What is Your Real Reason for Resigning?

 

I shared this comic strip on LinkedIn in 2021. The caption was, "Imagine if the Great Resignation were to happen in space. What would that look like?"

It was to poke fun when every article back then was about knowledge workers resigning from their jobs because of their leaders. After spending a long time working remotely or from home, you and I suddenly found the meaning of life. There isn't any difference between working remotely and onsite. The same old job wasn't appealing anymore. We need new challenges, new senses, and something that define our identity.

The situation was compounded further when employees were asked to return to work onsite when the Covid-19 restriction started to ease and eventually lifted. Here is the catch, new habits had been formed over two years or more. You cannot reverse the norm overnight.

Maybe you already know that. Old habits die hard.

What is the Real Reason You Resign?

Do a search on Google, and you will get 85,200,000 results of why people resign.

You would have read that people resign because of their managers. That is true generally and one of the top reasons. It's easier to blame someone else or something. Let's explore this a bit using the Five Whys.

I resigned because of my manager. Why?

Because he was a jerk. Why?

Because he didn't promote me? Why?

Because he set high KPIs that I couldn't reach. Why?

Because he wanted to look good? Why?

Because he was a jerk! Please stop asking me why!

Do you see where this is going? I agree that sometimes the manager is why someone resigns, especially if the manager is you-know-what. But you do need to uncover the real reasons for your own motives. 

Here are some reasons I have been told.

1. Not paid well enough here. I get 30% more pay for the same thing I do here.
2. No more room to grow. I want to be promoted, and the only way is for the senior to resign or retire.
3. Too much work for me to do, and I am burned out. A change of scenery is good for me.
4. The work assigned to me doesn't lift my boat.
5. People here are bullies. I can't work with them.
6. I was bypassed for promotion. 
7. This place doesn't practice meritocracy. It's who you know to butter up to get recognised and promoted.
8. This place is toxic. 
9. The staff here don't like Gen Z (or replace with whichever younger generation, gender, or ethnicity) like me.
10. I was head-hunted.
11. I don't fit the culture here.
12. I was made redundant.
13. Family reasons that I don't want to share.
14. Personal reasons that I don't want to disclose.
15. ... and so forth.

Now that we have explored some of the reasons above, did you notice that resignation has many factors? Some are true, and some have other underlying causes that cannot be shared without burning the bridge with your current employer.

In fact, resignations are mainly triggered by an external event or information that awakes you. The inside you. When you become aware, it becomes the driver for you to seek the thing to match your expectations and job satisfaction.

Five Triggers That Awake You

Here are five underlying triggers that make you resign:

1. Your sense of security disappears. Your comfort zone was rocked by events you saw around you and affected you. It can be anything from Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.
2. You come to work to pass the time and wonder why you aren't productive. Your work expands to fill the time available.
3. There isn't any deadline for the work you do. It has become a continuous chore with no progression. No meaning. Just more work you are taking on.
4. You realise your work has become a quantitative measure, and you know it isn't contributing to the actual outcome or quality. People around you are gaming it, and you realise you are under micro-management.
5. There isn't any sense of urgency with leadership or the organisation. You see a burning platform, and everyone seems to ignore it and perpetuate the status quo.

It takes a couple of triggers above, and you start questioning your situation and future with your employer. You begin your job search slowly and then actively.

Is it Your Manager Again?

Your manager may be the reason for your resignation, but there is more to that. Your manager is merely an employee and subject to the higher-ups' policies, guidelines and standards. Your manager is doing his job and might lack the EQ, mandate, or authority to influence the decision on your behalf. Let's pray that your manager awakes too.

Resigning is not a bad thing. It shows that you are taking responsibility and accountability for yourself. For your own career path, your well-being, your professional development, and your own needs first. And that is all good.

Before you think of resigning, ask yourself the Five Whys. Once you know the real reason, please do something about it yourself first. Explore options to improve your state and surrounding situation with your employer. You have to take action to discover what will make you thrive again. Once you have exhausted all avenues, maybe it is time to go, and you have no regrets about your decision.