My husband used to run his own successful business for 13 years – he had 17 staff, a warehouse, and offices. Then Covid hit and sadly it all collapsed. We had it all, lovely cars and the only thing we have now to show for it a lovely bit paid off house no mortgage etc holidays many times a year, so very lucky I know to still have our house.
Since then he’s been working in different jobs to support us. A quick rundown:
- First job lasted 9 months – redundancies were made, then the company went into liquidation.
- Second job – he didn’t get on with the owners (he wasn’t the only one, high staff turnover).
- Third job – where he is now. He’s been here since, loves the actual role, and until recently everything was fine.
His original manager left, and a new (younger) manager has come in. Since then it’s been awful. The new manager asked him some personal questions early on when on a teams call to him, in kitchen background I think it is a lovely big kitchen; didn’t like the answers, and from that point seems to have had it in for him.
In just 6 weeks:
- He’s been put on a PIP (performance plan), despite always meeting targets.
- The manager tried to issue a warning, but my husband appealed and the directors overturned it.
- Now the same manager has jumped straight to stage 2 of the PIP and is pushing for a final written warning.
What’s baffling is that with his old manager (and the director who interviewed him originally), there were zero issues for over a year. The director still gets on really well with my husband and has even overruled things in his favour.
But this new manager just seems determined to make his life miserable. My husband feels so low – he’s upset, angry, and starting to feel worthless (though he never takes it out on me). It’s heartbreaking to see.
He’s now talking about starting up a new business again. I honestly think he can do it, but he’s lost so much confidence from all this.
What would you do in this situation? Stick it out and fight, or cut losses and back himself again?