Name changing for this but have been around since all this was all fields.
I’m currently working in a temporary management position for which I have loads of experience and even a good number of awards for quality of service, innovation and management skills.
My line manager left months ago but I have been managing well without any supervision/training/support because I know the ropes well.
The extended team is wonderful but the two people I need to be working with, directly, are a bit of a handful:
One of them does not lose opportunity to criticise the work I do that falls under my remit even when I am also doing 90% of what the organisation defines as her role. No complaints about the latter as she has obviously not taken the time to learn how to do it or has any inclination on doing it herself. She tends to get stroppy and I find her a bit of a bully (with some micro racism thrown regularly for good measure)
second one is incredible… unavailable, there are meetings and tasks she should be doing but doesn’t, on the basis that she works flexibly and her “children come first” Doesn’t even take the time to read her emails but treats me like her PA (I am so not!)
I spend most of my time on worrying about whether they would show up when they are required (many times they don’t), the criticism is so bad that instead of using my skills and do the job right, I am keeping my mouth shut to avoid being shot in flames, but what really gets me is that despite multiple reminders and chasing (for months!) they drop their work on my desk just before the deadline, so I end up very stressed trying to get my part completed on time.
I have explained recently how this increases my workload, prevents me from doing my own critical tasks and results in a lot of stress. Instead of support or adhering to internal deadlines, they have put a complaint against me as “I am not coping with my workload” they are now cc’ing the senior staff in the emails they send demanding me to prioritise the work they have handed to me so late. I was just contacted by a senior manager to let me know he is my line manager and to find out why I am “not coping with the role’ (nobody had ever told me he was my manager and he certainly has not had any interaction with me whatsoever in the months me since I joined)
It is bonkers, really. I have just a few months left before my contract expires but we are at the peak of the year. I have enough savings to keep me going until I find another job and a secondary income. The only thing that is stopping me from handing notice tomorrow is that I am the only one who knows how to do critical work that takes place in the next month, the impact that my sudden leaving will have in figures and obviously, the loss of reputation for jumping ship at the worst time/being more difficult to find a job when you have none.
Shall I put up with the nastiness with my head bowed and do as little as possible for the next months or save my mental health and hand notice tomorrow? I have a meeting to discuss the issue with the top person in the organisation tomorrow.