I am 32 years old have been working in sales for 3 years. Not sure if I should resign and go back to my former job of being an office clerk somewhere in some small firm.
Anyway, during this time, we hired about 10 – 12 sales representatives (like me), almost all of whom struggled to achieve KPI. I, along with another team member, were the only ones able to hit our KPIs consistently.
Over the course of my role, my manager became increasingly hostile and began to engage in what can only be described as a pattern of bullying and harassment.
Some of the key examples include calling me out on taking longer break times than usual (when I probably took the least break times compared to any other sales representative), texting me during my break times, telling me to take out the bin when she was annoyed with me, constantly making sarcastic and snarky remarks, giving favourable treatment to poor performers (eg putting them on administration-type work and still awarding them KPI performance bonus even though they did very little sales work) and being unduly critical of my work.
This has had a devastating effect on my mental health. To provide context, it was well-accepted that I was the top performing member in the team. At our peak, we had about 5 concurrent sales representative. I accounted for roughly 40% of their results.
I was also instructed by my team leader to provide advice and call coaching on others' calls, which is beyond my role description.
After a company restructure, I kept my job. I am currently the only one in the team and they want me to provide coaching to the new sales representative they are hiring. I told them this was the responsibility of the team leader and that this was beyond my role description even though in the past I was happy to provide this kind of service.
They said it was an expectation of my role that I would train others and impart my knowledge onto them and that they were not able to provide any further pay increase.
I had a very frank discussion with an senior manager about this today. The bottom line is that my job is very secure. I am absolutely certain I will not get fired or let go for any reason simply due to the fact that they have so many leads to call and I am the only team member left.
However, they were very clear that there would be no additional pay increase.
I am very disappointed with this outcome and also explained to the senior manager the emotional rollercoaster I have had to go through working with my team leader (who is moving to another role in about a month).
The senior manager assured me that my team leader would be leaving soon and that there would be a new management style.
However, at the same time I feel there is no career growth in this role, however stable it may be. And I do feel extremely betrayed, disappointed and upset that this has occurred. That they are unable to be flexible in regards to the salary is particularly disappointing, particularly given the overwhelming skill gap between me and the others. It was also disappointing that the senior manager seemed to side with my team leader when I raised these issues (although the senior manager kinda backtracked when I said that resignation was a real possibility).
I am seeking your thoughts/advice on this as I have no idea of how to make sense of the situation. I have no intention of seeking legal remedies for workplace bullying and harassment. This would be too much time and effort and stress and I would be better off in another role. I am generally not a confrontational person so I do not want to get stuck in the detail of the various incidents I have described above involving my team leader.
Sorry for the lengthy post. Happy to answer any questions that may arise.