My first year in the position was amazing. During the second year, there were several shakeups in upper management. As a result, I was “promoted”…substantial salary increase and “Senior” placed in front of my title. Three days later, the title change was revoked and I was told “We don’t use that title.” (Actually, they do.)
The workload was astronomical. While many of my peers were responsible for 1-2 concepts and/or 1-2 direct reports, I held responsibility for 3 concepts and 3 direct reports. (Also note that 3 of my peers with the title “manager” had zero direct reports.) Although one of my direct reports was promoted to basically be my “right hand” person, she was consistently held back with continued tasking in her prior position.
The position was overwhelming and I began to have extreme difficulty in managing the workload. In hindsight, I should have immediately addressed with my superiors. Instead, I allowed the stress to affect me professionally and personally, as I did not want to admit defeat.
In April of 2020, the majority of our staff was furloughed, due to COVID related downsizing. At the time, we were assured that NONE of the furloughs were performance related, and that we would all be back. After three months, I was permanently laid off…less than a week before I was to go back to work. (Let that sink in…I anticipated returning to my position for THREE MONTHS…only to be told at the 11th hour that I would not be returning. This was precious time during which I could have been searching for a new position.)
The final clincher? After almost a year, my former position was revamped for the workload to be more “manageable,” and was posted/filled with an external candidate.
