Performance Reviews at Work

[poweredup]

Well it is that time of year when many of us are subjected to the annual performance review process, and I am one of the lucky ones that has to endure this torturous event.

I don't understand what it is all about when performance is not linked to remuneration - what is the point of going through this. At the end of the day if you do a good job - same pay, do a bad job - same pay! so I don't really see the point.

Then there is the bit about what do you want to do in the future, eg 1years time, 5 years time, what are you going to do to get there etc

What the hell do you write if you don't even want to be there in 12 months, never mind 5 years!

Is there a politically correct way of telling them this without making life unbearable in the meantime or is it best to just come up with a crock of the proverbial to keep everyone happy? Do managers actually care about this process and what you say or is it just to tick a box.

Has anyone had good / bad outcomes based on a performance review?

Any hints on how to tell them the job sucks?

 

[JuddsABlue]

God I hate HR

The company I work for tried to bring in HR about 18 months ago but it tanked fortunately. In the first couple of months of its inception, there were more HR issues than ever before.

 

[I bleed Blue]

Personally I hate performance reviews.

What are your strenghts what are you weaknesss'. What did you do will, where can you improve, what are your goals, how will you get there.. blah blah blah.

Luckily with my current job though performance reviews are linked to pay. Got a 7% rise last year woop woop.

 

[poweredup]

Personally I hate performance reviews.

What are your strenghts what are you weaknesss'. What did you do will, where can you improve, what are your goals, how will you get there.. blah blah blah.

Luckily with my current job though performance reviews are linked to pay. Got a 7% rise last year woop woop.

Must be a stock standard process, sounds exactly the same as mine, but no link to a pay rise, waste of damn time IMO.

 

[Carnage]

Same at my job!

We fill out the paperwork rating ourselves then have to sit in a meeting while the manager tries to argue why you scored yourself too high.

Then at end of meeting comes the statement
"this review does not have anything to do with pay rise"

My advice
Tell them what they want to hear then do your own thing

 

[Miqar_Baqfhied]

Been at my tightarse job for about 11 months. Got a $1000 pay raise 3 months in. $1000!!!! Didnt know if I should be thankful or offended...

Was meant to have another review at 6 months. 5 months after still waiting its bee pushed back/cancelled about 10 times.

 

[MrNatural]

In my current workplace we go through a yearly process of personal review which is called "Performance Development Review Plan" or PRDP for short.
Basically sets out personal and team KPIs that your are accountable for, and outlines your goals for the year and what you want to achieve.
At the end of it, the manager will determine your score via a peer review with other managers.
Then this score will determine your percentage increase for the year. However, this is only relevant to those on AWAs ( of which i am on unfortunately). Those on collective agreements get their usual 2-3% as per the agreement, so long as they "meet expectations".
So for people like me on an individual contract, you basically have to go far and above the call of duty before they will give you anything more than 2% raise.
Its a load of wank to be honest

 

[Smoooothy]

^^ we have the same. At the end of the year we are given a score out of 10, with 6 being the standard. 10s are impossible to get generally. Pay rises are determined by what score you get. 6 usually gets 3-4%, anything below 5 gets no increase and a 19 usually nets 10-15%

 

[Caesar]

Even if your review isn't directly linked to a pay increase it is inevitably linked to career progression. So, it's worthwhile playing the game. Also, the 'review' part cuts both ways - it's your opportunity to hold your boss accountable for how they and the company are supporting your personal, professional and career growth.

If your job sucks, tell them straight out. 'Not enjoying your work' isn't a sackable offence. Anyway, if you're constructive with your criticism and have some solutions to offer (rather than just generally bitching) they will probably appreciate your forthrightness. Most bosses would rather hear about dissatisfaction in a performance review than think everything is okay up until the day you hand in your resignation.

 

[Cruyff14]

Tell them what they want to hear and it will end quickly. I thought that was logical.

 

[Drakescoffeecake]

What the hell do you write if you don't even want to be there in 12 months, never mind 5 years!

Wait a minute..

You get to take away papers and WRITE answers to these questions? How hard is it to just dribble shit? Surely part of your job entails dribbling shit anyway. I know mine does.

But geez, if writing is all you need to do then you're one of the lucky ones. My review involves sitting in front of a panel of 3 while getting bombarded with stupid pointless questions. It's like going through a ****in interview again.

 

[Northworth]

Moving into my twelfth performance conversation tomorrow.... but am now in middle management and have to do the reviews for staff... it is a really important conversation I reckon - a chance to see where you are at and how aligned your development is to where the organisation is headed. You can get whatever you want out of it - just sell yourself... receive the feedback and be honest/constructive. Treat any financial outcome as a bonus (no pun intended). Ultimately it is YOUR career that you are managing - no one will ever do that for you

 

[Drakescoffeecake]

Agree with the receiving feedback, honesty and being constructive part, but why does anyone need to sell themselves? This is a review not an interview, and that mentality is what annoys me, and is why I hate the process of performance reviews. I probably hate them more than most though because my bosses are douchebags on mass powertrips when it comes to the dreaded mid year review.

 

[Donners]

Performance plans are just horrific, full of empty buzz words and meaningless objectives. I actually quit a higher-duties role last year because I couldn't bear trying to discuss them with my colleagues.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

I love performance reviews. As a contractor I sit there and laugh at all the high care factor career people who fret about the whole thing.
First they have a whole swag of criteris they wrote six months ago to go through and write how they've met them. Then the chat and feedback thing. Then go off and write their criteria for the next six months.
All I do is throw in ideas, like adding "turning up occasionally" as an objective. Employees are funny when they get angry.

 

[The Passenger]

this whole thread makes me think that people just take their jobs too seriously

 

[Caesar]

this whole thread makes me think that people just take their jobs too seriously

Depends how you see your job. I like mine, derive satisfaction from it, and aspire to continue to develop it into more challenging and more interesting areas. Because of that, career development is something I take seriously.

If I was in a job I didn't have much investment in, and it was just a way of funding a lifestyle, then I would have a completely different attitude.

 

[Catfish Alley]

Yeah, I have to write mine this week. We have a process where we do it every 6 months. The one at the start of the year is linked to a pay rise. We have to put together a performance plan/rating as well as a development plan for the future. We get ranked out of 5. Nearly everybody seems to get a 3 or 3.5. The worst thing is the system we use. It constantly crashes!

In past jobs I have just put what I think they wanted to hear. Now I'm in a relatively high position at a good company so I take it seriously. It can be a good opportunity to brings things up to management and hopefully make your job more enjoyable.

 

[poweredup]

Wait a minute..

You get to take away papers and WRITE answers to these questions? How hard is it to just dribble shit? Surely part of your job entails dribbling shit anyway. I know mine does.

But geez, if writing is all you need to do then you're one of the lucky ones. My review involves sitting in front of a panel of 3 while getting bombarded with stupid pointless questions. It's like going through a ****in interview again.

No I don't get to just write it, I get to write it, and then submit it, give the powers to be time to pick it to pieces and then they get to write their bit and then we get to chat - 1.5 hours of chat ! WTF

 

[JuddsABlue]

tbh I always thought a performance review was managers judging how good you are at your job

but apparently you answer questions on where you want to be in the future

surely rich and retired is the only applicable answer

 

[SugarShane]

Have been at my job for 2 years and 5 months. Still haven't had my 6 monthly review yet.

 

[poweredup]

Have been at my job for 2 years and 5 months. Still haven't had my 6 monthly review yet.

Think yourself very very lucky

 

[Drakescoffeecake]

And must be a shit organisation with little management

 

[Andre]

With threads like these I love working for a small company where the performance review is generally token, since I'm talking business with the boss every week. As long as you are trying to improve your performance / gain new skills mine goes along a regular pattern of 'Here's your payrise', with me internally 'Cool more then I would have asked for anyway'. I suppose you could hide doing nothing if you hated a job in a larger company, but since I don't hate my job (98% of the time anyway, unless a customer is really annoying on a particular day) continual feedback is much less stressful without having to psych up for a formal review that you don't already know where it's going to go.