know they should, even if it would benefit them, even if it would spare them a lot of regret. If there are one or two things you don't like about your job, a new job might address that, but it could also introduce new things you don't like and didn't expect. In other situations, the experience that's advertised isn't the experience that's delivered.

Annamarie, a project manager, had "the conversation" with her boss, and was glad she did. "A friend just quit her job due to long hours and burnout. She wanted to spend more time with her family and felt quitting was the only way to make that happen for her. I'd been struggling with the same feelings for a little while and wondered if quitting was an option for me, too. After a conversation with my manager, however, he rearranged my projects and added in flexibility. Staying was a better option for me and I'm glad I had that conversation."

Before you quit, make a list of why you're unhappy or dissatisfied, along with a solution for addressing it. For example:

• I haven't had a pay raise in over a year and my motivation has taken a hit. Here is how I feel my value has increased (describe). I’d like a raise, is there anything you can do to help me get it?
• My commute is getting tough and I'm missing out on a lot of things at home. I'd like to work remotely two days per week.
• I've been working on the same projects for a while and keep getting similar ones that aren't very exciting to me. I’m really interested in working on x,y,z. Could you help make that happen?

Most managers are reasonable, supportive people who want to help you feel happy and see you succeed. If yours doesn't and you don't feel like you could have this conversation with them, it's probably time to move on.