I was on my computer when an email came through my inbox. It was from the Director of Education. This was an email to inform us that her employee would be leaving the company to further pursue her career.
Unsurprisingly, not too long ago, another director in my company also sent out an email to inform us that her employee will be leaving the company to go back to school.
That got me thinking about something. How long does one usually stay at a company? So, I went out of my way to analyze these two situations more carefully:
- Both are female
- Both were in their early twenties
- Both of their reasons for leaving are to pursue their academic career
- Both have only been at the company for 1.5 years
Are they leaving because of the burnout culture? Cause burnout is real here. Are these merely excuses to mask the fact that they want to leave the company? Or are they really leaving because they want to pursue higher education?
At this point, I started thinking, when will I leave my company? When I started nine months ago, I told myself that I’m only going to stay here two years at the earliest and three years tops.
Regardless of whatever reason they had for leaving, what matters is that they’re pursuing something they deem much more important and I respect that. I just wish the best of luck to both of them.
After all, I’ve only known them for nine months.
The Average Number of Years that People Stay at a Company
After a quick google search, I learned that the average number of years that employees stay at a company is 3.2 years.
Was that surprising? No, not really.
First of all, you don’t want to leave early and often. It’s going to show on your resume and employers are going to question your authenticity for wanting to work at the company.
Second, you don’t want to work at a job too long because it’s going to limit your capabilities. Well, as long as you’re not working the same role over and over again.
Most of the senior people at my company have been working here for 25–30 years. Can you believe that?!
So, How Long Should I Work at My Company?
I’m going to say it depends. But I’ve realized over the years that this answer sucks. It doesn’t help.
Instead, when someone offers an answer, you will either realize you don’t like it, it’s not true, or it is true.
So I will say, at most you should stick to a company for at least three years. This gives you ample time and opportunity to be efficient at your job. You’ll discover your weaknesses and strengths.
But at What Point Do I Leave? What if I Want to Leave? When Should I Leave? How Do I Know When it’s Time to Leave?
How long did you stay at your company before you left? Comment down below because I’d love to know.
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