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Annual review tizzy


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creighton0123

Just got my annual review back today and, while I am not in any trouble at work, I am also not pleased. On a team of six with one manager, I am a 40% workload contributor and in 2013, was in the habit of getting into work at 11AM and leaving at 6PM, then signing back on and doing all of my team's evening work (9PM to midnight'ish).

 

I always asked my manager for feedback and he always said the same thing: You're doing fine and we appreciate all of the extra effort you're putting in.

 

Come end of December, with more people working in our foreign office, my manager asked me to shift my hours earlier in the morning, so I did. We agreed on 9:30PM to 5:30PM'ish with significantly reduced evening work.

 

Then I get my 2013 review and it claims that his perception is that I am not around or respected by my colleagues and that I need to keep a more "normal" work schedule, despite my colleagues always thanking me from saving them from having to do our team's evening work and for answering any and all questions they might have effectively and promptly.

 

I'm a bit livid about this given that I am a massive contributor, always available around the clock, and work faster and smarter than my coworkers, each of whom scored the same rating as me...

 

This isn't a rant about the negative review, but a rant about constantly asking for feedback and what I need to do differently all year long, only to have a single suggestion at the end of the year negatively impact my rating, raise, and bonus when there is no possible way to correct it before the year is out.

 

Seriously. Raising something to an otherwise attentive and hard working employee on December 28th and then using that on his or her annual review is ****ing bogus, all the while telling him that he's doing very well every time he asks for feedback the entire prior year.... :mad:

 

At the same time, I have been with the company for three years and my manager for three and a half. He's my manager based on seniority... while I'm in the same position and title as coworkers who have only been on the team from between three weeks and eight months...

 

Pisses me off, particularly when I have coworkers tell me that I am much better at managing the team than he is - even though my position is as an "understood team lead".

 

I know what I have to do, though. I have to take his job from him and make people think of me first when they need something from my team, not him. And I have already gone above him to his manager to discuss an official title change to team lead or technical manager.

 

This manager doesn't get it. Just because you have the option of listing negative things about employees in their annual review, doesn't mean you trump up either false negatives or bring up something you only raised once without giving them any time to correct for things whatsoever....

 

/rant over

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Did you express the concern with your Manager during the meeting regarding the review? Did you have to sign the review?

 

I'd put all of your concerns in writing that came from the review and submit them to his boss - and include a cc to your HR Manager.

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creighton0123
Did you express the concern with your Manager during the meeting regarding the review? Did you have to sign the review?

 

I'd put all of your concerns in writing that came from the review and submit them to his boss - and include a cc to your HR Manager.

 

Didn't have a chance. My manager didn't give me my review, although he was the one who wrote it. He is also on vacation for the next two weeks. It was given to me by my second line manager and I made my thoughts clear. My second line manager told me in confidence that I wasn't the first person to point this out and will work on addressing it, but the damage is done. My annual review cannot be undone, despite the fact that I routinely worked 60 to 70 hour work weeks every week.

 

IMO, if someone is working that many hours in an environment that lends itself towards evening work, you should never chastise them for not being a 9AM'er, especially when he works alongside two coworkers who pull an 8-4, take a full hour lunch break every day (I rarely take more than 10 minutes for lunch and often eat at my desk), and rarely do any night work.

 

If my manager will not give me a new title ("No such position exists" is his reason, although the company is creating new positions and titles all the time), I will go above him and make the title exist. It's not ethical or fair to treat a high contributor who has been with the company for years and who does manager tasks as a non-manager, sharing a the same job title as new employees.

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creighton, hedge your bets because this was no accident.

 

1 - do you have enough money in your reserve to survive a while without work ?

2 - do you have enough contacts to land another job ?; if yes, start asking.

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Didn't have a chance. My manager didn't give me my review, although he was the one who wrote it. He is also on vacation for the next two weeks. It was given to me by my second line manager and I made my thoughts clear. My second line manager told me in confidence that I wasn't the first person to point this out and will work on addressing it, but the damage is done. My annual review cannot be undone, despite the fact that I routinely worked 60 to 70 hour work weeks every week.

 

IMO, if someone is working that many hours in an environment that lends itself towards evening work, you should never chastise them for not being a 9AM'er, especially when he works alongside two coworkers who pull an 8-4, take a full hour lunch break every day (I rarely take more than 10 minutes for lunch and often eat at my desk), and rarely do any night work.

 

If my manager will not give me a new title ("No such position exists" is his reason, although the company is creating new positions and titles all the time), I will go above him and make the title exist. It's not ethical or fair to treat a high contributor who has been with the company for years and who does manager tasks as a non-manager, sharing a the same job title as new employees.

 

If I were you, I would stop working 60-70 hour weeks and stop doing all of the team's evening work. If they want you to work a more "normal" work schedule for perception reasons, then work the 8-4 schedule with a one hour lunch that your co-workers work and split up the evening work with them equally. You can see that all of your extra work is not appreciated, so why do it? You obviously have nothing to gain. Do not let yourself be treated like a doormat.

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creighton0123
creighton, hedge your bets because this was no accident.

 

1 - do you have enough money in your reserve to survive a while without work ?

2 - do you have enough contacts to land another job ?; if yes, start asking.

 

1. Yes. My partner and I have plenty in savings to last the two of us three years without me working.

 

2. Same thing happened last year. It wasn't a "put you in a negative review" situation. The review scales are like this:

 

a. Fired

b. 60-day probation

c. Somewhat deficient

d. Meets all expectations (me)

e. Exceeds some expectations (what I would have gotten)

f. Top 5% contributor.

 

I accidentally glimpsed a look at my manager's rating and he also got a D, so my thoughts are that he intentionally sabotaged to ensure his employees didn't rank higher than him.

 

It's hard to prove, but disgustingly unethical.

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Well, you have a few options open to you :

1 - resign

2 - look for another job

3 - take it to upper management

4 - stay for another yr, go above and beyond and document everything you are asked to do, or do very well.

When i say document, i mean send it to an email address you own, every day, like a journal.

Do not rely too much on coworker's testimony, most ppl will only do so much as it is needed to cover their own ass.

 

PS: Do not rely on your partner's savings helping you out if possible, WCS dude ... worst case scenario [not trying to be too gloom].

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I hate reviews - giving and receiving them. We had a 5 point scale. I was put in a bind by my management with things like "we don't give 5's ever", "satisfactory means no raise" and then of course I was given a fixed pool of money to hand out each year, and so I was constantly playing with ratings - okay so I give this person 3 percent raise that means I have to give this other person a 1 percent and .....so this guy works his butt off - and the difference is maybe a 1-2% raise over the guy who did nothing?

 

Ughhh..

 

Personally - short of getting fired - I have always tended to think "How can I approach my work and career so that I will receive a favorable review when......I interview somewhere else.". Or perhaps a more positive view - is that I am working for my own life long personal "company" or "brand" and just happen to be sitting in this office right now providing my services to this place.

 

Will working 50 hours for my boss do this, or would I rather spend the extra 10 hours getting some certification, training, networking, joining a professional group, or something improves my health and life in general?

 

In other words - how will this years performance and tasks and projects and experience give my resume a better score?.

Edited by dichotomy
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creighton0123
Well, you have a few options open to you :

1 - resign

2 - look for another job

3 - take it to upper management

4 - stay for another yr, go above and beyond and document everything you are asked to do, or do very well.

When i say document, i mean send it to an email address you own, every day, like a journal.

Do not rely too much on coworker's testimony, most ppl will only do so much as it is needed to cover their own ass.

 

PS: Do not rely on your partner's savings helping you out if possible, WCS dude ... worst case scenario [not trying to be too gloom].

 

I'm going with option four.

 

I love this job and will not resign. I could find another job in a heartbeat (worker shortage in my industry), talked to my second line about this and will talk to my primary manager and let him know that I need feedback earlier than the end of December next year and that I consider it a bit unfair to have things like this reflect on my annual review. For example, I don't want to start working with he deems a "normal schedule" and then get dinged for not doing as much night work as I've historically done (a rock and a hard place).

 

I also learned through some shifty eyes that he also rated a 3. My thoughts are that he knew a three rating was coming and didn't want his employees rating higher than him. Unethical on his part, but there's not much I can do about it.

 

My plan is quite simple. Come mid-year review and next year's review, I want to make sure that when he sits down with other managers in the company, anything he says will fall on doubtful ears - almost like a "that can't be right. We only ever hear amazing things about Creighton and his numbers compared to his other colleagues are amazing".

 

In other words, I have it within my power to work a normal schedule to adjust to what he negatively reviewed me for while making the rest of the company belief I am the manager of my team - and not him.

 

His life situation also recently changed and I feel he can't keep up with the fast paced environment we have at our company. If he moves to another position or job, which is likely, I am primed to take his place.

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creighton0123
I would start doing far less work, i.e. just do the bare minimum and start looking for another job.

 

Not going to do this. Everyone at the company loves and respect my work. I also love this job and it pays considerably more aggressively than similar jobs at other companies. Like... 20k more a year considerably.

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I hate company reviews. I think continuous open communication is the best. I was let go at my 3 month review, whilst being told I was doing everything fine and BAMB let go for no reason.

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Your overseer ( I have a mental picture of you in the cotton fields and he has a whip in hand) got a D. He did not give you the review, but passed it to another employee, while he ran away and hid.

 

 

Do you suppose he is afraid of you and your abilities? By keeping you down, he makes himself look better, at least in his eyes. Document your hours, do you punch a time clock? Keep records of your time sheet. When he says how valuable you are, make a note, date, time, witnesses. Start looking elsewhere, start saving money, pre-pay bills as you can. When you get into a good position, discuss this with his supervisor, and be ready to walk.

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creighton0123
Your overseer ( I have a mental picture of you in the cotton fields and he has a whip in hand) got a D. He did not give you the review, but passed it to another employee, while he ran away and hid.

 

 

Do you suppose he is afraid of you and your abilities? By keeping you down, he makes himself look better, at least in his eyes. Document your hours, do you punch a time clock? Keep records of your time sheet. When he says how valuable you are, make a note, date, time, witnesses. Start looking elsewhere, start saving money, pre-pay bills as you can. When you get into a good position, discuss this with his supervisor, and be ready to walk.

 

He had a legitimate reason for not giving me the review. His wife had a baby and he is out on leave.

 

This is all a bit of a misunderstanding. My job is not threatened, at all and I love my job. On the rating scale, I got a 100% acceptable, like the vast majority of the company. And I believe there are corrective measures in place by his second line manager when he returns about giving fair and frequent feedback to employees instead of waiting until the end of the year to correct them, then use said corrections as negative points in reviews.

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creighton0123
I'm curious to know in what field you work [if you are ok with telling, pm me pls].

 

IT/Software

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