u/Lumpy_Reception8694

I'm the lead AE on a F500 account. I recently took paternity leave after an awkward time at the company and have returned to an awkward situation. I need help understanding what to do and what my potential options are.

I'll try to keep things brief (TLDR at the end). I was hired to be the number 2 salesperson on this specific account more than a year ago. The number 1 salesperson was talked about very highly when I was interviewing, and after being hired I learned that it was not true and they were being forced out overnight. So now I'm the number 1 salesperson by default. This job requires a lot of people management across teams, including my own. After a long period of time, I got the whole team moving in the right direction and leadership was generally happy. The problem is that the account has an extremely different culture to our own and there are a lot of ways that they don't work well together. For example, the account moves slow and requires a lot of people to make even minor decisions. It gets awkward when my company requires we hit certain metrics that aren't revenue focused. The shortest way to say this is we can't hit those metrics on paper because of how the account works in reality. Over time, my whole team started to get internal pressure to make things appear to look right, even though that didn't match the reality on the ground, ie. we're doing the right things but it won't look that way until we're actually closing the deal. Performance improvement plans started to be hinted at for everyone on my team but never actually arrived. I learned that some of the leadership exerting the pressure on my team were going to leave the company. This aligned with my baby arriving and so I took paternity leave.

I've returned recently and after more than a week, no one from leadership has reached out to me. When I look at our HR system, I can see that I'm not assigned to the team that I was previously (which I assume means I'm not on the account anymore). I've been removed from the account's team calls and Teams chats that I was always on.

TLDR: In the lead up to my paternity leave, my situation might have resulted in a performance improvement plan, but now I've returned and theres no communication or a plan for me. I've likely been removed from the account that I was assigned to.

I don't necessarily want to stay at the company, but I definitely want to get the best outcome for me and my family (considering the state of the economy and job market).

How do I handle things from here to get the best outcome? Do I reach out to HR and say what's going on here? Do I reach out to my sales leadership and ask if they've removed me from the account? Am I on the hook for not saying anything for the last week even though none of them have reached out to discuss the state of things and what's next? How long before they can put me on a performance improvement plan? Should I try to have a frank conversation with someone and negotiate an exit?

Hi Everyone. I work in sales for a tech company. I'm the lead on a F500 account. I recently took paternity leave after an awkward time at the company and have returned to an awkward situation. I need help understanding what to do and what my potential options are.

I'll try to keep things brief (TLDR at the end). I was hired to be the number 2 salesperson on this specific account more than a year ago. The number 1 salesperson was talked about very highly when I was interviewing, and after being hired I learned that it was not true and they were being forced out overnight. So now I'm the number 1 salesperson by default. This job requires a lot of people management across teams, including my own. After a long period of time, I got the whole team moving in the right direction and leadership was generally happy. The problem is that the account has an extremely different culture to our own and there are a lot of ways that they don't work well together. For example, the account moves slow and requires a lot of people to make even minor decisions. It gets awkward when my company requires we hit certain metrics that aren't revenue focused. The shortest way to say this is we can't hit those metrics on paper because of how the account works in reality. Over time, my whole team started to get internal pressure to make things appear to look right, even though that didn't match the reality on the ground, ie. we're doing the right things but it won't look that way until we're actually closing the deal. Performance improvement plans started to be hinted at for everyone on my team but never actually arrived. I learned that some of the leadership exerting the pressure on my team were going to leave the company. This aligned with my baby arriving and so I took paternity leave.

I've returned recently and after more than a week, no one from leadership has reached out to me. When I look at our HR system, I can see that I'm not assigned to the team that I was previously (which I assume means I'm not on the account anymore). I've been removed from the account's team calls and Teams chats that I was always on.

TLDR: In the lead up to my paternity leave, I had a situation that might have resulted in a performance improvement plan, but now I've returned and there doesn't seem to be any communication or a plan for me. I've likely been removed from the account that I was assigned to.

I don't necessarily want to stay at the company, but I definitely want to get the best outcome for me and my family (considering the state of the economy and job market).

How do I handle things from here to get the best outcome? Do I reach out to HR and say what's going on here? Do I reach out to my sales leadership and ask if they've removed me from the account? Am I on the hook for not saying anything for the last week even though none of them have reached out to discuss the state of things and what's next? How long before they can put me on a performance improvement plan? Should I try to have a frank conversation with someone and negotiate an exit?