Short story is I am wondering if I should stay at this job and do the minimum or actively be looking for something else.
I (M/49 ) with a wife and 11 year old, was hired in 2018 at 70k/Year, I work from home and on average travel out of state for 4-5 days one week of the month. Otherwise I'm at home if not asked to do some 'special project'
I don't hate my job per se, but my immediate supervisor is a micromanager and can be very annoying. He will go through my (open to the team) emails and close them without telling me. He will do this now and again when he gets a hair up his ass.
My only other co-worker threatened to quit over the micro-managing and they put him under a new supervisor though he 'technically' works on our team but now has better excuses for ignoring the first boss whenever he wants to so call/emails he doesn't want to answer end up on my plate.
The kicker is, although they didn't fire me, they reduced our pay by 30% during Covid and once it was over never made us 'whole' again. In 2022 I went and asked for an inflationary raise just based on where I live and what's going on in the U.S. and although not denied they never responded directly and I never got any raise. (I did get a taxed, 1,500 bonus, but that was it.) So, 6-7 years with no raise, not even a performance review to be able to base a 'merit type' raise on in all those years.
No clear plan for improvement, grooming me for when my boss leaves, learning about another aspect of the business, nothing..
I am able to freelance now and again and I can fill in gaps and make an extra 10-20k year with bits of short term work but that means adding days or weekends and I feel I'm working all the time. Do I stay at this place and just do the minimum and keep the paycheck or is it time to move on and look for something else?
I see many stories from people having a hard time finding work and while I'm not 'satisfied' with my job who really is, and the reality is I can't afford to be snobby about finding my 'passion'.
I would not leave this job before I have other employment and I will not quit without other employment. I will make them fire me before I quit.