(NC for this as sure it is as identifiable as all that if you know me!)
To set context: 58 years old/LP/son about to go to university.
Been at current job for 3 years. Very large global company. WFH 100% remote - am the only team member in the UK. Had a short 6 month "mistake" job prior to taking this job.
In a nutshell, current job was very oversold. During interview, v keen not to make another "mistake" so directly asked & was reassured about the level at which I would be working (I have 20 years' experience in this area so knew what to ask!). Unf they lied :-(. To summarise the difference, I am used to driving change up to $US10M as an IT PM, but it slowly became very evident (not helped by WFH and the global distances!) that while being very friendly and welcoming, the dept are not actually IT PMs but SMEs who support small changes. My role was to basically triage change requests, as a standalone "new" function. Every attempt to discuss the differential between the role as discussed and the actual tasks were met with reassurance that the role would expand.
2 months after I joined, hiring manager (F) was promoted to head of dept, his team dispersed among the other departmental managers and I was allocated to a team that does a completely separate function, while I retained the same role. Team manager (J) is lovely, but his focus are on the primary objectives of the team (data analytics). My concerns with my role are continually raised and he has done his best, but fundamentally he has left me to it.
The issues with the role weren't only about what I was asked to do, but also the volume. The "change requests" not only didn't need much effort, but we only got about 2 /month. Again, concerns raised but cast aside. So I started hunting around for where I could add value/showcase my skills to the rest of the business in the hope of getting a more relevant role. Hiring manager (F) v keen for me to do this to "show off" his dept - however, no stipulates or boundaries set around what I did. To that end I spent the first year involved in a very technical project doing various tasks, then have spent the last year doing complex requirements management for a large business change programme. Both of these are at the level I am used to working, but I fell into by accident and are both completely separate from the rest of the departmental functions. However, I have great feedback from each & get high pay rises.
3 years in - the large business change programme I am on is coming to an end. I am now also keenly aware that there are no other suitable roles in the organisation - basically I live in the wrong country (all the formal IT PM roles are US based). However, the key change is that as of this month the original "change requests triage" job is no more. This is now being done by another dept, as a formalised IT demand management process. Manager (F) bizarrely did not involve me in any discussions/setup of the consolidated process, communicate any plans to either myself or the rest of the dept and I am not intended to be involved in any level of shaping of new requests - this is all carried out by the other dept. This essentially means that the roles & responsibilities for which I was recruited are no more, without any form of job change discussion or review put into place.
To an outsider I would see that this may look like I am being managed out. But I highly doubt that is the case, although I agree it leaves me vulnerable. I think it is just complete management incompetence. I actually get on v well at a personal level with Manager (F), but he is very inexperienced, was promoted due to people leaving so fell upward and he generally looks like a deer in headlights whenever I ask him hard questions about roles. He just likes doing rather than managing and wants everyone to be happy (!) The whole dept also works under the wrong bit of the organisation which doesn't help, so he has no real management support from above. The rest of the team have all worked there for years and basically just do what they have always done (or don’t do anything!) and they "fit" much better with their various teams. The company is also very financially secure - AFAIK there has never been a redundancy programme, although the main business was bought out a few years ago and the mothership company are slowly changing things to become more accountable/productive, so who knows….
I have initiated discussions as to what is going to happen in my role, but TBH I am really getting pissed off now. I have been essentially managing my own job for the last 3 years (don’t even get me started on "SMART objectives") and now the basic basic role has been removed, with no consultation and even appreciation of impact. There are no applicable alternative roles in the dept (at all). I have no idea who to talk to in HR as they are outsourced somewhere. I'd love to leave, but the market is awful, I am on a really good wage and I need to support a child through uni soon. I'm sure I am likely to get pimped out for some other random set of vague tasks but surely this isn't how jobs are meant to work? Do I have any legal recourse here? Or should I just put up, shut up & count my blessings (good job/secure company etc)? What would you do? Any thoughts much appreciated..!