Oh dear, my new job is toxic

What was it that made you want to return to Essex? Does that reason still exist?

Its not being "a quitter" to recognise a mistake and correct it.

What was it that made you want to return to Essex? Does that reason still exist?

Good question. I initially moved to Devon to support my parents as they got older. They are now both gone and I felt I needed to take back control of some areas of my life and move to an area I know well and start over on my own terms.

A seemingly good job came up in an area I know well and it seemed a good fit; I've tended to follow the work most of my life and whilst not career driven I do feel the need to take on jobs that I find fulfilling. In terms of the work attraction still existing, the answer is no. The job is being altered around me and the environment is definitely not as advertised. I'm breaking even financially at the moment but the longer I stick out a bad situation that will change.

Feel for you OP. I’d chalk it up to a life lesson and move back to Devon. Unless you have an opportunity to find other work in Essex quickly. No chance of a frank conversation with management?

Not fully understanding your situation, particularly as far as your previous life in Devon is concerned  it's apparent that's what's  calling you. I'd say run, run for the hills and ride out the stuff in Devon. Follow your heart, nothing else matters.

Gut instinct is often right. Bin it, find something else

I’m not a quitter

This isn't always the positive trait its made out to be so don't get hung up on it. Sometimes the smart thing to do is recognise the situation and do something about it.

Oh - you know when you start a new job and they put you on a probationary period - that goes both ways.

TJ is entirely right, it's not being a quitter if the new situation isn't what you thought you were getting into and to correct it.

If I were you, I'd be polishing the CV off and having a look at what's closer to your Devon home

This is not generic advice, even though it sounds it:

your post is extremely well written & worded. Considered, thoughtful and reflective.

I think you’ve got this. You’ve no need to rush. I can’t steer you in one direction or another based on what you’ve told us, but I think you’re gonna come through it and find the right direction yourself. Take your time. I’ve read posts here before where I worry about the OP, this one’s different, I think you’ll sus it out soon enough.

Run, don't walk away and don't look back. Life is too short and something else will happen along.

Good luck.

That job is dead to you.  Treat it that way.  Move on mentally and just start looking for a new role.  Do the bare minimum, check out.  No one will hire you unhappy.  If they fire you, ace.

Its much easyier to get a job with job.

Ferris

They mis-sold you the job, it's not quitting, it's "returning for a full refund".

Is your job in Devon still open? (did you burn bridges?).

Give them a call, what's the worst that can happen?

No chance of a frank conversation with management?

Not really, management are the source of the problem. Its astonishing what's been allowed to fester in the place.

Good point about the probation period; its something I've said to staff I've recruited in the past. Never thought I would consider being the one to pull the eject lever. I guess after putting so much effort in I'm reluctant to admit its been nothing but a learning experience. I've been dealing with the toxic situation since starting the job and keeping on top of it, but on Friday when driving back to my house in Devon to do a bit of work there I was struck by a voice in my head suggesting it would be easy to just pack my stuff up and never return. Never felt that way before. It was like a gut punch. I've been reeling from it ever since.

I've been in my current role a long time but have been gifted new management that are turning it into a cesspit.

I'm not quitting, I'm looking for something better and so much more looks better now this workplace has sunk.

Get out, I haven't done it soon enough, it's ruining me and just the prospect of leaving gives so much happiness back.

Kind words Goldfish24, thank you.

My old job isn't still available; I mentored the chap who took it on after I left (I'm good like that). I didn't burn my bridges when I left though, respected my old boss too much for that. My new one I'd happily back my car over. Repeatedly.

I guess deep down I know what to do. I'm driving back to Devon on Thursday night and working from home on Friday. Time to gather my thoughts and plan the next move over the weekend I suppose. I've spent my whole career dealing with difficult situations, time to apply that experience to something personal and work through the problem.

Thanks for the feedback chaps.

If I do decide to jump ship I will enjoy telling my estate agents to take a hike and that I'll be staying. Their antics are worth a thread all of its own...

You're in a strong place.  They seem to need you more than you need them.  The best and only way to negotiate is if you're prepared to lose, and you are.  Go in hard, tell them what they're doing wrong and what your plan is and what you want.  They saw something they wanted when they hired you so go ahead and show them what they got.

Also - applying for jobs doesn't mean you have to take them.  No harm in applying and seeing what happens. Ok so interviews can be time consuming, but take vacation days.

I once thought 'stuff this' on a permie job, I emailed out a CV and was swamped with replies. Got a much better role really quickly. Ok so I work in an industry with high churn and (at the time) high demand, but it was funny telling my shit bosses I was leaving next week.

Other way round for me in that I left my home town and walked into a job in another town that turned into a nest of vipers. And after a year I walked out with nothing to go to. But a contracting role came up and I went for it. And stayed in the role for 4 years.
Happy in my work now but l understand the urge to get back to where your friends are.

Any chance of trying to do some temporary/contract work alongside your new replacement in Devon? Any other roles available?

Without wanting to know figures how much do you need to keep the roof over your head in Devon? Is there a mortgage? Can you flip burgers in McDonald's to pay the bills sorta thing?

I’m not a quitter

When everyone around you is frantically running around amidst smoke, flames and screaming, expediting your exit from the burning building quickly and with dignity is always the best option. It ain’t quitting!

If you're worried about what leaving might look like to others, it can often look better to your next employer if you go quickly and can explain why rather than after 6months or after a year. The nightmare for an employer is you recruit someone, invest a year plus training them then have them quit. Especially if you have a good record in previous roles and you can explain in a STAR sort of way why the previous role wasn't right without sounding like you're bitter or angry (this can be really hard, especially as it sounds like you've had some really bad luck here).

"The situation was that I was recruited for role X and my main focus was Y, however when I started the role it had changed to Z for [reasons which sound professional and balanced, i.e. don't slag anyone off]. I quickly recognised this issue and decided to look for new roles that would be X. [Then some positive stuff about how great the role your going for is which justified your prior decision]."

Back to Devon. Sounds like the right thing for you.
And it sounds like ‘can’t sell my house’ would be a reasonable escape clause if you don’t want to go with ‘the job isn’t meeting my expectations’.
See how you feel on Sunday when you’ve had a ‘free’ day in Devon on Saturday and need to go back east.

I moved jobs into what should have been a good move, about 15 or so years ago (same county, same industry.

But it was rubbish. The 'local' folks I was working with were all fine (and also not happy with the changes and re-orgs they constantly got imposed on them

Similar to you, the amount of total BS and nastiness from above was appalling.   After 3 months I thought I was in the wrong place.  After 6 was certain. Took me a few more months to survey the landscape and get out.   The place was draining my soul.  Erratic schizophrenic senior management and a bully voy attitude. (On huge wages).

I left and took another role (same industry again) on less ££, more hours, less holiday, no bonus, more responsibility).   In the following 15+ years, not a ingle day of regret getting out of that.

I'd say get out before you get pulled down to the level of the management.

I don't know enough to make a sound judgement, but based on what you've said and the thought of spending however many years in your current role would see me back in Devon, tout de suite

Best of luck and happiness

I was struck by a voice in my head suggesting it would be easy to just pack my stuff up and never return.

Listening to that pesky inner voice is not necessarily a sign of weakness* . Sometimes it has a valid point.

*Unless it's telling you to eat a whole pack of Mr Kipling's apple pies in one sitting or kill everyone in Basildon town centre.

Unless you are comfortably off enough to take a break and/or confident enough in your abilities to get a job quickly, I'd stay put while looking for another job rather than just walk out to an uncertain future. But get on with the job search!

I walked out of a failing job many years ago, it worked fine for me but I (a) was moving to live with my to-be-wife who had a job with a salary that we'd have survived on indefinitely if need be (b) was very confident that given my quals, age and location I'd find a job quickly (in the event, I had a new job before my notice period was up).

I know that working in a shit situation is shit, but it will pass, and you don't want to dig yourself into a more serious hole while trying to dig yourself out of it.

As others have said, I'd be looking for work elsewhere, be it back to Devon or around Essex or maybe somewhere else entirely..... Seems to be no shortage of jobs at the moment, but a shortage of good well mannered efficient workers as or original post would suggest you are.

How toxic is toxic? Enough to stick it out temporarily or?

I started a new job July last year and within 6 weeks started noticing some apparent red flags however it was a 36% pay rise from my last role so it became a golden handcuffs situation, decided at month 8 enough is enough and it's not somewhere I'd like to continue working. My colleagues are fantastic as is my line manager, but the senior level management and other departments with their constant meddling are a nightmare, as is the politics and finger pointing. I like to work with an accountability/lessons learned and fire prevention attitude as opposed to playing blame games and fire fighting.

I found it significantly tricky to get any other offers or much interest until it recently ticked over to a year, the first question recruiters and interviewers had was "why are you looking to move so soon having been in your current role less than a year?", despite being professional in my answers and not moaning or complaining, usually dressing it up like "I'm looking for something that more aligns with my skillset" wasn't enough. However as soon as a year ticked by the question became the usual "why are you looking to move on?" and I've had significantly more interest from recruiters and more interviews, was like a night and day difference.

The longer you stay, the harder it will be to leave the current situation. For some reason toxic environments consume you and prevent clarity of thought, which quite clear you still are thinking logically

I wouldn’t jump without anything to go to though, it’s always easier to find work whilst your working.

The only thing I’m not getting is whether Essex or Devon is right for you? It doesn’t sound like you have a pull for either location, but I imagine there are more job opportunities in Essex ?

Interesting about house prices in Devon I just assumed houses there would always be in big demand

Think of it as a life lesson, you have experienced, you have learnt and you have grown.

Now get the heck out of there

I found it significantly tricky to get any other offers or much interest until it recently ticked over to a year, the first question recruiters and interviewers had was “why are you looking to move so soon having been in your current role less than a year?”, despite being professional in my answers and not moaning or complaining

I think if you're talking to a recruiter, it's totally fine to make a pointed comment about "management style" and even to mention that it "might be considered a toxic environment". They won't be under the impression that all senior managers are perfect or anything.

By no means suggesting you should stay but once the avalanche of people leaving started could that have triggered the toxic culture? People turning on each other when some of their best people left rather than admitting they were in a slump and dealing with it? If it's been like that for years and years it would be time to escape for me but if people talk of better times in the recent past it would spark second thoughts about whether there will be a rock bottom point and start to recover once they get a month or two of no one leaving. If it's the later holding out could see the start of an interesting time as they get back to where they once were, the former then the place is doomed!

And totally agree that looking after yourself and doing what's best for you is definitely not quitting!

If you can just walk away from the job and go back to Devon, do it - how many months/years can you manage without an income?

Negotiate a payrise with the current place (sounds like they need you). Check out, do the bare minimum while looking for a new job, get a new job, don't look back.

If I were you I would use this opportunity to stick it out just long enough to sell your house for whatever, get a visa and move to mainland Europe/Australia wherever. What you're experiencing is basically just 'England' nowadays. If the visa sounds too hard, try Scotland as a test.

house prices in Devon I just assumed houses there would always be in big demand

There is huge demand, but a falling market really pits sellers expectations against buyers reality. Not just Devon.

I think you've had a range of sensible opinion and advice and it sounds like it's helped crystallise your thoughts, just to say that we see a lot of posts on here regarding mental health many of which are exacerbated by unreasonable working situations.

You take care of yourself Big-Dave, because sure a hell your employer won't be prioritising your wellbeing in those working conditions. Even if this means taking a temporary step back or sideways. Good luck pal.

I don't see how "stay in Essex" or "move back to Devon" is relevant. A turd is geographically independent.

Rather, you have two issues here.

1) You don't like your job. That's readily rectified, look for another. I guarantee with cast-iron certainty that no-one at your current employer will care, doubly so given the turnover rate. Give it six months they'll be like "Dave who?"

2) You're potentially losing money on your house sale. Well, so is everyone, but if house prices fall then it makes buying cheaper. What's tens of thousands on a sale worth hundreds? My old place sold for £62k and that was higher than I'd expected.

If you're two months in, I wouldn't even mention it on the CV. Or if you do, don't talk in euphemisms - just come out and say the truth "they changed the role significantly right after hiring me, and it wasn't a job that I wanted or where I would be adding my best value".

You could try having a no holds barred conversation with management: "your behaviour is terrible and if you don't let me fix it for my team, I'm leaving". But I don't have much faith in workplaces changing: the same dickheads that managed my toxic office ten years ago are still in place today. In fact the outcome of that conversation might be "well if you don't like it Big-Dave, you can **** off today". But what do you care? You've got a nice house in Devon, you can drive straight over there.

Been there twice. Lasted 6 months before going back to my previous employer in both instances

First place was a move to a smaller company but a more senior role than I had before. Pretty soon realised the entire office was toxic and full of absolute back stabbers and manipulators. The team I was managing were fine but the other department heads were just awful people. Final straw was a Friday afternoon and a woman absolute losing the plot with me because I'd dared to introduce a new thing in my team that required zero input or approval from her. She was physically shaking with rage. I sat there and calmly listened to her before returning to my desk. Quietly packed up every single one of my belongings without drawing attention to myself and left for the very last time. Emailed the MD over the weekend telling him I wouldn't be back. The fact they never contested this speaks volumes and within 6 months they were out of business.

Second time was a move to a big company but a new type of role for me. Despite them being an absolutely enormous US company with multiple divisions, the Glasgow office was like something from the 70s in terms of culture. The guy I was working for was an absolute helmet. Classic bullshitting salesman. A vain idiot and a bully. Came up to me one day deadly serious and told me he didn't like the shirt I was wearing and not to wear it again. Everyone in the office was terrified of the senior leaders. The support I needed for my role was absolutely non-existent. Got to my 6 month review with my prick of a boss and the office manager. Walked in, sat down, they asked me how I thought the 6 months had gone. I hadn't planned it but without hesitation I said "I'll make this easy for you, I'll hand in my notice now". They looked at each other, nodded, and that was it. 3 months garden leave with a company car at my disposal was the only silver lining from the debacle. From what I know, the role I was in has been filled multiple times over the years and no one lasts much longer than I did.

Evening all, thank you for all of your feedback. It is genuinely useful.

In response to questions asked about the toxicity of the workplace; it has become apparent that there may as well be a revolving door on the office so many people have left over the years. In the last couple of weeks two people have found work elsewhere. I have two direct reports I've never met, as they are seemingly on permanent secondment to other departments and never want to return. It turns out my predecessor was bullied out the door and another recent employee has had a breakdown. The way in which junior staff are discussed by senior managers, often in an open office, is staggering in its inappropriateness. All really hopeful signs for the future...

Unfortunately it does seem that the management culture has started to become normal for the staff working there, so even the team members I've been trying to protect are just furthering the problems with their behaviour and attitude. For a bit more detail for those who may be wondering, I work in the waste industry so walking into work every day to deal with strong personalities and problems is part of what I do; I enjoy the dynamic working conditions.  I think I may have met my limits with this one however.

I'm working remotely from Devon on Friday to give myself a bit of space and mull things over. I also have another estate agent coming around to revalue my house. I have a strong feeling that I stand to loose a lot of money if I sell now, and for the current job that just isn't justifiable. Devon has had a buoyant market for the last couple of years but things have changed a lot for sellers since I put my house on the market.

I have started casting around for other work to see what is available just as a back up. If I do leave it will be justified on the grounds that the job is veering very far away from the direction I was expecting to go in and also on the grounds that in financial terms my carefully planned, thought out, and heavily spread sheeted moving plans now lie in tatters. I am very fortunate that I can afford to tough it out without a job for a few months if need be.

When it comes to potential future employers, if I do leave after only two months I have no problem with telling them why I left.

Just need to spend more time looking at all of the options although I have learned to trust my instincts over the years and one option is feeling more right than the others. You can all probably guess which option that is but I need to get a bit of space before finalising my course of action.  A couple of posters have suggested my new employers need me. I think they probably do; just need to figure out if I need them.

Could you ask the estate agent about letting your place in Devon?

You had a reason to leave Devon, you quit a job you liked etc.  There must be other jobs in Essex in your field.

Well folks,

The email has been sent and tomorrow morning I'll be in the office to see what the impact will be and to find out when I leave.

Its been a long weekend of beer drinking, loud music and solo bike rides to help me get my head around the situation, but when it came to typing out my intention to resign I felt absolutely nothing. That alone tells me something, and when all of the options are considered the job simply isn't working so best to go.

I still feel Essex is a part of my future but there isn't a lot on the job market up there which would suit my background and skills. Plus the recent experience has rather tarnished my view of the area where I've been working, which I know is irrational but I'm keen just to get away now.

Don't fancy letting out my place in Devon as I want to get it back in the same shape it is now, plus with the costs faced by landlords these days it would be a massive pain to deal with. Far better to move back in and try to get a local job to tide me over whilst I plan my next step. I've got two applications out for lower tier jobs than the ones I've been doing recently but they look like enjoyable options; I've done them before elsewhere and they are well within my capabilities. Plus, Tesco want to interview me on Wednesday evening to see about becoming a delivery driver! I'm not afraid of hard work and I have a total lack of ego when it comes to earning money to pay the bills.

I feel surprisingly relaxed about the situation which is probably very naive or delusional of me, or perhaps means that I've made the right decision and corrected a plan that was going awry. Time will tell.

Well done Big-Dave. I'm sure things will pan out just great in the medium term, certainly better than sticking in a poor company would.

Good for you. Have spent a few hours over this weekend doing sums to see just when I might be able to tell my employer to **** off, but the earliest is next summer.

Tesco delivery driving has been recommended to me by a mate who is using it to tide him over.

Leaving my old toxic job was the best decision I ever made, not least because it was making me poorly.

Well done OP, you've got the right attitude and things'll work out much better in the medium term I'm sure.

Well, that was a strangely anti climactic day. Spoke to my manager this morning and told him I was resigning and all he could say was 'thank you for letting me know'. After that it wasn't mentioned for the whole day. There is a senior management team meeting tomorrow where I'm sure I'll be on the agenda, but its all been very quiet. Thought it was a bit weird that HR apparently didn't know I was leaving when I gave them a nudge this afternoon about things I won't need to do now I'm going. No doubt me doing that will upset somebody on the management team so there are still hopes for a stand up row taking place.

I'm intending to be professional and work my notice period but it is rather hard to give a damn, especially as I'm now trying to arrange interviews nearly 300 miles away. First sign of hassle I'll play my 'outraged of Devon' card and flounce out. Never flounced out of a job before so it might be fun to try; I'll call it my mid life crisis.

Told my landlady and her husband and they'll be sad to see me go. Somebody at least will miss me.

Congratulations. It's a liberating feeling, especially if it's been affecting your mental health.

The only time i've had a similar situation it seems my resignation letter caused a bit of a stir.
The arsewipe boss that I resigned to had broken so many rules that on my final day we all discovered it was his final day too.

It's liberating... Well done. Breathe the fresh air.

Don't worry about what's behind in any meetings, it's over.

There's something beautiful about drawing a metaphorical or psychological line under something if it was making you unhappy.

It's hard and uncertain but it's so nice to get out of a toxic box that it sounds like you were in.

I handed my notice in at a toxic company 2 weeks ago tomorrow, and I have 2 weeks from tomorrow until exit day. It's a great feeling!

What I've learned from being a so called "job hopper" (12-18 months usually) is the grass is never greener, it's just a different type of grass. You can work for a company for 6 months and love it there, then all of a sudden there is a reshuffle at the top, a bunch of lay offs and a restructuring announcement and suddenly everything's gone to pot, staff are stressed, change has been handled poorly and there is questions everyone is asking which no one has the answer to and all of a sudden it's like the entire vibe of the office changes and everyone's throwing each other under the bus.

Othertimes the staff and culture can be great but the type of work sucks, othertimes the management are great but the staff are inept and untrained, sometimes it can be a perfect company until a domino falls at the top and new people come in with new ideas, or maybe the companys won a new contract which is huge and as a result have doubled the workforce in 12 months and as a result, the new staff massively change the culture.

Only stick out job roles if there is something in it for you and it's working for you, otherwise if the cons outweigh the pros that's when I've updated the CV and got job hunting for new opportunities.

othertimes the management are great but the staff are inept and untrained

Inept and untrained staff are a sign of quite poor management with no idea of whom to employ. Personally the managers may be great but failing to ensure the staff have the necessary skills and abilities shows that they aren't all that good professionally.

Inept and untrained staff are a sign of quite poor management with no idea of whom to employ. Personally the managers may be great but failing to ensure the staff have the necessary skills and abilities shows that they aren’t all that good professionally.

Oi! stop dissing the good ol' british tradition of "it's not what you know but who you know!" 😉

@Sandwich I can only back that up with what I've experienced first hand in my field, you can give IT Engineers a step by step documented knowledgebase guide on how to perform a certain task. Some will use it a few times then follow by memory out of these a few will make mistakes by doing this others never will, some will not even need it and have good technical aptitude and initiative, some will use it every single time but have no issues, some will always miss one of steps and cause more problems and then some others will forget where they've saved it, forget there is a search function to find it using keywords listed in the ticket, and then when they've been given it again after asking for the 9th time, still fail to follow it step by step and make a mistake.

Usually this is caused by hiring managers not screening potential employees properly but the same ethos applies, a manger who is fantastic at looking after the team may not be great at screening candidates, all part of the fun I guess

Usually this is caused by hiring managers

As an aside, everyone thinks they are great at hiring (inc me), but they're not.

This has turned into quite an inspirational thread. Well done and good luck OP.

This has turned into quite an inspirational thread. Well done and good luck OP.

It has indeed.

Got me thinking I might just hand my notice in as I'm sick of a the bull****.

This has turned into quite an inspirational thread. Well done and good luck OP.

Glad to have been of service. There have been some really good posts on here.

The news of my upcoming departure has finally been sent out to the rest of the department. Some of them seem genuinely sad so see me go. I do try and support the people I manage and had some nice messages from some of them.  It does seem that my soon to be ex boss turned the announcement into a "If you aren't happy in your job you can go" sort of speech. I'm working from home today and tomorrow so missed the full horror of his attempt to rally the troops. I'm lucky in the fact I have an escape route and I'm not trapped in the job like some of them, so I do feel for the decent ones I'm leaving behind. That said, the scheming over who will go for the job I'm vacating has already started, so I know I'm best of out of it.

It does look like I'll be working my full notice period so I can look forward to several weeks of being micromanaged by a boss who no longer trusts me. Joy.

Don't have anything else lined up just yet but the folks at Tesco seemed nice enough if a bit disorganised (I was interviewed in the store room behind the fag and vape counter) when I went for an interview last night. They will let me know at some point. I get them impression they have a high turnover. Still got some applications out for other jobs. Something will turn up.

Right now I'm just looking forward to getting through tomorrow then riding my bike at the weekend. Sometimes its the little things that matter in life.

Nice one. Enjoy the weekend, and embrace Devon.

Evening all, I thought an update was in order. I'm now back in Devon; Tesco did offer me a job but another job in my chosen industry came up. I've had to take a step or two back down the ladder and move from a management position to a supervisory one, but to be honest I was always happiest at that level. Just because you can climb the ladder doesn't mean you always should. I started my new job on Monday and I'm working for an ex-colleague. I have a number of jaded fellow supervisors to win over and 130 staff to get to know/ annoy/ support but I'm looking forward to it. Plus I'm back in a pair of steel toes and high viz with a promise of a play on the forklift if we get short of yard staff. The whole office is slightly stunned that I've announced I'll spending most of next week working as a loader so I can get to know the crews, but you can't lead if you can't prove that you can do.

The final day at my toxic job was last Wednesday and after finishing off some projects I had started I was happy to walk out without a backwards glance.

It has been a very weird year, and as somebody who has always just sort of drifted through life up until now I can't help but be amused that for the first time in my life, when I've actually made a very sincere and carefully thought out plan it has taken me back to square one. I'll be sticking to aimlessly drifting in future. I certainly have no complaints over how things have worked out.

Great news.

I'm struggling a bit. My colleagues and line management is good - like all jobs it has its moments when you want to kill them all but I love the work really, I love being in the area I'm in, back with scientists, and I love the positive impacts our work has. So what's the issue?

The owner is just toxic. Although they are pretty hands off, their values are totally at odds to what I believe in and any time they come visiting I have to make sure I'm elsewhere or I might just go crackers at them.

There's pretty good intelligence that there will be a change in ownership in a year or so - not guaranteed but highly likely, to owners I think I am much more aligned with. I just have to avoid thinking too deeply about it in the meantime.

Good for you, Big-Dave

Good stuff, glad your back somewhere happy.

What a great informative thread, with a positive ending.

We just need to make sure @theotherjonv sticks it out until the asshat company owner moves on...

their values are totally at odds to what I believe in and any time they come visiting I have to make sure I’m elsewhere or I might just go crackers at them.
There’s pretty good intelligence that there will be a change in ownership in a year or so – not guaranteed but highly likely, to owners I think I am much more aligned with. I just have to avoid thinking too deeply about it in the meantime.

Always worth looking for a company whose values match yours, over and above some other things.  This can make you a lot happier at work.  <br /><br />
your situation is different but similar to mine, the company is in a period of change and I continue to be sidelined / get no attention or direction and it’s affecting me badly.   Yesterday I struggled to perform basic duties because of the worst lack of motivation I’ve ever had in my life.   Becuase I’ve done the job I was asked to do and launched, sold, and upskilled everyone in a new product I feel I can’t really talk to my manager becuase I’m basically telling him I’m now redundant.    I don’t think working from home helps, I need to be “involved” with people.   I have to wait until January for an outcome / new start to company direction and where I fit in, but the next few months of dragging my heels feels as though it’ll be unbearable.

Really glad this had a pretty good ending

Thanks for the comments on my post. It's accurate but also slightly tongue in cheek - I've never hidden who i work for but I'm not going to spell it out here either.

Maybe MCTD might be thinking similar.

@Big-Dave

I wish you all the best for your future & massive respect for you not joining in with a toxic management culture.

The last 17 months since redundancy gave me the freedom to do what the hell I wanted to has been utter bliss.

I've had many offers from my former industry begging me to manage sites. But the ability to tell them where they have gone wrong & ignored the people that made them the money has had an almost Zen like effect on my wellbeing.

I'm one of the lucky ones (work wise) & I really feel for any of you trapped in the wage slave situation.