Just a curiosity, but has anybody ever gotten a good review? I ask because as the recession takes hold, I am curious whether companies are going to be intellectually honest and say, "You know, Joe, you've done great, but we just can't afford a raise this year because of the recession."
Or are we going to get the same ole same old;
"Gee Joe, we know you raised revenues by 40%, cut costs by 20%, single handedly solved our pension crisis, but you have some personal managerial issues where people are uncomfortable with your presence. Amy, in accounting, for example said when you wore a blue tie, it was a little loud and she was intimidated by it. Therefore, we're giving you a 2 out of 5 and you'll have to submit your "improvement plan" for the year to see how you are going to help contribute more to the corporation."
Just wondering.
Yes. There have been times I and some other people I have known have gotten good reviews.
ReplyDeleteWhether or not it led to a big raise depended on the size of the company.
Past a certain size, some companies seem to take the viewpoint that it makes sense to limit raises to a certain percentage overall (only other way to get more money was to get promoted) and then let division managers figure out how that raise pool would be divided between staff at any given division -- which is a stupid move, because if the raise limit is 4-5% (real numbers from the times I've seen this used), then for anyone who got a pretty nice raise (8-10%), there had to be at least one and maybe two or three people who got raises which didn't even keep up with inflation.
My latest review arrived via email so you can imagine what it was like. My last kick-ass topped-out rating came about 3 years ago. Its been downhill ever since. I'm a corporate IT guy with specialized skills that are somewhat, at least temporarily, immune to outsourcing. I suspect I am kept around just in case the Highly Educated and Cheap offshore dudes step into an elevator shaft. Fortunately for me this is a regular occurrence. Never underestimate the amount of work needed to clean up after the destruction delivered by the cheapest, the best and the brightest!
ReplyDeleteWell, my wife got a positive review a couple weeks ago, followed by a substantial raise and promotion.
ReplyDeleteNo, she doesn't work as a bankruptcy lawyer, unemployment office clerk, or repo babe.
So not all companies are slashing and burning.
I've gotten good and bad, honest and screwy; but yes, it is true that if you consistently get good, honest reviews, your manager (and probably a couple of levels up) is far better than average, and HR is far less active than average.
ReplyDeleteI am on a project team, composed of fairly highly driven individuals. Each department is given a set dollar amount and it's up to our boss to distribute the money. On a team of high-performers, it sucks, because in my old area I was getting 7-9% raises the past 5 years. This year it was about 4.
ReplyDeleteI've always received good reviews, and know that some people in my old area received less than favorable reviews. My old boss was pretty good about rewarding the good employees. Other areas aren't.
Granted, I'm in the scientific field, so the reviews in the laboratories are probably a touch more data-driven than in other areas.
I've often had good reviews and crap for raises. Well, always actually. No shoe-pounding force of will.
ReplyDeleteMy former employer was the most honest. They said up front that performance appraisals and raises were not coupled. Performance appraisals and promotions were coupled. Not the same thing at all. "Raises" were meted out yearly to (barely) cover cost of living increases and were balanced to keep salary ranges in a bell curve. No shit, they told us that.
Currently I'm fighting a related deal. I work for a consulting company. My customer likes my work so much they have voluntarily raised my billing rate 12%. Is my company going to pass that along to me? Well, first they have to determine if I merit a company promotion...
I haven't had my annual review yet, but the company did come out and say a few weeks ago that there would be no raises.
ReplyDeleteI have gotten the highest possible rating two years in a row (top 10-15% can get the highest rating) However, any actual pay raise comes from two adjustments:
ReplyDeletea) a market based adjustment, and
b) a performance based adjustment.
People in my job family have gotten no market based adjustments since Y2K. Not even a cost of living adjustment. Most of us are steadily losing ground to inflation, while the execs are getting their 20% pay increases.
Last year I got a 2.7% performance adjustment and no market based adjustment - and I was one of the lucky ones.
Many people got nothing.
I don't know yet what increase I'll get this year, if any.
Hrm, I got the highest review in my group, then on top of that I got a hand signed letter from the CEO giving me an extra bonus on top of our normal bonus because I'm one of "those few employees that delivered truly exceptional results" this year.
ReplyDeleteSo, I worked my ass off, put up with the stupid people in the rest of the company, and got (somewhat) rewarded for it.
I'll wait to see what my raise for the year is, that comes next month.
I suppose it depends on who is doing the reviewing... for years I slaved away under my manager, covering for him, making things more efficient, taking care of what I could take care of in house instead of calling someone in and paying more for it, soothing both disgruntled employees and customers.... only to be torn down in my review and told that I had "problems." A year later, in a discussion with the owner I divulged my salary and he was shocked. After confirming with accounting, he gave me a $4000 raise and apologized. Some of it's in the managers who care more about their bonus and think they have you pigeon holed. On the other end of the spectrum, after I left that job, my reputation preceded me and I was snapped up by a previous manager's son-in-law who paid me $4000 more a year during my probation period and then topped it off with a $10000 bump at my first review saying "I was well worth it and then some." I was recently assured that in the unlikely event this company went under (our sales have been rising steadily since August) that he would find a position in a different enterprise to put me. But I bet it's safe to say that if you work for ABCXYZ Corporation they are downplaying you contribution or asking you to take a cut to remain employed. The rich keep getting richer and there is, after all, only so much wealth to go around.
ReplyDeleteI've gotten consistently good reviews at the publishing company I've worked for since 1994. As of Jan 1, I not only received a 10.5% bonus, but a 3% pay rise. Of course, we're a profitable publishing company, but it's worth noting that the publisher I report to went to bat for me to the CEO and CFO of the corporation that owns us and pushed hard to get it for me.
ReplyDeleteYou need to move to Canada. It's against the law to say mean and nasty things about someone (or, will be once our HRCs get their way), so we all get great reviews. Nobody in my company has had a raise in five years, but hey, at least nobody's feelings have been hurt.
ReplyDeleteWhat's that line from The Incredibles? "When everyone's a Super, then nobody's a Super."
I've thought about this a little more since my original post.
ReplyDeleteMy brother worked as a assistant bank manager and loan officer, and received very poor performance reviews. Now, I know he knows his stuff (family trait), and after comparing some of his stories with some of the Captain's stories, I think I've come across the common thread:
In the world of finance, it doesn't pay to be competent.
Now, sometimes that's true in the rest of the corporate world, but the worst stories I hear are from the finance guys. Maybe it's working on pure commission for so long, or maybe the fact that you need to be a better salesman than mathematician. Whatever the reason, I find most people in the finance world to be rather . . . slimy, in a used-car-dealer way.
Perhaps there's a finance-guy who's transitioned out of banking who can help answer that question for me.iz
I've had good reviews before, exceeded performance targets by 40% and got less than 2% for an annual raise, which apparently everyone gets whether they're any good or not. Apparently that raise is just tied with keeping your seat warm.
ReplyDeleteAfter that, when I'm setting my performance objectives I tell them that my goal for the next year is to work just barely hard enough to not get fired. They usually make me change it, but I figure they know where I stand with the company.
I got option one. "Good job again, but no raises because of the recession".
ReplyDeleteI was fine with it. I'd rather keep my job.