Brief background - Joined current company little over a year ago. From first week I realised I had been duped. No training provided, no handover, no onboarding, records left in a mess, bad vibes from colleagues and not really flexible/hybrid as I said I required and was lead to believe at interviews. Had the measure of the place soon enough, gossipy and generally toxic. Senior managers seem to enjoy the anxiety created by their passive aggression and withholding of information. I’ve actually never experienced anything like it in a professional environment. It’s like the school yard. Colleagues are elitist and harbour some questionable views. They do not seem to tolerate difference. Early days I mentioned that I was a lone a parent and this has coloured their judgement of me. Office is very conservative but at the time I didn’t realise how so. Feel judged whenever I open my mouth so only engage when someone asks me something, this is very rare. Being in the office makes me feel physically ill some days.
An incident happened recently which sent me off sick. My manager has since started to create the narrative that I do very little, that I can’t do my job and clearly doesn’t trust me. Previously my work was never questioned. I’ve realised that manager has been watching me (received calls and emails whenever my status changed to busy for an appointment) apparently trying to catch me out, sending me bigger jobs late on in the day which I can’t complete in the time frame given, and making out that I’m disrupting the office. Due to a disability I required some working adjustments which boss fought, and at a recent meeting boss was aggressive and dismissive of my issues. Boss’s behaviour seemed to make others in the meeting very uncomfortable. It was at this point I realised I had to do something. I’ve never been made to feel so small by anyone. I listed numerous incidents over the course of my time there and some were witnessed however the clandestine team will never go against boss. I found out prior to my joining there had been previous issues with a member of staff, and there was a high turnover generally. The atmosphere is awful, and boss seems to be obsessive and controlling.
Due to my experience in the last meeting I think my only option is to go straight to formal grievance. I can’t see anything being resolved informally, I can’t see formal grievance being upheld either cos they don’t really ever seem to be… Anyone got any stories to share or pearls of wisdom? I’m really depressed about the whole thing. I just want to walk out of there with my head held high.