In the space of six months, my job has changed to the point I just can't stand it anymore and it's really affecting my wellbeing outside of work. My manager was suddenly sacked, purely because the MD never took to him. That left them in the lurch, but as I'm the most experienced in my small team of 5, I was called into the MD's office and told the pieces would be for me to pick up. It was strongly implied that if I proved myself, promotion would be an option, but I was told by the MD "I hate people leaving on time, so I'd like to see you stay late every day (with no overtime payment)". I was given a small salary increase, but told that I wouldn't qualify for the yearly salary increase this year, so in effect not an increase just awarded slightly early for getting them out of a huge mess totally of their own making. Despite being the most experienced in the field, I'm not the longest serving in my team by any stretch, so I don't have the most senior title or salary (in fact, the MD frequently reminds me how my senior has half the workload I do). I've done so much to help them out of a mess, where they were all sweetness and smiles, to then have someone in their early 20s brought up with absolutely zero experience, who I'm expected to train to be my manager, just because they like this person. As if that isn't enough, we've also lost an extremely experienced team member who was fed up with the incompetence of the company, only to be replaced by another person with zero experience because they're liked by management, which just means the rest of us are expected to pick up the slack and carry them along. In the wider company, there's a real clique culture (particularly worse these days) and a culture of encouraging incompetence and doing the bare minimum for the majority, who can come and go as late/early as they please and do what they like, while the rest of us are watched 24/7 for the tiniest slip. I'm not the only one who is at their wits end, much less the only one to notice this double-standard in the company.
This young trainee came up with the most unbelievably arrogant attitude, they've made every work day total misery for me ever since. But management buy into it, despite already making one or two major slip ups. I'm getting completely sidelined, my work going to the trainee. To top it all off, ever since the trainee came up, I've been treated like dirt by management. And I mean personally, not just professionally - people I used to consider friends in management, these days are outright rude to me and can hardly even bring themselves to say good morning. Essentially, they hated my old manager, and as we worked as a team of just the 2 of us in our department, it feels like they want a complete clean up and I'm guilty by association. They had to keep me sweet while they had nobody else, but now they've got somebody else, it's extremely apparent that they're trying to force me out, but they don't want to make me redundant (which I almost am at this stage - and would gladly accept) or offer me any sort of package.
I've been really struggling to drag myself into work, as the environment is making me very depressed (I have struggled with depression in the past, but ultimately I find instead of reaching for pills, it's the root cause which needs to be addressed). Out of character for me, I've been arriving approx 10 mins late, which is inexcusable. However today, I was spoken to about it by HR, who accused me of routinely being 30+ mins late (an outright lie), but said "I really can't be bothered to check CCTV" (because there would be no proof of that sort of lateness). I was told it came from the MD, who I now work directly for, who I had a meeting with earlier in the day. Instead of asking if anything was the matter, it was referred straight to HR, with an exaggerated claim they have no evidence of.
I think they've won, as I just can't stand it any more. I live alone, so have nobody to support me while out of work, but I do have a 'side hustle' which pays most of my bills plus about 10 months worth of savings. I also have a second interview with another company lined up later this week. Even if I don't get that, I could get something part-time, which would give me the opportunity to try and make more of a go of my second self-employed career and build up more work. It's a vicious circle, where if I stay, it just doesn't put me in a great frame of mind to go to interviews. It's also affecting my other work, as I just feel so drained and down all the time.
There is more I haven't said, conversations and insults I've received from the MD I work for (one of which he did later apologise for). Relatives I've discussed with have said it sounds toxic, they clearly want me out, so they'd just go and concentrate on finding something else. Ideally, this is what I'd like to do, but in such a tough jobs market, would this be reckless? Or is getting out of a toxic environment the best move I could make?