It has been a year since I left my previous job at an outdoor apparel company with a peculiar bird, and I couldn't be happier.
My manager at the time poached me from another company, with the promise of getting a much better salary and benefits -which I did get-, and openness to improve the process. Since I was a bit tired of the reluctance to improvements from my previous company this looked like a great opportunity.
It became my worst job experience so far.
In the first month, I got my on boarding experience, and the first red flag rose. While reviewing our forecast accuracy, I noticed that there was something off with the formula. Without going into specifics, they were taking the absolute of a sum, instead of the sum of absolutes for measuring accuracy, among other weird things that didn't followed any logic. I pointed this out, and my manager asked for his second in command to review it. They scheduled a meeting with me later in the week to explain why the formula as it is written in every textbook didn't really apply for the company and how they 'adjusted' it to make sense. In other words, they didn't want the company to know they were stating a better accuracy than the real one.
This type of approach was ubiquitous throughout my entire time with them. I'd show that through the application of forecasting models we could get a better accuracy 6 months before their first forecast deadline, and it would be offhandedly put aside, since we were doing more 'art than science', and that 'it really didn't benefit the company's bottomline'. Or when proposing automating a process with a script, or even Excel file, 'we would rather have you do the monkey punching manually as that is more useful, and the current process'.
Since I switched to this company shortly before the pandemic started, when COVID hit and everyone had to go work remotely, an announcement for a salary cut was made. 10% from everyone, and 20% if you were willing to 'help the company'. I took the 20% since I figured it would save someone else from getting axed. I was the only one from my team to do so, which is fair everyone had different reasons/priorities at the time and we can never know the other's financial distress. Yet, all managers agreed to the 20%, except for one -you guessed it!-. (And yes, during the start of the pandemic, we had two 30min. meetings morning and evening from our manager to make sure we were working)
Anyhow, reason I'm bringing this up is because by my yearly review, my manager was a bit frustrated with me proposing better ways of doing things, and that despite showing the results to back it up, it didn't conform to his way of doing things, nor his self-developed 'math'. Meeting went as before and nothing was mentioned about what was coming, except that he would be taking 1 week off on holiday.
During this week off, HR send me a letter saying that I was underperforming, and needed to develop a performance plan. All of the items they listed that I needed to improve on had no metrics, and used ambiguity like “[…] unwilling to act in the company's best and team's at large interests”. I questioned how they were measuring that, and mentioned that I did have at least one metric showing how much I was willing to act in the company's and team's best interest by 10% more than even the manager. After some back and forth, were no concrete examples were given from their part, I agreed to go under a performance plan -which didn't have any measurable metrics of success-.
Now, throughout this time, my manager was in close contact with HR, despite his week off, and copied on every email I sent. So, when HR asked me to sign the letter agreeing to those statements, with no edits to them after my replies and examples, I resigned.
I sent in my resignation stating that I was being coerced into signing something that wasn't truthful, and to which I had to agree on under the tacit implication of being fired with cause if I didn't sign it -HR rep literally saying that if I didn't sign they'd evaluate other more serious alternatives-. I gave them 2 weeks notice as stated in the contract, and because I wanted to make sure my work was offloaded to someone else successfully. A full week passed -full week that my manager was back from his holiday- and no news from HR or him. I asked if I should be offloading my work to a coworker and whom, as well as asking when I'd have my exit interview. Their solution was a 2 day crunch for another coworker and me, no date on the exit interview or even mentioning it, and an offhanded comment from my manager saying, 'I heard there was some big news while I was away. Care to share the gossip?'.
By the end, HR was censoring and pulling down an episode from an internal podcast where I was interviewed about the job I used to do -and in which I expressed how much I liked the company, despite all of this going on in the background-. I was skipped on getting an exit interview, and my manager never gave concrete KPIs of my performance. In short, I can only speculate that HR wanted this business done and covered up, as much as my manager.
After my departure, 2 more people left within the month, and this manager just got 'reassigned' to another area. Throughout the year I've continued to hear about people leaving, and incompetence rising through to fill positions. This has also been corroborated through Glassdoor reviews.
Oh, and just as a funny tidbit of how worklife is at this company still, they were looking to get SAP IBP implemented, which has all the forecasting tools I was trying to implement. Heard later my manager, before being reassigned, pushed for the module to be stripped of them/disabled, as they 'were not needed to our process'. Talk about an expensive spreadsheet. Yikes!
All I can say after this ordeal is to look for a manager that is willing to invest in you, is self-aware about their own shortcomings and doesn't reinvent formulas. In short someone who is transparent and actually looking out for you, and not only themselves.
Oh! And if you are going through something similar, back up every single email and idea you propose. Also, check your local laws, to see if you can record 1-on-1 conversations and performance reviews. I sure as hell did, and it made me feel a bit more at ease, in case this escalated.
Lastly, always check-your-math…and your manager's.