Ive seen a few topics on here in the past but has anyone moved on from a stressful job with no other job lined up? I had a breakdown a few years ago but am OK now, but deep down I know that the job environment that I am in will always create stress for me. Unfortunately its a bit of a blame culture.

At least now I can see when I am stressed and acknowlede what it is – a few years ago I had no idea about stress and its effects on the body until it was too late!!!

Anyway, any positive stories, how much money did you have in the bank etc. I’m not married and dont have children yet so dont have any dependancies at the moment. I have my own home with no mortgage so only really need enough money to run the house.

yep done it before when I was coming home and starting to drink every night when I got in. Wife was in work though so it wasn’t such a difficult decision other than not really knowing where to go next

If you’ve got your own place you could always let a room out so it sounds like you aren’t in too bad a situation if you have to.

You might find that actually having made the decision to go allows you to change the way you react to situations at work and it might even make it better.

I left a stressful job that I should have loved but ended up hating. I was lucky to find another to go to so no advice in terms of just leaving. Although I came very close…

I would say, based on my experience, that if you feel like that then just go. You won’t regret it.

I’m a different person now!

I did a bit of a sideways move a few years ago as I was suffering high blood pressure brought on by stress. The company was very accommodating and it worked out to everyones advantage. If that move hadn’t been available I’d have certainly been looking at other options.

At least now you would know when the stress is there and you can ask your next employer for help and that you have an HR department to go to.
I wish you good luck in your next job.

Yes

The advice I got on here, through that thread was extremely good and saved my brain – thank you Binners, NorthWind and Project!

I walked out, never went back, stuck a mattock through an old laptop, sent the photo of the ensuing mess to my boss and a nice letter to HR telling them, very professionally that I was gone.

THE. BEST. DAY. EVER.

When I pressed send on that mail I had a few grand in hand and a good set of transferable skills. Thank 4k for that as I also had a pregnant wife and young son in tow.

I flukily landed myself a contracting gig with a local firm and we haven’t really looked back since.

Thank you again STW hive mind, I’m forever in your debt!

Thanks for the responses !! Good to know it worked out well for all that have left, leffeboy and hot fiat.

Recently ‘let go’ from a job I’ve been in for eleven years, with nothing on the horizon at the moment, but frankly I was glad to go, as the pressure to keep doing the job(s) faster and faster, with 100% efficiency, was really getting to me, to the point I made a doctors appointment because I was getting breathless and having chest pains walking to work, and every time I forgot to do something the time I was supposed to do it, as decided by one person, was logged against me, so I actually started to doubt my own mental health.
I worked with a lovely bunch of people, but new management has been brought in to really expand and grow the business, which is really stressing the staff, and others are leaving as a result.
I’m 62, and I honestly felt it was killing me!
I’m hoping I can pay of my mortgage, which is very small by most people’s standards, and go part-time.

I left mine today after HSE turned up. following on from this
I’d only been there three weeks.

Left at 2 got a call for another job interview at 5

I moved on from a job after it made me I’ll. I went contracting and I’ve not looked back. When I feel myself going native and the office politics and knob end managers start to become an issue I know it’s time to move on. Life is much better because I’m in control.
Don’t let work make you ill!

I left teaching as the workload was killing me mentally not being able to do anything 7 days a week 6am till 1am.
Got Ofsted excellent. Great grades with the kids and managed the football team undefeated to a double league/cup first ever and a win for the school in 50 years.

Outside of work I was miserable, unappreciated, got fat and knackered.

The Head changed his mind to my/everyone’s pay and promotions, the vice head was a prat/bully too.

I told them both to F off during an appraisal and walked out. Yes I’ve ruined my chances of a good references but started my own business and started training from scratch with my riding again while dropping a kg a week.

With the climate, I will have to work for someone again but still on my own business in the evenings.

You will be happier and healthier.

Just don’t do what I did and burnt my bridges, so get good references.

Just don’t do what I did and burnt my bridges, so get good references.

U.K. References generally just state “X worked here from MM/YY to MM/YY and their job title was YZ”
Anything else and corporate legal teams seem to get twitchy nowadays.

I left from an incredibly stressful job at an incredibly stressful time in my life. I was moved on shall we say.

No money in the bank and my wife was pregnant.

I then moved into a slightly less stressful job but it was still far from ideal and still with a huge amount going on in my personal life (parental deaths, life changing surgery, birth of first child, depression etc). Big issue was the management had no faith in me whatsoever and made it quite clear they never thought I’d be good enough.

Got redundant from there also.

In January got offered a 6 month contract to do a project and yesterday found out I have been made permanent. Great team, decent company and most importantly a management team that believe in me instead of telling me I’m shit all the time.

It’s not been easy but I finally have the position I’ve been working towards for 14 years and I feel I’m out the other side at last.

After 2 years in current job I leave tomorrow. First 18 months in an incredibly successful site and could have moved anywhere I wanted within the company. The site I chose for personal reasons ended up being a big mistake. Some incredibly poisonous people and recruiting locally is challenging so the powers that be are reluctant to deal with the real issues.

The stress and frustration almost led to things getting physical so I knew it was time to walk away. I have enough cash that I don’t really need to work until after Christmas without touching the house fund so July is for riding bikes and seeing friends, August is for riding bikes and holidays, September is for sorting my life out.

In my youth I probably would have stuck it out for the full year of the contract we have on the house, but now I appreciate that life is too short to be unhappy so when the time feels right to move on you just have to roll with it.

Managed to negotiate a phased leave from banking with nothing to go to. I knew what I was being asked to do at work was morally wrong (height of the PPI selling scandal) so my selling performance was dire. I was completely stressed out, sleepless nights, withdrawing from seeing friends etc so something had to change. Had started the down the Performance Improvement route but knew I was in the wrong job so negotiated a 6 week leaving period. Had nothing to go to instead and had recently blown all my savings on a new car so was twitchy bum time.

Got talking to a customer about me leaving a week before my leave date and they said they were hiring at their workplace, offered to put a word in for me. Got the job on my last day at the bank. Been in the new job 8 years now.

Lesson I learnt was that sometimes you have to do something to force the change. It can be scary but it focuses the mind. Good luck 😀

hot_fiat – Member
Just don’t do what I did and burnt my bridges, so get good references.
U.K. References generally just state “X worked here from MM/YY to MM/YY and their job title was YZ”
Anything else and corporate legal teams seem to get twitchy nowadays.
POSTED 11 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

Really? I know people who still get written references from the education/schools.

One of my bosses had a terrible reference stopping her from getting her next role. She did get it changed after a few words/legal threats.

At a number of places I’ve worked there were set procedures for generating references. Essentially all that was sent out to the prospective employer from HR would be a university-like transcript. There were even guidelines for social media based endorsements.

Mate of mine did this a few years ago, realised that they hadn’t done what they were recruited for and paid to do (Graphic Design) for about 6 months. All they’d done is sit in meetings and argue with people and deal with admin/politics. They were employed to deal with a large chunk of the internal communications, posters, website and stuff like that for a large multinational. Stress of stuff they simply didn’t want to deal with and were essentially not mentally geared up to deal with was making him ill.

Just stood up in the middle of a meeting and walked out, cleared their desk on the way out of the building. Spent a month bumming around, sorting the house, garden, training and so on, mostly burning through (limited) savings). Couple of hours every evening with a beer sorting paperwork to start their own freelance business. And advertising for a couple of lodgers to cover ongoing expenses (mortgage mainly)

Still going strong. Actually picked up the graphic design part of their old job a few months after starting up freelance, but doesn’t have to do all the arguing, politics and admin anymore. They have a “manager” to do that. So a months work actually takes about 2 days now. And thats almost enough to cover all his living expenses. Any other work is cash in the bank.

I’m actually quite jealous as i’ve been close to doing that a few times, but never had the balls to go through with it.
Thankfully my current role/job is actually interesting. And well paid. Pretty much stress free at the moment too.

Edit: just realised this must be nearly 15 years ago, as i was still in the UK when they jumped ship.

Educational sphere, references are different. If you end up somewhere local-is, same LEA, everyone seems to know everyone’s business anyway!

Every company I’ve worked for in the last 14 years has gone down the yes he worked here for x years route and no more for references…

I started a job in Jan and walked out in April. I’ve since got a new one which starts in September. At the interview, my prospective new boss said to me “what happened in your last job? You weren’t there very long.” I said “Yes – I walked out”. He laughed and said “don’t worry – you’ll be OK here.”

My new job is more junior than my last but I can’t wait for the opportunity to just do the core job without the leadership responsibilities.

I have my ex-wife’s mortgage, child maintenance and the usual living expenses to pay. To bridge the gap I’ve cut back on spending, put a bit on my credit card and my girlfriend’s been very supportive.

Life’s too short to be miserable at work. Just walk. It’ll be all right.

Thsnks for your experiences. Im off for s week next week snd ill make a decision then as to what to do.

My employer (FTSE 50) only sends out references from central HR – they’d never countenance letting line managers do it for all the legal ramifications – it simply confirms dates and job title.

Over 10 years ago I was signed-off for stress for about 10 months and had to start legal proceedings and fight to get my job back. Since then I’ve not made any career aspirations, worked 9-5 and get the interesting projects that the brown-nosing, career-minded avoid because it doesn’t give them the kudos. I know I could get more money elsewhere but I’d rather look after my health and my family. I’ve seen the impact of stress on others and their health and frankly it’s not worth the risk.