Hey, gang..OP here. Thanks for all the feedback and kind words..
Just got back from a 3-day offsite with my Director and the rest of the team that has made it CRYSTAL CLEAR that it is way past time to bail.
He spent the entire first hour basically lecturing all of us that we can't have a repeat of the bad numbers from Q2 and that we need to "find a new gear" (apparently beyond the 12-16 hour days + weekends we're already giving). Problem is - none of us are "salespeople" but that's apparently now what our job is as new EVP who started in January sees it that way. No-one of course told us, and it's a safe bet HR doesn't even know our jobs have been totally redefined. Bigger problem - what we are being tasked to sell is not the main product the company has..and we have literally hundreds of "partner" companies who sell exactly what our group under him does..and here's the kicker - everyone at our company prefers to push the partner deals over what we're told to sell because the partners are cheaper and in many cases able to respond more quickly and with less red tape than we can. Even better, we are being given what are essentially ANNUAL quotas at other companies and being told to drive that volume of business every single QUARTER. It's essentially completely impossible and gee - here's an idea - maybe why we "missed the (impossible and totally unachievable) number" last quarter.
Oh, to top it off - we are not paid as salespeople (ie: no commission just a really tiny "bonus" that's at management discretion) because Finance does "not want us competing with our partners". But, "make your number". So I have all of the stress of a typical sales job but absolutely none of the upside in terms of compensation. And, essentially everyone in the company who's not part of our rag tag group of misfits actively sells against us and promotes our competition. Hey, where do I sign up for a great gig like that? </sarc>..
Latest example - I have a very large deal that if closed, would get me to 75-100% of my "number" for Q3. Sales VP for the main product group decides HE wants one of our partners to get the business. I'm told because the Sales VP basically runs the show and because everything is super political to stand down and let the partner take it..but am also told by my Director that we "need to make our number". So the goals of Sales (for the main product) and our group are totally not aligned. It'd be reasonable to think that if management wants to make that call they'd give us quota relief for Q3 but nope..just find another very large deal to replace the one we don't want you competing with the partner on. Right. My pipeline is just full of $1M+ deals. In the meantime, I'm on dozens of super political calls every week trying to herd all the cats - partner, our people, Sales - in the right direction..and basically being cut out of the deal completely. That happens time and again on many deals so it's not just an isolated incident.
I'd (illogically) hoped that we'd hear a different message at the offsite and that people have come to their senses on expectations, but if anything, it actually just continuing to get worse. Director guy "got the <bleep> beat out of him" by the EVP (according to Director) and guess what is rolling downhill. He's under huge pressure so it's all coming down on us. But, stand down on your big deal so the partner can take most if not all of it. It TRULY MAKES NO SENSE WHATSOEVER.
The ONLY glimmer of hope - and it's a tiny one - is that I heard about a non-quota'd position that he might need to fill to support the group. It's something he's thinking about creating but no formal req or even approval yet. I'm sure it'd also pay WAY less than I'm making, but at least I could stay a while longer and get more of the currently unvested RSUs and HC. Who knows if that will come together or not but it's the only way I see currently to even have a small chance of staying.
Sorry for the long rant but someone asked upthread "what's so bad? Why can't you just hunker down and wait it out"..so, it's very very likely that after the next stock vests it is time to go - which is heart breaking because I truly do love my job otherwise and am pretty good at it. But it's just a completely dysfunctional situation and it's impacting my health and happiness in a major way also, and we all only go around once..
If I do bail, it's just a bit scary to jump into the deep end of the ocean..even with all the planning ahead of time.
More to come I'm sure.