Here’s The Real Truth Behind Why The Most Loyal Employees Quit

By Perminus Wainaina

I’m sure you have heard of the old adage, “people don’t leave a company, they leave their bosses.”

Unfortunately this is true. Having worked in HR for 8 (+) years now, I can attest that in the process of interacting with thousands of candidates, most of them have made the decision to simply quit their jobs!

More often than not, it is never an issue of poor pay or working conditions.

Sadly, an employee will actually quit a very good job because they don’t see eye to eye with their boss.

This Is A Must Read >>> Why You Should Never Quit Your Job Before Finding A New One

Are you in a similar position where you cannot seem to be on the same page with your boss and you are seriously thinking about quitting? Or maybe you have already quit.

You love your work and you are a good performer at best but the kind of boss you work for is making your work difficult.

Well, this is not uncommon.

Actually, I have encountered a number of employees who have shared that they would rather stop working than continue to work under their current boss.

So let us look at 5 of the situations that are causing you to consider quitting because of your boss…

  1. Your boss micromanages your every task

It’s one thing to have your boss assign you do duties and have him/her oversee every detail, process and angle of that task.

Your ideas are stifled and hence you cannot work as effectively. You are unable to make decisions that will improve your performance and work productivity.

With this kind of boss, it’s always his way or no way. They have to be involved in every minor detail of your work and this is has made it difficult for you to work.

  1. You feel overwhelmed

When was the last time you went on leave?

Better yet, when was the last time you had ample time to spend with your family and friends without having to worry about work?

You probably can’t remember.

Why? You are simply over worked and fatigued. At this point you really have no work-life balance.

Your boss has assigned you too many duties most of which you cannot handle on your own.

The pressure is getting to you because you have constant workload on your desk, tight deadlines to meet and targets to meet.

You have no social life and even your health has started taking a toll on you.

  1. Lack of motivation and constant rebuking

It can be really demotivating to work for a boss who never appreciates your work.

No matter how hard you try, the revenue you bring, the clients you grow, the business you develop, your boss never seems to appreciate nor motivate you.

Instead, they constantly focus on mistakes and errors you have made along the way making you feel more demotivated and ill equipped to do your job.

You could be doing 10 things right and 1 thing wrong but they will always chose to focus on the one thing you are doing wrong.

  1. Your boss doesn’t utilize your strengths

Have you ever worked or are working in a company where you feel you are so underutilized?

You wake every morning and question why you go to work and what your purpose in that company is.

Or perhaps you work in a department in which you feel is not fully exploiting your potential so you have asked your boss for a reshuffle but they have not refused.

So instead of being productive, you spend your day looking for job vacancies and opportunities where your strengths can be utilized.

  1. Lack of professionalism

At the end of the day, you want a boss who will lead from the front.

You want to work for someone who promotes a good degree of professionalism in the workplace.

You also want to work for a boss who is emotionally intelligent and who can be able to separate personal from professional.

Now, if your boss is not maintaining this kind of professionalism, then this could be a reason why you are thinking of quitting.

That said, should you now go ahead to draft your resignation letter?

NO!

True, your boss may have all these 5 characteristics that make you want to quit even without the prospect of getting another job.

But please note that getting a job nowadays is not a walk in the park.

You won’t resign today and miraculously start working tomorrow.

The Kenyan job market is heavily saturated so therefore getting a new job may take you longer than expected.

That means you will struggle where finances are concerned, your career might stall for some time and you may experience difficulties explaining why you resigned during job interview.

Instead of quitting, take a step back and examine what you can do to better the relationship between you and your boss.

If for sure he/she is difficult, leverage on useful tactics you can use to explain the challenges that you are facing and ways the both of you can reach an amicable solution.

Do this and you’ll be surprised to find out that they may not be as bad as you think!

What are some of the other challenges you face when it comes to your boss?

Let me know in the comment section below and let’s see which solutions we can come up with before you decide to quit.

23 Comments

  1. I have worked for a demotivating, discouraging, less involving and demoralising boss and quited. this pled to better avenues of life. I don’t regret quitting that job

  3. The facts are as raw as stated,unfortunate as it is in Kenya, we probably have 80,000 jobs being eyed for by 10 times the number of applicants,i.e 800,000 well qualified men and women.That being the case,it is also true that the problem is not lack of jobs or expertise.In US for example (Developed as it is),jobs exist for every cadre of skills down to high school and even class 8 level and below.Ask me about it.Recently i sought a free-lance translation position in Kenya via two well known websites-and would you know! There is “none” in Kenya,yet in US ,Canada,South Africa e.t.c ,they have positions for a Swahili/English/French translators and interpreters for tidy sums!Again,lack of vision and a self-preserving attitude has led to a situation where we are not innovating for sustainable development.Politics ,nihilism,nepotism and the list can go on has truly stifled vision and initiative.We inculcate in the young by rote in our schools to cram for exams and aim for that everlasting job till retirement do-us part.No real skills that will create the next job.As much as the odds may be against the so-called 3rd world countries (Trade imbalances, and the constant enticements to take foreign loans),we have yet to realise that you do not need to stay in employment for more than 5 years.In most European countries,young men and women leave employment to start own or partner and create more opportunities for the next generation.Here in Kenya it is politics 24/7, and corruption at all levels.It will take years for us to come to terms with the fact that it is skills coupled with honesty/integrity and industriousness not crammed exams and mere papers that will truly feed the ever growing population.I reiterate, we need to be employed just for a few years to gain traction and use the experience and skills to move to the next level.

  4. You can be working with a corrupt boss and it is your signature that he wants used in finalizing those deals and when the shit hits the fan, it is you with your signature that pay the ultimate price.

    Do you quit as soon as you realize you are being considered as insubordinate or comply and suffer the consequences?

  6. How about a boss who has totally refused to allow you go further your education on part time basis, Saturdays and weekday evenings. They just want you to stay in the office from 8 to 6. Should one quit?

  7. How do you handle a boss who, just because you’re the staff that’s not ‘Mtu wetu’, puts you down in everything that you do?
    Yet you even emerge the best in your work, but you’re always averaged in your appraisal report.

    You also notice this in some other staffs too

  8. Am on that move of quitting my job. The supervisor is so petty in that he instructs you to write a report on every mistake you make and then he takes it to HR.
    What does this imply? This is to expose you to the management as someone who is always on mistakes.
    I dont like this at all and am on my way out.

  9. Very true… Having a bad boss can cause you poor health.. A case in point a boss who harrases you, shouts at you..this becomes very serious and someone decides to keep off..i agree sometimes it’s not wise to leave before you get another but to some extent quitting may safe someone.

  10. I am a CPA student currently pursuing section 4.2yrs ago I got an assistant accountant job in a retail industry and I have been working a minimum of 13hrs a day monday to Monday with two off days in a month.I can’t school without the job and with the job I can’t school.Advice

  11. I totally agree with you Lizz sometimes getting out immediately can make you motivated to be new and have fresh ideas about your life. after all life is meant to be enjoyed both good and bad times…

  12. This is such a good article, because you google the whole day while your peers go through the job market making strides cause of a boss who feels threatened of your prowess in the work place.
    also note that getting a job is not easy. he/she also has this angle of insubordination that can be used to fire or a warning letter.

    in as much as we do not stay put some are more than pathetic to work with.

  13. I tend to disagree with you on this. I have been at my current workplace for 7 years and it seems the more you stay the more the boss takes you for granted. How can you get another job if even there’s no time for attending interviews? I suggest you leave and look for another job.

  17. YOU JUST GO TO THE SAME OFFICE AS YOU SERIOUSLY LOOK FOR ANOTHER JOB BECAUSE THIS COULD KILL THE LITTLE SKILLS YOU HAVE LEFT. AND IN SUCH OFFICES MAYBE THE POSITIONS YOU CAN FILL WELL ARE ALREADY OCCUPIED SO ITS BETTER YOU JUST LOOK FOR ANOTHER JOB

  20. I agree with you about scarcity of jobs in Kenyan market but staying could damage a career. Sometimes, leaving could be the only option to safeguard your benefits, reference and most importantly happiness and peace of mind. There are some instances where you would feel the direction the disagreement between the staff and the boss is taking is an insubordination which in many companies is a gross misconduct.

  21. When your boss does not fulfill his promises. I.e regarding work changes, appraisals, or work motivations.

  22. Thank you for that article. In case where your boss reduces your pay at 50% rate, how do you deal with such situations

  23. Thanks for the lovely article.
    Does one still stay when you are underutilized? How do you handle this? Go to work in the office and do nothing but Google search the whole day?

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