Annual Performance Review

[frayne]

Happy New Year to all here on the forum and thank you for tolerating my goofy responses. For some reason after 17 years of being retired while I was driving back from the gym today I remembered the annual mega corp. performance review process and started laughing. So the question that needs to be asked and answered, did you meet or exceed expectations or were you a substandard performer in the eyes of your significant other during 2023?

DW said I met and even exceeded expectations in some areas in 2023 but has suggested some serious stretch targets for 2024.

 

[target2019]

Train your replacement?

Not only that, identify the replacement.

I checked out mentally after that one. Lol.

 

[WhenIsItTime]

When I retired, I had 14 direct reports. I always put a lot of effort into writing reviews. I don't miss it one bit.

 

[Kings over Queens]

So the question that needs to be asked and answered, did you meet or exceed expectations or were you a substandard performer in the eyes of your significant other during 2023?

If you think I'm gonna ask that question you're crazy. Nice try though.

 

[jollystomper]

So the question that needs to be asked and answered, did you meet or exceed expectations or were you a substandard performer in the eyes of your significant other during 2023?

Given that I took her to France on a BTD trip to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary, I know in so many ways that I exceeded her expectations

 

[MichaelB]

We’re still alive, we’re still solvent, we’re still retired, and FIREcalc says we’re still good to go. I’d say it was a good year.

 

[audreyh1]

Oh God! Just seeing the thread title made a chill run down my spine! Not that I ever had a bad review, but they could be very annoying.

We had a great year! For once we actually came very close to spending our arbitrarily set budget. I guess that means it’s time to raise it!

Seriously though, due to many factors, we were finally able to get back to our travel heavy lifestyle this year. It was a lot of extra work, especially since I do almost all the planning and reservations, but it really was great. Now I’ve got to get cracking on 2024.

We’re getting older and I don’t know how many active travel years we have left. So I’ve been trying to get more in now.

 

[Walt34]

We’re still alive, we’re still solvent, we’re still retired, and FIREcalc says we’re still good to go. I’d say it was a good year.

My goals exactly. So that made it a good year.

 

[audreyh1]

I’m trying to get myself motivated to do another round of travel planning for 2024. I’ve already got a major road trip in April completed reservations. But I’ve got several other desirable trips for which I haven’t made much progress at all.

This late November and all December I’ve been focused on taxable income management for 2023. Done, but haven’t switched gears yet.

 

[easysurfer]

Oh God! Just seeing the thread title made a chill run down my spine! ...

Almost made me break out in hives .

 

[Calico]

The title makes me feel nauseous.

Performance reviews were weaponized to a high degree by one of my managers for several years before I retired.

 

[Slim11]

Happy New Year to all here on the forum and thank you for tolerating my goofy responses. For some reason after 17 years of being retired while I was driving back from the gym today I remembered the annual mega corp. performance review process and started laughing. So the question that needs to be asked and answered, did you meet or exceed expectations or were you a substandard performer in the eyes of your significant other during 2023?

DW said I met and even exceeded expectations in some areas in 2023 but has suggested some serious stretch targets for 2024.

I strive for mediocrity, and I am almost there.

 

[Dtail]

DGF and I had a great year. As long as the finances and health are reasonable, all is good.

 

[frayne]

I strive for mediocrity, and I am almost there.

That would make a great sig line.

 

[Lsbcal]

I am always exceeding expectations in DW's eyes. Nice to have a forgiving partner. Now if I could only exceed expectations of that creature who whispers in my ear ....

 

[donheff]

I feel the pain in some of the responses. In the early 1980s I designed a new performance appraisal system (PA) for my Federal agency. At the time, I was a true believer in the concept. It all sounded like it made sense. Even forced rank approaches like Neutron Jack's forced ranking were popular back then. Over the years I came to agree with Edward Deming's (father of Total Quality Management) belief that performance appraisal was the cardinal sin of management. I didn't agree with everything Deming embraced, but I agreed that PA nourished fear and short-term thinking and was a net negative process. When I became head of HR, I did what I could to defang our PA systems so they did the least harm possible, but I couldn't dump them entirely because of Governmentwide requirements. In 1995, I moved from HR to IT (what a blissful change). I ERd in 2005, and a contributing factor was that the whole agency was about to implement a "new" PA system that largely mirrored the one I implemented twenty years previously. It made me want to puke and I realized that I was becoming one of those old, cynical, been their done that guys and needed to get out of the way.

 

[FREE866]

These responses are funny haha


Yeah, the old "annual review" BS ugh. I was in sales so it was always coupled with the next years dreaded comp plan which was always so so anxiety producing leading up to it.



My numbers were usually good, not great, but man am I glad I don't have to deal with any of that any more.

 

[MRG]

The one I remember was a guy telling me I'd be a better member of the management team by "learning to tell someone to go to hell and have them thank you for sending them on a nice trip." That was just before he gave me a $600 annual raise that I thanked him for. That was part of a bundle of straws that I needed to learn.

 

[CRLLS]

I hated the annual performance reviews as a worker bee and as a manager. It served no real value IMO. I'm sure as he11 not going to do one on myself or ask my SO to do one on me now that we are in retirement.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Ugh. I've got that looming at w*rk right now. Luckily, I really don't care how this next review turns out, chances are really high I won't be here for another one, and so at this point in my career this one review won't really have much of an impact.

 

[pacergal]

We’re still alive, we’re still solvent, we’re still retired, and FIREcalc says we’re still good to go. I’d say it was a good year.

Definitely + on that here!

 

[freedomatlast]

You and your spouse/SO will be fine without annual reviews as long as you don't start working on succession plans.

 

[donheff]

To answer the actual question about how my spouse would rate me for 2023, I am adopting Don't Ask, Don't Tell. No need to extend management's sins into the home front.

 

[Koolau]

When I retired, I had 14 direct reports. I always put a lot of effort into writing reviews. I don't miss it one bit.

Evaluating and filling out performance reviews was something I was pretty good at if I do say so myself. BUT I didn't enjoy it or the interview process.

All of my reports were relatively long-term and knew the system was an attempt to spread the pot of Corp. money to folks, based on their performance. IOW it was a zero sum game. If you got more this year, your cube mate probably had to get less. Some times the pot was pretty big. Most times, it was shrinking (for many years.) SO very few folks were happy with their reviews and virtually none (of us) were happy with our raises. BUT, those golden handcuffs were cinched up good and tight, so very few people bailed out to find something better (especially at our "advanced" ages.)

All in all, Megacorp was a good place to w*rk, but performance evaluations (and the process) was horrible IMHO. It changed every 2 years or so and we had to be retrained. What a big wast of time (for the most part.)

SO glad that's all over!

 

[Dash man]

My megacorp gave salary increases at the same time as appraisals. My manager insisted he had to give me my appraisal a week before my retirement. He gave me a 3.5% raise! I laughed and told him it would’ve been better to spread that out to others. What a waste.