Feel I am being pushed out of job.

jadematic

Hi I am writing this to gain some advice to a situation in my current employment I will give a brief over view of the my position and the problem to date.

I joined my current company in Jan 09 as sales manager with the task of growing a stagnating business. Over the first two years I worked to grow the business and year on year increased turnover and profits and success fully lowered their losses. Year 3 I took new staff on based on me personally bringing enough business revenue to cover 6 months costs and further offered the companyan option of reducing my commission to cover the overhead costs of these hires whichI trained and had paying for them self within 3 months out of the accounts Ibrought with me and signed to the company.

Over these years the owner has put increased pressure on the business by spending large amounts of money on other business opportunities and constantly increasing their own salary, the effect of this expenditure has put stresson the business and for the first time we have been running at a break even until I managed to start to increase growth in the middle of this year. Howeverthe owner was not happy with this small growth and has now stepped in and taken control back as he feels I am failing.

Recent months has seen the owner contract a friend into the company who took control of my team. This individual being in financial difficultyand his business failing which I believe was a personally motivated decision. The person has resulted in one of my staff being forced out due to frankly unacceptable behaviour. This individual is now be given responsibility of hiring 5 new staff which I have no overview off. The business is now being run by the owner and his friend and run on a fear basis, constant threats are being made on staff and a 80’s Wall Street mentality is being run with staff being made to stay longer than contracted and unreasonable targets being set.

As a manager of over 7 years I feel I am letting people down and ruining my credibility and subsequently since the owner took charge the company is failing and making massive losses with no growth except my own personal work that I am doing as I am the only person now doing business in the company.

I disagree with the current work ethic and the hiring of new staff based on no existing growth to cover increased costs, however I have been put in a situation that allows me to do nothing about this. I believe thereis a drive to force me out of the company and offer my job to his friend andthen take my accounts that I brought tothe company. I feel I am in a very difficult position as the only person above me is the owner. I have raised my concerns and thoughts about the changes but he will not acknowledge this and sees any failure being caused by me.

There is a lot more to this but I can only give a snap shot would appreciate peoples thoughts.

tonyh66

Find a new job then suggest all the people you hired to do the same.

SarEl

tonyh66 wrote: »

Find a new job then suggest all the people you hired to do the same.

I agree. There is nothing at all to prevent an employer being stupid. He owns the business, not you. You may disagree with the ethics or the methods of running the company, recruitment policies or the way he spends his money. But provided he breaks no laws, he may do as he wishes. And he is breaking no laws. I would get out before he goes bust.

j.e.j.

I'd also say get out, now. If you're on the track and you can see the train coming, get off it!

I'm sensing from your post that this will be hard for you to do, as you've put a lot into the business, and you can sense the injustice of what's happening, but you can see where it's going to end if he carries on like this.

getmore4less

Why not set up on your own with the best of the people you trained.

jadematic

getmore4less wrote: »

Why not set up on your own with the best of the people you trained.

The thought has crossed my mind, however even though Ibrought the business with me I may face legal issues, although I believe from aconstructive dismissal position stating I have been forced out of my jobhighlighting the events, I may be able to show a loss of earning. Which mayside in my favour as all the growth was from my own business accounts and due what is happingthe business is restricting my ability to earn. We are talking in the region ofbusiness generated by myself around 7 to 8 million a year for the currentcustomer which if not taken would reduce my earning ability hugely

SarEl

jadematic wrote: »

The thought has crossed my mind, however even though Ibrought the business with me I may face legal issues, although I believe from aconstructive dismissal position stating I have been forced out of my jobhighlighting the events, I may be able to show a loss of earning. Which mayside in my favour as all the growth was from my own business accounts and due what is happingthe business is restricting my ability to earn. We are talking in the region ofbusiness generated by myself around 7 to 8 million a year for the currentcustomer which if not taken would reduce my earning ability hugely

You have no "constructive dismissal position" - get that right out of your head now and don't waste your time and energy. Your employer has not done anything unlawful. Stupid maybe, but not unlawful. You have absolutely no legal case based on anything you have said here.

Why would you think there could be legal issues taking staff or business with you - have you signed anything to that effect?

jadematic

SarEl wrote: »

You have no "constructive dismissal position" - get that right out of your head now and don't waste your time and energy. Your employer has not done anything unlawful. Stupid maybe, but not unlawful. You have absolutely no legal case based on anything you have said here.

Why would you think there could be legal issues taking staff or business with you - have you signed anything to that effect?

As is with many companies that work in my business area Ihave a 6 month clause to not work with any customers or people connected to thebusiness

jadematic

SarEl wrote: »

You have no "constructive dismissal position" - get that right out of your head now and don't waste your time and energy. Your employer has not done anything unlawful. Stupid maybe, but not unlawful. You have absolutely no legal case based on anything you have said here.

Why would you think there could be legal issues taking staff or business with you - have you signed anything to that effect?

With respect to constructivedismissal, he has off the record spoken to me about looking at my position inthe company and stepping out of management for his friend to take over. He hasalso said that he will have to look at changing may bonus and possibly revisemy current salary due to the business making a loss. Further to this he haschanged working hours although no formal procedure has been run for this as Iam aware that any changes have to be agreed.

On top of this one of the staffthat left was effectively bullied out of the company by his friend by sexistcomments which he sided with his friend over a staff member that had been withthe company for 2 years no formal process was followed.

makeyourdaddyproud

Sales pros are only as good as their last business quarter. There is general no care or reference to earlier goodwill or effort. As earlier posts suggests, it maybe time to look for another role before the situation gets worse.

Personally, I ABSOLUTELY HATE WORKING FOR OTHER PEOPLE, and have found ways not to have to do this for which I am grateful. I know it doesn't help you, but perhaps you need to change your thinking.

You are definately going in the right direction when you say you are thinking in setting up a competitor business. If this employer is the a$$ewipe you say he is, then I certainly wish you luck in taking his business.

We need ethical employers yes.

But in the heat of just trying to make ends meet we forget the power the employer has over us. From whimsical directives, childish ill-thought out decrees, he/she can do pretty much what they like.

Check to make sure your employer hasn't got you to sign a trade block agreement first.

Good luck.

Caroline_a

I would agree with the ship out decision. Don't even think about any litigation, it will be stressful, and probably cost you more than you think!

When you are in the middle of something like this it takes over your life, and you feel bitter and resentful and want to 'get revenge'.

However, the best way is to try to walk away, get on with your life and forget this job and employer. He won't care about you, so you shouldn't care (negatively or positively) about him.