Some companies are well known for winning most of the best company awards on highest paying employers. However, these companies still face the same problem of high employee turnover. This trend hence means that the good paychecks, perks, and benefits after all could not be what makes a good employer good.
We all work for that paycheck at the end of the month, but what can make you quit or change employers? What will be enough for you to stay while everything else maybe not working? What do you or would you consider as important at your workplace?
Below includes a number of possible considerations or factors that may matter to you when deciding to quit that job or switch employers.
4 Expert Criteria to Help Decide If To Quit or Keep Job
1. Quit Job if Salary or Wage is not Good- Popular Deciding Factor
Definitely, the pay you get after work is a major drive in your work/job. You can therefore use this a criteria whether to quit your job or if your job is worth keeping. Only keep your job if it is meeting your financial obligations.
Unless you are a volunteer or working for a non-profit organization, money will at some point be a major factor in how you deliver and feel satisfied at your workplace.
However, how much your employer pays you may depend on a multitude of factors such as your experience, your educational level, your roles as well as the company’s ability to pay a certain salary range.
Some employers will pay better than others for similar roles and other conditions considered. Nonetheless, the pay you get from the employer should be worth the effort you are putting into your job.
While you may love your job, your co-workers, or have this big passion for your job, you may not feel satisfied if the pay you are getting is not meeting your financial obligations, especially your basic needs.
You know you are underpaid and need better pay when you:
Have excellent performance records
Meet expectations/goals
Have made exemplary growth and development in skills
Have added value to your company
You may believe you have stayed enough at your workplace and you deserve a rise in which case you should pursue it. So how long is too long without a raise? It depends on many factors especially your terms of engagement.
While we all deserve a pay rise annually, an average of at least 2 years is a long enough time to prove your worth and ask for a pay rise, especially so if you feel that your employer is capable of raising your salary.
Prove the need of the raise by justifying it through a show of your performance evidence and value-added to the company in the past year(years).
The pursuance of a pay rise may not work out and you may have to decide if to look for greener pastures or stay with the employer despite the poor pay. You may stay if other things such as a safe working environment, or a good work culture or job flexibility.
If not so, it’s time for your next move. Quit the job if it is not meeting your financial needs. In your next endeavor, ensure you get a good deal from the word go. You can use your educational qualifications, experience, past performance, and market rates to help you in asking for starting pay.
Read: What Motivates Working Moms
2. Keep your Job if it has Excellent Benefits
Paycheck aside, employees are like internal customers for any organization. In this regard, the company has a certain corporate responsibility towards the employees. Some organizations are better at this while others completely ignore it, which later affects their employee turnover rate. As such it is another criteria you can use as a working mom to decide if to quit your job yet or keep it.
Even with a good paycheck at the end of the month, employee needs other social benefits such as annual leave, holiday’s payments if they have to work, welfare token in case of emergencies among other small benefits accorded to employees in appreciation of their work.
Use these in determination of how much your job is worth. Having these benefits can help you decide if should stay with your employer or you should quit.
This particular factor is very important as we have seen some employees who leave an employer, not because of poor pay but because the workplace lacked these mentioned benefits. If these elements matter to you then you may be looking for and will be comfortable and feel fulfilled with an employer who can provide the above for his/her employees.
At some given point, every employee will rate his/her employer depending on well they care for their employees. Things to look out for in your current/new employer may include:
Is adequate maternity and annual leave offered? If yes keep the job
Is there pay on holidays(if you have to work)? If yes don’t quit yet
Are financial assistance offered e.g advance, loans? If yes keep the job
Does the employer have a saving plan/program for their employees?If yes don’t resign now
Are there training, workshops, team buildings activities, etc?If yes keep the job
Others; tea/lunch, accommodation, paid trips, gym etc?
Read: Why Working is Good for you
3. If you work in a Safe Environment -Stay at your Job
In addition to caring for the employee’s social needs, an employer should ensure the safety of its employees at the workplace. It is one of the things many employees consider in deciding if to quit or stay with their employer.
This safety includes both physical and emotional. Physical safety entails ensuring that the workplace is safe and secure for the employees to work in. It includes providing the right working tools, protection gears, security officers, caution signs, safety policies among others that show that the employer cares for the workers.
There are some very risky job types such as production and some employers are poor in ensuring the least amount of vulnerability to injury for their employees. These workplaces tend to high accidents and death rates and subsequently high turnover rates. Other work environments may be safer and less riskier but still needs safety precautions.
All these are important things that employees can look at and if satisfied they can stay with the employer instead of quitting their work. If you feel that the working environment is not safe and conducive, you can use this criteria to quit your job.
A safe working environment is very important and in fact, some elements may be subject to statutory regulation and monitoring. As such you can use to determine if you should keep your job or quit. The government may set some safety and operations standards for the workplace to protect the employees.
In addition, the employer is obliged to put in place the right policies and implementation to ensure a safe working environment. Nonetheless, it is important for you as an employee to rate/gauge whether your employer has provided enough of this or you need to change jobs if your current workplace condition is wanting.
It is especially so important if you have health-related conditions that could be aggravated by the environment at your workplace. If all core elements of a safe and healthy work environment are provided then it is good criteria to use to decide to keep working at your current place.
It is also important to evaluate if there is any amount of possibility of harm or long-term injury that can be related to working at your workplace without the above being provided. Important aspects of a safe work environment include:
PPE (Personal Safety Equipment)and tools
Security officers e.g at key entry points
Access to emergency assistance e.g panic buttons
Firefighting and First aid facilities
Facilities/accessibility for disabled people such as the entryway, washroom
Signs e.g Caution, Direction, Warning, etc
Adequate and clean sanitation
Free of drug and alcohol abuse, sexual abuse, etc
Work safety manuals and policies
Read: Best Mom Friendly Jobs and Careers
4. Decide if to Quit Work or Stay Based on Work Culture
If you have been employed before at more than two workplaces, then you can point out stark differences between the different workplaces. These differences are a result of them having a different work culture. As a working mom you can use this criteria to decide if to continue with your job or quit.
A work or organization culture is the way of doing things or simply how work and related functions are accomplished at a workplace. The culture determines key things such as how promotion is determined, how a certain gender is treated, how disciplinary cases are handled, how employees and customers are handled among other things.
Work culture is very critical for an organization as it affects the employee’s productivity and subsequently its productivity. The work culture will affect the satisfaction and productivity of the workplace place in many ways.
For instance, you will find that as a woman you will work harder than your male colleagues for the same form of recognition, or that you are paid less than your male partner for similar roles, or that you are discriminated against when it comes to promotions. This is mainly because your work culture does not appreciate gender equality and looks down on women.
A bad work culture affects many things such as how employees relate, their productivity, and most importantly employee satisfaction. While the paycheck and other benefits may attract employees, they may not be effective in helping retain them.
In fact, bad work culture is one of the top reasons why good employees leave. If you as an employee is not happy, you will most likely leave. As an employee, you must evaluate the kind of organizational culture that your current/next workplace has and decide to stay or leave.
Important things to look out for includes :
Are there possible discrimination such as gender discrimination? if yes, quit your job
Does the organization show a bad/poor leadership style? Leave this job if true
Is the type of management structure a barrier? If yes, consider quitting
What are channels of communication used? If you have good effective communication channels, consider staying longer at your company
What do company policies on key work areas state? – Consider if safe for staying
How are disciplinary cases handled? Consider if fair for staying
What is purpose or mission and vision statement of the company? if these do not align with your values, quit your job
Is there ownership of duties/ accountability?- Consider if fair for staying
How do employees treat each other/team spirit?- Stay if you related well and work with your team
Does the employer have diversity programs, training for employees
A bad work culture not only affects your performance and productivity at work but can affect your mental and social health as well if these effects spill over to your personal life. Consider quitting and switching your employer if any of the above elements is seriously affecting your performance at work and your personal life.
In fact, it is quite okay to quit your job if you have too much work-related stress or if it is making you unhappy. As you look for your next employer, ensure that your ideal work culture elements expectations are elaborate and provided for.
Remember to be clear with yourself what you consider important and take nothing short of it. Your work life should complete and add to your personal life not curtail it or limit it.
Last Word
Employers who consider their employees as a valuable asset are winning at winning over employees and keeping them as well. Likewise, employees are becoming more and more loyal to employers and workplaces that meet their needs and expectations, not necessarily their pay.
There are now different reasons other than the pay to why you should stick to your employer. You should not stay at a job you hate because of the pay and it is absolutely okay to quit your job if you hate it. Working a job you hate for money will only affect your personal life and life outlook in general which is largely an unhappy life.
The ideal workplace for you may not offer all of the above but must at least meet and satisfy what you consider important be it the pay, benefits, work environment, or work culture among others.
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