Need to Rant: My job evaluation

[NeverGivUp]

Okay, I had to find a place to write this because I am really upset about something that was written in my job evaluation...well, moreso the way that it was presented.

I am one of the hardest working people at my company. On my peer evaluation, someone wrote, "Works too hard and does way too much" and rated me a 4 on a scale of 1-5. My division manager basically told me that he was giving me a 4 on a 1-5 scale because he felt that I did too much also. :grr

Excuse me, but can someone please explain how makes any sense to them? :banghead You are punishing me for doing much more than what is expected of me? On my quality, speed, and productiveness categories, I score straight 5's every year, but this year.

I questioned my division manager's decision. I inquired why a person who exceeded their expectations should get a 4 versus a 5? He replied by saying that I should delegate more of my tasks to people below me and spend time doing other things. I stated that everything that needs to be done is always done by me ahead or on schedule with my team. The employees are who are below me are shared between myself and another individual. I explained that the employees below me given several tasks by this other individual (to be honest, they are given too many by this person who could get off his butt and help out some) and are really kept extremely busy. I also stated that I (unlike this unnamed person) work with my team as well as supervise my team.

Well, my entire team gave me 5's on my evaluation on speed, productiveness, and quality. The 4 came from this other individual whom I share my team with. I honestly think that this other person is upset that he is constantly compared to me by our employees. I think this person has dreams of mobilizing within the company as high as he can possibly go (Vice President) and is willing to twist things in his favor to get there. He may see me as an obstacle that he will not easily get by. However, I would have been more than willing to help him achieve his goals because I am very content with my current position in the company.

I am just very upset with my divisional manager for not realizing this person's intentions.

[iceskaterdawn]

That is crazy!!! Is there any way for you to write some sort of response to your eval?? Not that it will change the eval, but that if someone requests a copy of it, your "rebuttal" so to speak would also be included. I know my job allows us to write some sort of letter if we feel that we want some sort of explanation. For example, I had a friend who mmissed a lot of days of work due to a major health issue. The boss just commented on her excessive absenses, so my friend wrote a letter (and attached doctor's verification) stating that her absences were due to a serious medical issue and also there was an issue of workman's comp when she was stabbed by a student. It wasn't like she missed work to go lay out at the beach. She had legit reasons to be out.

I just hate when politics get in the way of getting fair evals.

[witchykitty]

Yeah, that's a stupid eval.

Is it a different division manager this year? Or maybe his boss questioned all those fives. My boss always told me that they had to give you a lesser score somewhere just to make it realistic, otherwise his boss would question it. The reasoning behind that is noone's perfect.

If you feel like this issue is going to be a problem, make sure you document how busy your employees are in specific instances.

[iloveskating]

Yes, you should be able to write a response to the eval for your file. But a 4 is still excellent, and most people aren't really going to care if you got a 4 or a 5. I have been marked down for strange things a few times, like being too thorough (taking time to make sure my numbers were correct in a complex statistical analysis), and wanting to know what I was supposed to do before I did it (which included training others how to do a job I hadn't been trained to do).I know someone who was marked down for not attending staff meetings, when the staff meetings were held at a time she had a class to teach (for the same employer), and could not get anyone else to cover for her. :fryingpan

SOunds like you are doing a great job, even though your boss is bit flaky! :hug

[moxie]

It's probably a stupid eval, but ... where there's smoke there's usually a little bit of a fire.

Take a deep breath and consider that this supervisor might want you to prioritize in a different way, by spending more time on your top-level tasks and not spreading yourself so thin doing everything (including lower-level tasks that should be done by others). You may like the feeling that you are the one everyone depends on to do everything, but is this really helping the rest of the department develop? If you feel that you can't delegate because the other person is overloading the employees, then this is something you need to discuss with your supervisor & the other person, so there is more consistency with what each of you is delegating.

Good luck!

[NeverGivUp]

Thanks guys for listening. I really needed to rant about that. I just know that my quality, productivity, and speed are always score high. Yes, a 4 is a good score, but I just don't get why I was marked down because I "work too hard" and "do too much." It just seems like nonsense.

Some of the ideas that you all have are very good like writing a rebuttal. Also, I have to say I do need to speak with the division manager about this other individual delegating too much on his tasks on our employees. I understand the statement about how my division manager may think that I am wearing myself thin as well. However, I can always say that I happen to know exactly what goes on, and when and where things go wrong. Yes, it's a newer division manager so he could be making the evaluation look more realistic.

[michellesmom]

Sounds like typical PHB (Pointy-haired boss) BS. Your boss is probably just looking for an excuse to give you a smaller raise. Thank you for making me realize once again how lucky I am to be completely done with the corporate world.

[Dragonlady]

Let's see - you got 5 out of 5 in EVERY category of your evaluations except one, and one that one you got a 4, and you're totally obsessing over the unfairness of it all. I've never heard of anyone getting those kinds of numbers in employee evaluations.

Let it go. It is meaningless. You're making yourself crazy to no good purpose. What's worse, since I can pretty much assure you that no one you work with got close to those numbers, you run the risk of coming across as petty and obsessive because this bothers you at all.

Instead of being annoyed by this minor critcism and trying to argue your way out of it, trying looking at it as a way to perhaps improve your performance somewhat, although that's sounds like it's pretty hard to do. In any case, evaluations aren't just about heaping praise on people, but helping them to improve where possible.

If I were in upper management and I saw evaluation after evaluation with nothing but 5's on it, I'd be after the evaluators to tone it down and offer some helpful suggestions too. I'd also be suspicious that you had dirty pictures of someone to pull these kinds of numbers on every evaluation. Getting one 4 at least shows you're human.

Don't worry about your co-worker. I doubt he pulled anywhere near these numbers. Upper management looks at quality projects done on time with few errors and good employee relations. You're golden on all scores.

[ros01]

Doing too much yourself is a valid criticism for a boss; you have to allow the people below you to hone their skills. If you really think that your staff is overloaded by the other person you work with, that's a valid concern that needs to be addressed. However, I would present it as an issue of concern to you rather than going in swinging over a number on your evaluation. As the others have said, it makes it look like you are unable to accept criticism.