Should I consider quitting this company?

[RuedeRivoli]

Joined this company about a year ago, was working in Big4 prior to that. The role is junior, far more junior than anticipated for someone with 6.5 years experience (analyst level) with no sign of progression in sight. I thought the role would be interesting, but it turns out I'm either not connecting with the company or they're downright dysfunctional. Here are a few examples:

• No 1-1 in one year since I joined. Never got a single feedback or been told I've done a good job by anyone. I used to be a high achiever in my previous roles, here nobody seems to care. I'm lucky if I get a "Thank you" for anything. Every interaction is very transactional.
• I used to have great mentors in both the Big4 and prior companies. There was always that one senior stakeholder who put their trust in me. It was great, I had strong relationships with directors etc.. Here, none because no one even seems to care about my existence.
• Processes are so ridiculous that you sometimes need to finish financial analyses under tight deadlines which are virtually impossible to meet, unless you want to kill your health (which happened). Besides, you are literally forced to stay late to publish certain reports on the same day, otherwise, it's a red flag that goes all the way up to senior management. Of course, overtime is not paid and no time in lieu. I find myself offsetting my paid hours with unpaid hours on a weekly basis, with nothing in return. Worse, I had the audacity to log in on a Sunday and got pestered by an MD on Skype all afternoon as she wanted me to download files for her. I also have days when I suddenly get an email at 8pm asking me to hop onto a call "right now" about an topic that "we'll look into next week". Why? My working hours have basically been 8am to 10/11pm every single day including weekends for the last 4-5 months. 
• The team is a catastrophe. No collaboration and people are quite dry. One person who was supporting me on a project (they offered) told me they forgot to do their analysis and another one dropped me at the last minute after incorrectly analyzing a file and didn't want to finish it, claiming they were too busy.
• Management is non-existent. Nobody cares and whenever good projects come up, they're handed over to the person I mentioned above (the one who dropped me at the last minute).
• Now, I'm being told I don't know how to calculate a percentage with Excel (mind you, I cross checked everything on various apps). Some senior stakeholder who doesn't have an understanding of how these are calculated basically said: "I just want to point out an incorrect calculation" in front of about 20 other senior stakeholders. I was mortified. The calculation was not incorrect, it was a case of one client's values being affected by several issues and given the percentage was based on the number of clients being affected, not the number of issues, it made sense not to duplicate. Then, I was told I took the incorrect figure to calculate one percentage as the default approach is to take Group level figures, but I was told I should have taken the subsidiary's (OK, but if there is an exception, I need to be told). Then a whole bunch of criticism over how I took the incorrect denominator for a calculation when the guidance and title on said section clearly specified "as % of total project scope". I was told I should have used as denominator the specific region value instead of the total project scope across the globe for all calculations (well, that's not what the title indicates).
• I forgot to mention. We are consistently tracked and live under the treat of Internal Audit. We receive "grades" on a quarterly basis in the form of "reports" that basically state whether your performance is "satisfactory", "needs improvement" etc.. and these are sent with all the names in them and everyone in your team can basically see your rating. It's shocking.

Last but not least, I had a health incident on Sunday evening (suddenly progressively got flashes in my left eye, which then impacted both my eyes and couldn't see properly - at all from my left eye  and arms uncontrollably shaking up and down - this last for about 5 minutes and a headache followed after this. I was completely disoriented. Called two nurses who directed me to the ER). I'm OK now, but it was scary - I all night at the ER and got home on Monday at 9am to put an OOO, yet despite the OOO, some senior manager started asking people where I was and chased me via email to cross-check a deck he sent me on Friday at 8pm. I was OOO, it should have been self-explanatory.

I still don't know what happened on Sunday as I'm getting tests done, but it was definitely an awakening moment for sure. 

Should I consider leaving this company or perhaps look internally?

Thanks. 

[LaHermes]

Rivoli.

 

By the sounds of it your post in this present company is causing you much stress and anxiety.  My advice would be for you to seek work in another company.

Indeed I shouldn't be at all surprised if you are told that the incident you had on Sunday evening is stress and anxiety related. 

[RuedeRivoli]

56 minutes ago, LaHermes said:

Rivoli.

 

By the sounds of it your post in this present company is causing you much stress and anxiety.  My advice would be for you to seek work in another company.

Indeed I shouldn't be at all surprised if you are told that the incident you had on Sunday evening is stress and anxiety related. 

Thank you for your kind help, as always, La Hermes. 

My stress levels have indeed gone through the roof. It seems there is a rampant lack of boundaries in this company. People feel as though you are at their beck and call 24/7. Sending me an email at 8pm on a Friday and already chasing me at 9am on Monday to ask me if I've checked it is utterly unreasonable. I don't mind bending over and backwards if I'm getting proactive good or constructive feedbacks, if I sense my managers support me and if I see opportunities for progression. There is nothing in this job at all since there is no people management. I'm just killing myself for no apparent reason. 

Every since I had this incident, my perspective on my relationship with this job has changed. I'm suddenly more detached. I think it was certainly a wake up call. I used to work long hours in my previous jobs, but there were rewards and I sensed my network's appreciation. Not even getting a "thank you" email on anything just sets the tone of what to expect. 

[lostandhurt]

I agree these flashes and headache were probably from stress from work.

Yes start looking for a new place to work today!  I am sure you went to this current company because better pay and it looked good from the outside.  Now you know the truth.

I would imagine there is high turnover there from what you described.  So you are actually making less money since you are working for free a lot of the time, they contact you at home to work and now you are so miserable it is affecting your health.  Time to get out of there.

Interesting that this health scare happened on Sunday, the day before you go back to work...

Lost

[LaHermes]

Again, Rivoli, IMO you should consider leaving this company.  Surely you can find a more congenial and healthier workplace. 

Health is wealth.  

[boltnrun]

Didn't a recruiter contact you recently? 

Might be a good idea to reply and indicate you are interested in exploring opportunities. 

[RuedeRivoli]

30 minutes ago, boltnrun said:

Didn't a recruiter contact you recently? 

Might be a good idea to reply and indicate you are interested in exploring opportunities. 

Thank you. 

Yes, he did contact me. I replied. Never heard from him again. 

[RuedeRivoli]

46 minutes ago, lostandhurt said:

I agree these flashes and headache were probably from stress from work.

Yes start looking for a new place to work today!  I am sure you went to this current company because better pay and it looked good from the outside.  Now you know the truth.

I would imagine there is high turnover there from what you described.  So you are actually making less money since you are working for free a lot of the time, they contact you at home to work and now you are so miserable it is affecting your health.  Time to get out of there.

Interesting that this health scare happened on Sunday, the day before you go back to work...

Lost

Thank you. 

Yes, I took the job for both career progression and salary increase (not a lot, truthfully). I wholeheartedly agree. I'm pretty much offsetting my paid hours with unpaid hours, so I'm almost working for free at this stage. I think the reason why they don't paid overtime is because everyone seems to be doing overtime. 

The fact that they deem it OK to intrude on my free time (e.g: after work hours) to ask me to log in for calls or ping me on a Sunday for a non-urgent issue clearly shows they boundaries are screwed and believe you are a corporate slave. Those intruding on my free time are directors/MDs, so of course, they're going to work more - their pay follows! I only earn a fraction of what they earned, yet they expect me to work the same amount of hours. 

This is by far the worst work environment I've ever worked in and the least people-oriented. 

There might indeed be a correlation between that incident and the return to work on Monday. 

[boltnrun]

14 minutes ago, RuedeRivoli said:

Thank you. 

Yes, he did contact me. I replied. Never heard from him again. 

But with your skill set I guarantee there will be companies who would like to hire you.

I signed on with a few recruiting agencies and got my current excellent job. It has great pay and I am able to work remotely.

I encourage you to research recruiters and start working with at least a couple of them.

This job is not worth sacrificing your health. 

[Lambert]

Why would you NOT leave? Get your resume out there asap. 

[RuedeRivoli]

1 hour ago, boltnrun said:

But with your skill set I guarantee there will be companies who would like to hire you.

I signed on with a few recruiting agencies and got my current excellent job. It has great pay and I am able to work remotely.

I encourage you to research recruiters and start working with at least a couple of them.

This job is not worth sacrificing your health. 

Thank you. I definitely agree with the last point. I've never suffered bad health as much as I have since joining this company. I'm used to working long hours, but the environments were simply more pleasant and I had a connection with the companies. 

I've been working with recruiters, but they all ghost me after I say I'm interested or I don't get to the interview stage even with the support of a recruiter. I haven't had much luck lately to be honest. I even hibernated my LinkedIn over the flakiness of recruiters and brag mentality, but that was when I was contemplating staying in the company. However, this health scare made me realize I don't want to stay as I'm already seen the results of this negative environment. I'm definitely reducing my pool of chances without LinkedIn, I recognize. 

I appreciate the kind words and advice. 

 

[boltnrun]

You do need to be persistent.  It took me weeks to find my current job. I went on multiple interviews, even second interviews,  only to be told I hadn't been selected. But it's important to power on.

Know how I got my current job? The recruiter found my resume on Indeed! I hadn't even applied for the job but my resume was "recommended" to him and here I sit.

I feel once you start taking definite steps to look for a new job your health will improve.

I also suggest you read the thread by @Jibralta about her terrible boss and how she found her new job. It's inspiring.

[LaHermes]

Rivoli. 

LinkedIn is the worst possible place you could be.  IMO it is a kind of "glorified" FB.  No better. It's a place full of chancers and flashdancers! L.

Try to sign on with recruiters in real time, R. 

[RuedeRivoli]

2 minutes ago, LaHermes said:

Rivoli. 

LinkedIn is the worst possible place you could be.  IMO it is a kind of "glorified" FB.  No better. It's a place full of chancers and flashdancers! L.

Try to sign on with recruiters in real time, R. 

I agree! It's definitely turned into FB for professionals. That's why I hibernated my account as I got sick of it. It's a "look at me" type of platform, except this has been "legitimized" because it's a career-related platform. It's gotten as toxic as FB, Instagram or Twitter. 

[LaHermes]

Absolutely R.!  And I am talking years ago, when ill-advisedly I signed on with LI.  What a madhouse!  No order, anything goes, plagued with scammers and spammers.

Not to mention the effort involved in unsubscribing, which I did after a very short time in there.  LI has these "groups" where those with an interest in a particular area or relevant profession can join.   I should have copied some of the posts on there.  Never seen anything like the kind of abuse, particularly personal abuse, hurled between the posters, who purported to be professional people! Poisonous.

[RuedeRivoli]

1 hour ago, boltnrun said:

You do need to be persistent.  It took me weeks to find my current job. I went on multiple interviews, even second interviews,  only to be told I hadn't been selected. But it's important to power on.

Know how I got my current job? The recruiter found my resume on Indeed! I hadn't even applied for the job but my resume was "recommended" to him and here I sit.

I feel once you start taking definite steps to look for a new job your health will improve.

I also suggest you read the thread by @Jibralta about her terrible boss and how she found her new job. It's inspiring.

Definitely, persistence is key. I can take months to find the right fit. The current job market isn't great and it doesn't help that I left my last job after a year and a half due to a significant change in responsibilities (for the worst). Loved the company though. Most recruiters would see me as a "job" hopper if I were to leave my current role after a bit more than a year, but then again, I stayed at some jobs 3+ years, so it's not a commitment issue. 

I hope this will give me a ray of sunshine as I haven't felt this low in a long time and I can't help but feel frustrated that I feel low because I know it can also impact my capabilities to interview. I guess I needed to hit a wall to finally realize there is no point in holding on to this company. 

I will have a look at Jibralta's post - I saw it around a few weeks back, but didn't get to read it. 

[RuedeRivoli]

8 minutes ago, LaHermes said:

Absolutely R.!  And I am talking years ago, when ill-advisedly I signed on with LI.  What a madhouse!  No order, anything goes, plagued with scammers and spammers.

Not to mention the effort involved in unsubscribing, which I did after a very short time in there.  LI has these "groups" where those with an interest in a particular area or relevant profession can join.   I should have copied some of the posts on there.  Never seen anything like the kind of abuse, particularly personal abuse, hurled between the posters, who purported to be professional people! Poisonous.

Madhouse indeed! It's a battle of egos most times. As on any other platform, it's no longer about connecting or growing your network in a specific field of expertise. I'd say about 95% of people you connect with will never help you land a job. It's more about the "likes" and the accolades than anything else. I feel more exhausted & frustrated after 10 minutes on LinkedIn than I do in a week without this thing. 

It's definitely gotten worse since the pandemic as everything has now turned virtual and people are far too much time on their hands clearly! Some have started posting personal pictures of weddings, Easter eggs and their children. Not the right platform at all. 

[Jibralta]

6 hours ago, boltnrun said:

I also suggest you read the thread by @Jibralta about her terrible boss and how she found her new job. It's inspiring.

4 hours ago, RuedeRivoli said:

I will have a look at Jibralta's post - I saw it around a few weeks back, but didn't get to read it. 

Do read it, but I'll tell you what I think right now, based on both my recent experience and what you've described: Find another job. Your list of gripes so closely parallels what I've gone through myself. To put it simply, the place you work is dysfunctional, and it's not going to get better. 

I actually used LinkedIn to find my current job. But I upgraded my account to the premium version and I also hired a company to revamp my resume. I actually think that made a big difference.

 

[RuedeRivoli]

Thank you for all for the contributions!

I made it to my doctor's appointment and they suspect it was either a very atypical migraine (which they said is almost unlikely given the symptoms) or a seizure (which they would deem as "atypical" as well). They referred me to a neurologist to confirm what happened. 

I doubt it was a migraine. I've had migraines my entire life and never have I experienced vision impairment. We'll see what the neurologist says. It's the first time it's ever happened and I wouldn't be surprised if it was linked to these past stressful months.

I told the managers about two months ago that the workload was not manageable, yet they had no issues allowing my entire team to take one week off (all at the same time) when I was drowning under work. Worse, they hit me with another project with an "urgent" deadline (which of course, turned out to be not so urgent as the person managing it moved departments and it suddenly fell through the cracks for a while). I was pushed to my limit even after claiming the deadlines were unreasonable. 

I went back to work yesterday and responded to the person who was chasing me/looking for me when I was on sick leave on Monday. I apologized for the delayed response and advised I had to unexpectedly be OOO. Whilst in other companies, people would put in a polite line "hope all is OK" in their response (even if I had barely interacted with them prior to that). Here I got a dry "thanks" , that's all. There's a fine line between not wanting to intrude and lack of courtesy. 

None of the managers reached out to ask if I was OK after I came back when I had specifically told them I spent the night at the ER. Logged back in and that was it. Again, that's not how my previous managers in my previous companies operated. I disliked some aspects of them, but they had humanity. These people are downright dry and void of any good interpersonal skills. Or maybe I have too much empathy and shouldn't feel sorry for myself. 

[LaHermes]

There's a saying R.

"You won't get pears off an elm tree". 

 

[RuedeRivoli]

2 minutes ago, LaHermes said:

There's a saying R.

"You won't get pears off an elm tree". 

 

That's a good one haha! True, I really need to curtail my expectations (as in, neutralize them altogether) between now and the day I resign. Pointless! 

[Batya33]

So some of what you described was typical of the large firms I worked for more than full time as a professional for 15 years.  It's totally fine if that's not your thing -it was my thing for very specific reasons.  Any of it would be a dealbreaker for me now as a mother of a school age child.  But because of that I took a very major paycut as a tradeoff for lifestyle -and a major "demotion".  I absolutely love my job and it's the perfect fit/situation for my life now, just like the more than full time crazy unpredictable schedule with increasing and ridiculous demands at times was totally right for me for 15 years.  Except one place for one year which was incredibly toxic.

Make a list of your musts- you mention a number of them in your original post.  Make sure you stick to that list. I think real recruiters are a great option but even better is friends/former coworkers/former mentors, professional organizations etc - I found those personal connections essential in job hunting.  Good luck!

Oh I also got physically ill from work, another friend got an eye twitch, etc.  I get it.  I wouldn't quit without another position if you can possibly stick it out.

[RuedeRivoli]

23 minutes ago, Batya33 said:

So some of what you described was typical of the large firms I worked for more than full time as a professional for 15 years.  It's totally fine if that's not your thing -it was my thing for very specific reasons.  Any of it would be a dealbreaker for me now as a mother of a school age child.  But because of that I took a very major paycut as a tradeoff for lifestyle -and a major "demotion".  I absolutely love my job and it's the perfect fit/situation for my life now, just like the more than full time crazy unpredictable schedule with increasing and ridiculous demands at times was totally right for me for 15 years.  Except one place for one year which was incredibly toxic.

Make a list of your musts- you mention a number of them in your original post.  Make sure you stick to that list. I think real recruiters are a great option but even better is friends/former coworkers/former mentors, professional organizations etc - I found those personal connections essential in job hunting.  Good luck!

Oh I also got physically ill from work, another friend got an eye twitch, etc.  I get it.  I wouldn't quit without another position if you can possibly stick it out.

Thank you.  

I worked for equally large companies before joining this one and absolutely loved it there. I don't think the issue comes down to it being a large company. I like working in large companies for a bunch of reasons beyond the "prestigious" name. I worked in a severely understaffed global investment bank and a Big4 prior to joining this other global bank and it's a sharp contrast. It's definitely a company culture issue, not a company size. Not every large company will be void of people management or human touch, but this one is particularly impacted. In the same fashion, some smaller companies can be equally toxic. My previous two companies were probably a little too "human" focused. People were personable, networking was encouraged and there was a sense of belonging even in larger teams. 

As I said before, I'm used to working long hours since I've basically been conditioned to do so since I started working, but I was appreciated and even if the pay was low, I had other perks and possible opportunities for progression. The people were great to work with as well. I'm not afraid of working long hours with ridiculous demands (been there countless times before), but no overtime or time in lieu with unrealistic deadlines that are simply physically not manageable, no appreciation, a severe lack of boundaries and no people management, is not something I came across before. Again, you may enjoy it because you probably have a senior title and the pay that goes with it, I don't. I'm still a junior after 6 years expected to work the same hours as a director - simply not fair salary wise. 

I'm not going to quit without a job lined up for sure. This situation has created enough of a mess health-wise, let's just keep it at that. 

[Batya33]

You misinterpreted what I wrote. I wasn’t limiting to large companies and like I wrote I left those sorts of jobs years ago when I took on the full time demanding job of mama. made all the more demanding because of covid and virtual school and everyone teleworking.  My 12 year old coworker is fairly demanding despite being funny and adorable. 
Obviously there were financial incentives.

For one thing  I wanted to have the opportunity someday to stay home full time and be a full time mama even if my future husband didn’t make enough so yes I saved my nest egg to insure my future. I loved it because I love my career and work and the contributions I made (and still do just less of it). I have a strong work ethic like you as did my parents and my grandpa who was a window cleaner.  Please know I’m not about prestige and titles. 
I’m really glad you’re not going to quit without a job.  Very wise decision  

You ignored my suggestion to make a list of musts.  I had different expectations and standards than you did and it doesn’t sound like you’re being harassed or abused it’s just not the right fit for you or for your future goals or expectations as to what a work environment should be.  Totally cool and I think if you get it on paper in bullet points even it will help focus your job search.  for example you want to work with personable people with networking potential. You want appreciation beyond a paycheck. But I’d get more specific. Is a “thanks “ enough or do you want more accolades plus encouragement and reassurance that you’re on a promotion track. Do you want an assigned mentor more than in name only. Do you want to mentor ? You want overtime pay in certain instances.  You want realistic deadlines. I’d get more specific with yourself about what you mean by boundaries.  Also decide if you’re willing to have an unpredictable schedule and weekend work.  I was.  You might not be. But again it’s really helpful to have clarity in advance. In my humble opinion as just a mom and part time low level ish worker the last 12 years.  Good luck finding the right fit for you !!

[RuedeRivoli]

5 minutes ago, Batya33 said:

You misinterpreted what I wrote. I wasn’t limiting to large companies and like I wrote I left those sorts of jobs years ago when I took on the full time demanding job of mama. made all the more demanding because of covid and virtual school and everyone teleworking.  My 12 year old coworker is fairly demanding despite being funny and adorable. 
Obviously there were financial incentives. For one thing  I wanted to have the opportunity someday to stay home full time and be a full time mama even if my future husband didn’t make enough so yes I saved my nest egg to insure my future. I loved it because I love my career and work and the contributions I made (and still do just less of it). I have a strong work ethic like you as did my parents and my grandpa who was a window cleaner.  Please know I’m not about prestige and titles. 
I’m really glad you’re not going to quit without a job.  Very wise decision  

You ignored my suggestion to make a list of musts.  I had different expectations and standards than you did and it doesn’t sound like you’re being harassed or abused it’s just not the right fit for you or for your future goals or expectations as to what a work environment should be.  Totally cool and I think if you get it on paper in bullet points even it will help focus your job search.  

Thank you. Yes, I may have misinterpreted your post indeed. 

I can certainly imagine being a parent during a pandemic isn't easy. It's already a tough job under normal circumstances. I really admire all parents trying to juggle all sorts of hats. 

I understand what you're saying about investing in your future. It's my current mindset as well, even though I'm probably not making near as much as you were. I think that's also where the difference lies. You loved your career and job. I used to absolutely love my career up until a certain point (before I joined this company), to the point of obsession. It's probably why I was willing to put up with all the craziness, intense workload and various demands. My love for the job kept growing as I kept performing and saw rewards and stakeholder appreciation coming my way. It's just a motivating cycle. 

This company certainly isn't a fit unfortunately as it's a lot of demands, but nothing in return. Every interaction is very transactional and no real path towards progression as a human being or from a title standpoint. To put it simply, it's a flat line. Hence, the fact my tolerance for this environment is getting slimmer and slimmer by the day. Toxicity can take several forms, not just through abuse or harassment. As a matter of fact, before I joined, I have two acquaintances who used to work for this company (both left after a year or less) and they warned me about how this company operates. Well, I know now. 

I actually had a list describing the type of role & environment I'd like to work in. I thought this company would be it, despite the warnings I received, but turns out it's simply a bad apple. You can make lists and they're a great guidance, but you won't know a company's way of operating and weaknesses until you actually work for them. Or at least, that's what I think.