I work in sales.
One of my dearest friends recently decided to leave the company. We were best friends and we were both the top performers at the company. I thoroughly enjoyed his presence and companionship and him being there was a way for me to deal with the toxic nature of the work environment.
Our direct manager was an extremely toxic force to the team, lacking experience in sales and also treating team members unfairly.
She would nit pick about break times and pick on us, whilst allowing the poor performers on the team to slack. For example, we are allowed a 1 hour break each day and she would call us up if we exceeded that if only by a few minutes, whilst the poor performers were often taking 2-3 hours extra on break time. Nothing was done about this even when it was brought to her attention.
Me and my friend accounted for perhaps three quarters of the team's results (in a team of about half a dozen people) and were by far the best. Our direct manager would also (until I complained) make me coach and train the new starters, which is beyond my role description and more of something she should have done. Of course, there was no additional remuneration linked to this at all.
There were also times where she forced us to follow a script that nobody else had to follow (which stopped when we complained that nobody else was following the script and that the script was horrible).
Just as it happens, my manager is leaving in about a month. I am not sure why. She is being moved into another role. This is good for me, but it seems she is doing all she can in order to destroy the team. At the start of this thread I mentioned that my friend left the company. This was directly as a consequence of her management style. I am basically the last man standing in the team after they made everyone else redundant.
The team needs a coach and therefore I decided to put my hand up for this role after emailing my manager's boss. The area of sales I work in is extremely niche and therefore it would be extremely difficult for them to hire someone.
With my manager leaving in about a month and my request for promotion, I am wondering if it is worth it simply to endure the toxic nature of the environment or bring her behaviour to the attention of her boss?
I am not interested in pursuing any kind of legal remedy. The best thing that could happen for me is that she leaves me alone and lets me do my work. She is extremely incompetent and has never done sales and how she got into this role I will have no idea.
I am also personally devastated that my best friend decided to leave. We were known as the duo. We delivered results and carried the team through very difficult periods, delivering 20% of overall growth in results year on year. I am wondering if I should simply apply for another role.
Given my abilities, I am quite confident that I would not get fired if I decided to pursue a complaint (and it probably may not harm my prospects of seekign promotion). As I said, it is a niche area and they would really struggle if they went to open market. This is not the typical sales position and in the past they have hired many who resigned or were fired within a fairly short period.
Just seeking some general advice. Not sure what I should do with my career or my future, both of which seem very uncertain. Financially I am OK – I have a side hussle which pays quite well. But leaving this job and potentially finding another job that isn't for me or which I dislike would be a huge risk. My manager leaves in a month so maybe I should endure just a little bit more.
Thoughts?