When you leave for work in the morning, you get a stomachache. You're not getting paid enough, there's no room for growth and/or you can't stand your coworkers. Whatever the reason, you dread getting to your lab.

Guess what? If you can sympathize with the above, it may be time to leave your current laboratory and look for greener pastures.

The Signs
"The biggest indicator it's time to leave a job is when it's morphing you into an unhappy and negative person," said California-based career coach Megan Pittsley. "If you're going home and snapping at loved ones or crying, it may be a sign something needs to change."

When the bad days at work dominate the good, it's probably time to leave. Some other signs it's time to start looking for a new lab include: 

• You're bored.
• You feel your job is affecting your personal relationships.
• You feel emotional at work--want to burst into tears, etc.
• You've become angry or bitter toward your boss, coworkers or your job in general.
• Your gut is telling you to quit.
• All you can talk about is how much you hate where you work.
• You don't have much of a work/life balance.
• You work in a place with bullies or work in a hostile environment.
• You lack enthusiasm about your job or you feel frustrated.
• You are seeing legal or ethical violations in the workplace.
• Work expectations are impossible to meet.
• Your mentors have left the facility.
• You see others being favored over you.

These signs can also come in physical symptoms, such as sleeplessness, loss of appetite or headaches, to name a few.

Besides not experiencing these physical symptoms, it can be beneficial for you personally, and for your career, to move on to a new job in a new lab.

"It's healthy to take on new challenges and reassess your values every so often in your career," Pittsley explained.

"It is hard to grow in rocky soil. It is better to work and struggle for a promotion in a good institution that nurtures and nourishes its employees than be promoted in a bad one because you are the only sucker available," said Catherine Park, MBA, MT(ASCP), laboratory director, Johnston Health, Smithfield, NC.  

Park, who has worked at five hospitals over her laboratory career, remembered a time a lab job turned her into what she called a "crispy critter"--a completely burnt out laboratorian.

"The stress had caused me to gain weight, damaged a long-term relationship and was making me question my sanity," Park recalled. "I left a management position for a bench job, saying I would never be a supervisor again. A year later, I was promoted to assistant supervisor, but it was a much happier situation, and I realized my previous situation was a disaster, not me."

Looking for a new job shows self-confidence and motivation, said Will Robinson, cofounder of VirtualJobCoach. You will also be more productive in a work environment you like, compared to one where you can't wait to leave every day.

Bad Boss
Your boss may not make your time at your job any easier. But how much should a bad boss affect your decision to leave a job?

"You really need to asses the situation fully and ensure you've done everything you can to improve the situation first, should that be the only reason you're looking to make a change," Pittsley said.

Before writing off a job just because your boss drives you crazy, try to talk to your boss about whatever your issues are, or try seeing things through your boss' point of view. Also, consider how long your boss will likely remain in his current position.

If you like the facility but not your immediate supervisor, see if you can transfer to a different section of the laboratory. Park also suggested switching to a different shift if you really can't stand your boss.

"But if you have a toxic boss whom upper management inextricably likes, and there is no ability to find a better fit in the organization, you may need to seek a new situation," Park advised. "How good a job is it really if the boss makes life so bad you just can't take it anymore?" 

"If you have made a 'good effort' to try to manage the bad boss and it isn't working and you don't see relief in sight, then I think that is a great reason to leave," Robinson added.

Give It Time?
Maybe you are having a bad week. Or month. Or year. Some may wonder how long you should stay in a job that makes you unhappy.

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