To be fed up with yet another energy draining work scenario

[OutofDepth1000]

Hello

I feel a bit jaded at the roller coaster of my last couple of years. I am feeling exhausted with the lack of clarity and bad behaviours that seem to have plagued the jobs I’ve had and here we go again......

So is it odd to have a head of department that actively avoids ever sending an email, asks the whole team to not send emails and asks us to use WhatsApp or instant messaging? He also recently repremanded someone quite harshly for using email to respond to an employee who then had a complaint.

I also have what I believe is a FT permanent contract but keep being told it is only a 3-4 year ‘gig’. I am not clear whether I need to be career planning for next steps or if it is indeed an open ended contract that I have. I know, no job is guaranteed forever, but it is just in terms of what planning I should start thinking about etc. If I ask for even vague clarity I get a rather short response. Is this normal behaviour from a department head? Am I just out of touch.......

Have you been issued with a contract document? Whatever the contract document states is valid, in terms of the basis on which you are employed.

Whatever else it is 'described as' unofficially has nothing to do with your actual contract of employment which is valid until such time as a change is announced and necessary steps taken to discuss a change with you, according to your legal rights.

If it's management verbally telling you one thing, when your contract says another, or if they are playing mind games to try to destabilise the situation by leaving you in doubt about your employment status, I would take the matter to HR and seek their clarification and support. If they don't assist, I would seriously consider getting another job, they sound ridiculous at best, and vile at worst.

Thank you. That is what I feared, it all seems so stressful just now.

I have a permanent contract and moved(internally) from a permanent job to this one, another permanent job. It all seemed great and was going well. However the person heading up things seems to have had a total change in approach, almost Jekyll and Hyde.
From being supportive of the whole team is now micromanaging, critiquing everything, expecting longer and longer hours and saying we are not going to be here past 3-4 years.
I would not have accepted the job if it wasn’t permanent. I am scared that I won’t find anything else. I really enjoy where I work and it all seems chaotic.

we are not going to be here past 3-4 years.

Does the manager mean it specifically, in that they're aware of plans to disband the team, or is it more about how the I dusty is changing? I suspect my department won't exist (at least, not in its current configuration,) in a few years, because of how technology is changing,but there are currently no actual plans (that I'm aware of.)

Micromanagement is a right pain to live with, though, and whether or not the team will be there in 3 or 4 years, do you think you can survive your confidence being ground down, all the mental energy it takes, and so on, for that long? I think it would be wise to be prepared for new opportunities and to jump ship sooner rather than later, if that's how it's being run.

Thank you for your help and advice

You have a perm contract, not a fixed term one, so I'm not sure why he's saying those things. With this and the other weird behaviour, I would be looking for a new job. Did you like it in your previous dept? If so, an internal move to a job you're not crazy about might be a quick fix whilst you find something else inside/outside.