12 Signs It's Time to Quit Your Job (and Move On for the Right Reasons)

Does this sound familiar: Early on in your current job, when you were new to the position, you were excited about the role and the company. But lately, the thought of one, two, or several more years at your current job fills you with dread. 

You are more or less struggling to get by daily, whether because you are bored, stressed, unfulfilled, or perhaps all at once. When you think about it, you can vaguely remember the better times before “lately”—and, now that you mention it, how long has “lately” been?

These are one of the many examples of feelings people go through when it's time to move on to the next opportunity. Here's a list of 12 signs you should quit your job.

12 signs you should quit your job

If you’re finding yourself less engaged with your work and are weighing your options, welcome to the club: 69% U.S. workers who are not engaged in their jobs. In other words, a lot of employees feel indifferent, neither loving nor hating their full-time jobs.

However, the decision to quit is not an easy one—especially in this economy—and some workers need an extra reason or sign to call it quits. To help your decision-making process, we’ve listed 12 signs it's time to quit your job—whether immediately or in the foreseeable future.

1. Your work environment is toxic

Perhaps your work environment wasn’t always so cut throat and competitive. But after management turnover, you have noticed a toxic culture shift. Coworkers undermine one another’s success in an attempt to outperform and “earn” that promotion. With people forming cliques and engaging in excessive company gossip, work seems more like high school than the corporate world.

Read this next: How to Deal with a Toxic Work Environment (Until You Can Quit)

2. Every day feels like groundhog day

You have your routine pegged down to the very minute. While routines are important and add stability, having the same one day in and day out, where there is very little change or challenge, can lead to boredom with your current position.

When you’re bored with your job, you’re not in a state of “flow”—which Very Well Mind  describes as a state of complete immersion in an activity. Flow is the opposite of boredom and occurs when you are using a high level of skill to overcome a high degree of challenge. 

In order to make your job more “flow-able,” you may have to spend more time working on more demanding tasks that require you to use all of your skill sets. Another option is telling your boss that you want that promotion so you can develop new skills and be challenged.

3. Your job is excessively challenging

While being challenged at work can allow you to hone your skill sets and grow, facing constant, overly challenging work can wear you down and cause stress. You may not have received the training necessary to complete these challenging job duties, or perhaps you didn’t realize how rigorous they were. 

If that's the case, you may need to have a discussion with HR or/and management to figure out how you can accomplish these tasks without constantly being overwhelmed. If you can't find a resolution, it might be time to start looking for a new job.

4. You don’t enjoy any aspect of your job anymore

When you say you “live for your weekends,” you mean it. On Sunday, you dread the upcoming work week and you can't wait for it to be Friday again. This could be because of the office culture, a difficult coworker or boss, or—let’s face it— you just don’t like your job.

If you are unsure of what the problem is, track your mood on the calendar. For every day you feel happy, scribble a smiley face. Bad day? Put down a frown face. Is there a pattern? Are you not happy during most of the week? Or the month? Do these days coincide with when you work? You may be surprised to realize how unhappy you are during the work week, and it could be time to quit.

5. You aren't getting the compensation you want

No worker likes to be underpaid. In fact, 64% of U.S. workers surveyed by Gallup say that an increase in income and benefits is “very important” to them when accepting a job offer. If the company you work for is only providing you with a salary that covers only your bills, leaving you with little left to enjoy life, it’s a reasonable reason to bow out.

Why settle for partially getting what you want when you could work for a company that meets all of your wants? Needless to say, if you are on track to getting all of your wants in the near future (i.e. job promotion, more money, etc.), you may decide to stick it out—or negotiate for higher compensation with your employer to get these benefits sooner. Still, it does not hurt to look around to see what other companies are offering.

6. Your job is too stressful, always

Thirty-five percent of the U.S. workforce experiences a moderate level of burnout, a syndrome caused by chronic work-related stress, according to a 2023 Statista survey. While some level of stress is expected in any workplace, when it becomes the rule rather than the exception, it can severely affect your mental and physical health.

Physical and emotional excessive stress symptoms, such as headaches, insomnia, muscle tension, anxiety, agitation, and depression, are common in people suffering from burnout. To save your health, talk to your boss about your stress levels. If that doesn't work, consider quitting your job and looking for another; it is not worth risking your health for your current employer.

7. You’re repeatedly passed for a promotion

You have worked for your company for years. You’ve put your time in, turned in consistent and top-notch work, and are well-liked among coworkers and management. Yet, it seems like no matter what you do, you’re passed for a promotion time and time again. If this is the case for you, you might want to think about moving on to a place where your effort is recognized.

8. The company doesn’t align with your values

If your values don’t line up with your company’s, this makes it hard (if not almost impossible) to have a purposeful, meaningful job—especially if your ethics are being compromised in the process. It may be best then to look elsewhere to find a new job where the company shares similar values, whether those values are status-oriented, affiliation, or learning values.

9. You complain about your job—all the time

This is not an out-of-the-blue rant about a bad day at work. When people ask you about how your job is going, your first instinct is to list the reasons why you don’t like it. This does not happen once but multiple times. 

By now, the only person who seems to not know how much you don’t like your current employer is you. If you find yourself biting your lip when you say “work is good”—because it isn’t—it may be time to leave your current position and move on to greener pastures: a job you love and cannot wait to talk about.

10. You lack work-life balance

Do you routinely work late evenings and weekends? Are you always expected to go beyond your scope of work, even when you already have a lot on your plate? These could be indicators that you need to start setting boundaries at work.

If you’ve already tried that and it hasn’t worked for whatever reason (e.g., short-staffed, disorganized management), it may be time to start looking elsewhere. Constantly overworking yourself can lead to stress or even burnout, and worsen your relationship with your job.

Read this next: How to Politely Decline Extra Work: Here's What to Say

11. There's no opportunity for growth

You feel stuck in your career, and your company seems like a dead end with no advancement opportunities. There are no learning and development programs, and the only way forward seems to be waiting for someone to quit or be terminated, so you can take their role. 

In other words, instead of feeling overwhelmed, you feel underwhelmed by your job. Even the least ambitious person would agree that this situation isn't ideal and should be addressed. You don't necessarily need to quit today, but try engaging with management to see if there's room for improvement. If not, consider updating your resume and preparing your exit plan.

12. The company is going through hard times

Sometimes, even when management doesn't openly say anything, you can tell when the company is going through a hardship. Employees are being laid off regularly, no one is getting promoted, and open positions aren’t being filled.

These are all red flags that your role could be at risk as well. If you don’t want—or can’t afford—to be without a steady paycheck, it might be time to start looking for a new job now.

Quitting your job: Should you do it?

At the end of the day, it is up to you whether leaving your current employment is a good career move. If one or more of these signs sounds familiar to you, it may be time to evaluate your job and start a new job search.

Before you submit your resignation letter, you may want to hold off if you haven’t spoken to your manager about your concerns or areas where the workplace could improve. You might be surprised to find that speaking up about things like a promotion or paid-time-off (PTO) could be the first step toward getting them.