Is It Wrong of Me to Want to Leave My Job during the Pandemic?

July 1, 2020 Shelley Piedmont

You have been thinking about leaving your job for a while. It no longer seems like a good fit. You are not happy and have been dreaming of something else. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. You see so many people out of work and really struggling. Yet, you remain unhappy with your work. What should you do?

Like many things in life, there is no easy answer about what you should do. But let’s delve into why you might feel it is wrong to leave your job at this time.

A Jumble of Emotions

“Wrong” is a very powerful word. It can bring up a lot of emotions. Let’s unpack a few.

Guilt

You may feel guilty about wanting to leave your job. If there have been layoffs and you were not a part of that group, then you may be feeling guilty that you were still wanted while others, who may have liked their job, were shown the door. Honestly, you would have rather been let go than for it to have happened to some of your peers, especially if any severance was given.

You may also feel guilt out of a sense of loyalty. Especially with challenging economic times, your knowledge and skills may be needed by your employer. Now, more than ever, you may be relied upon to help get the company through challenging times. How can you leave them now?

Fear of the Unknown/Risk Aversion

It doesn’t take a pandemic for anyone considering leaving a job to fear what might lie ahead, especially when it comes to work. It is what often keeps people stuck in jobs that they dislike. What is the saying, “The better the devil you know…” People rationalize a decision to stay by believing that while they may not be happy, at least they understand their unhappiness. If they moved to someplace else, they do not know what they might face, and it could be worse. Humans tend to want to minimize pain more than they want to maximize gain. You may be feeling the same, especially in these chaotic times.

Sadness

The thought of leaving a workplace can be a cause of sadness under normal times. Often, one feels sadness over the thought of leaving work colleagues. When you spend so much of your time around others, especially if you have a positive work relationship, you can feel much unhappiness about the lack of those people’s presence in your life. When I left my full-time employer early this year, I felt a great sadness in not being able to speak with my four direct reports on a daily basis. We talked about work, sure, but we also talked about family, sports, and the day-to-day issues of our lives. It was something that I enjoyed and something I miss to this day (though we still do talk quite often).

In these chaotic times, another form of sadness may be seeing your tenure end when there is a lot of stress and things are not normal in your workplace. Your preference would be to tie everything up and be able to leave in an orderly transition to your successor. With unprecedented times, this may simply be impossible and you are sad, as this would not be the way you would choose to leave your employer.

Self-Doubt

Making a change can mean you have to be brave and just make the jump. What if a part of you is not sure you can do this? Maybe you look at the current unemployment numbers and can’t fathom how you will be able to find a new job. Maybe you have not looked for a new job in ages and do not feel you are equipped to conduct a modern job search. Maybe you are doubting your abilities are valued in the market.

Regret

This is an emotion that you may be trying not to feel. You may be thinking that if a new job does not work out, then you cannot come back. As bad and as stuck as you feel in your job, a mediocre job is still better than a bad job. How do you make sure that you find something better and not worse?

Feel these feelings. They are real to you. I won’t try to tell you they are not. Once you recognize the feelings that may be holding you back, now let’s look at other things to consider about a potential job change.

What Also to Consider

At the same time, you may be feeling various emotions around a job change, you need to ask yourself some tough questions about your situation.

What Does Your Gut Say?

In a world where data is king, sometimes we dismiss what our gut, our internal compass says to us. Our gut takes in a lot of input, sometimes data but sometimes our various emotions, and tells us what is right for us. We just have to be willing to listen to what it says. Can your gut be wrong? Sure. Most people would say that it isn’t often, and they have had more issues in their lives when they have not listened to their gut. What does your gut say is right for you?

Will There Ever Be a Perfect Time?

Rarely is there a perfect time to leave a job. If you are waiting for the perfect time, when will that be? How long will you have to wait? These are all unknowable questions for most people. The right time to leave a job is when it is the right time for you. Warby Parker, the eyewear company, was founded in 2010 in the middle of the Great Recession. Was that the perfect time to start a business? Most people would have said no, and I am sure there were many nay-sayers. Yet, it was a good time for the four founders, and now the company is worth over one billion dollars.

How Will You Grow Professionally without Making a Change?

People often discount this question, but it may be the most important one to ponder. If you stay, will you still be growing and learning? In today’s workforce, no one is going to be holding your hand and guiding you through your career. Like the change from pension plans to 401(k) plans in the US, now saving for your retirement is up to you and not your employer. Same for your career. You drive this bus. You cannot depend on your company to continue to grow you for bigger and better things. So you need to ask yourself, can I still grow, and how if I do not change jobs? Would I ultimately be further down my own career path if I make this change? Often, professional growth does require that you change employers.

Is This What You Were Always Meant to Do?

If you are thinking about making a career change, are you clear that this is what you are supposed to be doing with your career? If you have done the hard work of understanding your wishes and desires and matched those with your strengths to come up with a new career path, then you may not want to wait to start down that path. At the end of the movie, When Harry Met Sally, Harry realizes after all their years as friends that he loves Sally. He says the line, “...because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible." For those that are career changers (or just know the next step in their career journey), sometimes you want to have the next step in your career arc to start as soon as possible and waiting does not seem like a good option.

Conclusion

Considering a job change is a big deal. Usually, it starts when something begins nagging at you that things are not right - you are just not happy. We all can rationalize why we should just tough it out. Every one of us could come up with many reasons why staying could be a wise thing to do. Staying, though, will not change intrinsically how you feel about your work. I am not here to argue what the right path is for you. That is dependent on your particular situation - your job, organization, and industry. But is it wrong to think about leaving, even in the middle of a pandemic? Some will decide to move on, others will decide to stay. But is it wrong to even think about it? Absolutely not.