Survived another one.
I dread Annual Reviews. Working my way up, the only time anyone had a "review" was when they were not meeting expectations; there was some hope of improvement or the person would have simply been fired, but it was an indicator of a desperate situation.
Praise and blame were both rare. If your bosses thought you were doing your job well, they told you so by continuing to employ you.
The bean-counters stuck us with annual reviews over twenty years ago. Initially, it was something of a joke, a few minutes with your immediate supervisor going over a year of work that you both knew very well, let's fill out this form and make the second floor happy and no, we're still not handing out merit increases in pay--
Then we got a supervisor who had, shall we say, a difficult personality. He'd save up negative things to bring up in your review in closed-door sessions that might take an hour, sometimes more, with doubts expressed as to one's fitness for this sort of work, more in sorrow than in anger, etc. etc., until you left wondering how you'd been managing give him such a perfect impression of a pathetic loser and half-wishing he would have just fired you and got it over with--
Do a decade and a half of that and the process begins to get a little stressful.
Things have changed at work and it's not like that any more. Oh, the new guys would be quick to push you overboard if you weren't pulling your weight, and my line of work gets leaner and meaner with every passing week, but they're not big on playing games. If you're out, you're out; they don't save up for a yearly inquisition and nobody's got time to make the toilers squirm just for a show of managerial keenness.
So I had my review and it wasn't awful. Here's hoping I can keep them that way.
They'd have a hell of a time running that starship if they let you go.
ReplyDeleteThere is that. On the other hand, no one is irreplaceable. May be painful, but don't go there.
ReplyDeleteHad my annual goat rope the other day. I am keeping in line with what management sees as the future so it's all good. Sort of.
Glad you are still employed, but retirement is just around the corner so not much they can beat me with any more.
Occasionally I think I should get a job, but then I lay down for a bit, maybe even take a nap, and that feeling goes away.
ReplyDeletePrior to my very last annual review before retiring my supervisor told me she had had to re-write it three times to meet the expectations of upper management.
ReplyDeleteThe hilight was the comment that I needed to learn to work better with people that had a different work ethic than myself.
It was a rough transition going from being self-employed in the private sector to working for management of a county agency that did not appreciate suggestions that would keep them from being sued or terminated for cause.
It was amusing to see those suggestions implemented in a month or two or a year later after I had been told to sit down and shut up.
I am sure you can relate to the "WAITING IS" sign I had taped to the inside of the door to my locker.