tractor
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Post by tractor on Jan 6, 2020 8:09:17 GMT -5
Ahh, January, a new beginning, the start of exciting new things in a year that full of promise. At least it should be.
January is cold, dark and full of regrets, “what ifs”, and “could have beens”. It’s also annual review month here at work. I’m up on the 15th, will it be good, will I be disappointed? I hate not knowing, and will likely spend the next 1 1/2 weeks wondering what changes I will be in for.
2019 was a great year, several high profile presentations, testifying in a Congressional hearing, obtaining permits that were thought to be unobtainable. I have been given a “promotion” and a new job assignment as a result, but no salary adjustment, yet.
So here I sit waiting for the 15th to determine my financial fate for 2020....waiting sucks.
How does your employer do reviews? At the time of promotion, or just once a year? Never?
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Sharon
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Post by Sharon on Jan 6, 2020 8:13:40 GMT -5
Once a year around date of hire.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2020 8:42:44 GMT -5
Reviews? HAHAHAHAHA My company makes us fill out our own review form in January which absolutely sucks to do, this year I think I'll just copy last years. Then it gets kicked back to our boss to put in his own input, then it goes to corporate for approval where it sits for months. If things go as they "should" around May we get called in to go over our reviews and to set goals for the year (even though we're almost halfway through it), then a few weeks after that we get called in to get our raise...usually a 2-3% COL one.
Now, that's if things are running like a well oiled machine. Last year we were never called in (I don't think the year before either). Raises eventually showed up around August, but I was never called in for it. I just happened to be walking down the hall when I bumped into my boss's boss who had the "envelopes". So he handed me mine. Most people just found out when it showed up on their check.
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jeffreymo
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Post by jeffreymo on Jan 6, 2020 8:57:42 GMT -5
I’m not a big fan of January even though it’s my birth month. We also start the annual review process in January. My self review is due tomorrow. I don’t like writing them but my review is basically what gets me the merit increase. Management basically takes my words and rewrites them and we generally agree on the scoring.
ETA: The reason January sucks is because it’s my busiest month the of the year. I do half of my yearly busy work (non project related) in January which makes it a terrible time to celebrate a birthday or write up a stupid self review.
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hoops902
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Post by hoops902 on Jan 6, 2020 9:37:21 GMT -5
My last employer did reviews, but they were in March. And even though we did monthly meetings as well, the annual reviews tended to be a range of "by the way we're giving you a completely new job starting today which is a promotion but we aren't really asking" or "hey 9 months ago you did something I didn't like let's talk about it now that you're so far removed from it you'll have no memory of the situation". We had to do our own self-evaluation of rating ourselves on things like "works hard"...and then you had to go back and change any of your answers up or down depending on what your boss rated you so that both scores aligned with whatever overall rating you were getting. It was just a lot of paper pushing.
My new company doesn't do monthly reviews, they do annual reviews also in March. If last year was any indication, everyone was in there for 5 minutes each, and the boss was basically like "hey thanks for working here" and then back to work.
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Cookies Galore
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Post by Cookies Galore on Jan 6, 2020 9:45:43 GMT -5
Our yearly performance plan is locked in March, mid-year review happens during the summer, and year-end review happens in December (on my team, they don't have to be locked until January).
Unless you change jobs or take on a different area of responsibility, the basic goals are pretty consistent, so really my goal is to just keep being good at my job. Promotions used to happen in March but now they happen at mid-year. So long as I get my promotion this year I don't care when I get it. I just want to end the year with the title and money the title and money.
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jerseygirl
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Post by jerseygirl on Jan 6, 2020 12:09:39 GMT -5
One of the top reasons I like consulting- no more reviews to write for my direct reports Other is budget process, makes my stock hurt just remembering
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Jan 6, 2020 12:13:28 GMT -5
We're supposed to get annual reviews. Sometimes they are every two years. I'm a state worker. I get 3 promotions in a 30 year career. I've already gotten two, and it's likely I won't ever get the third due to the nature of my job. So. I have 16 more years to go...of pretty much going no where. Also, salary is not tied to actual output. I'm surprised anyone thinks that anymore. If that was the case, my salary should have doubled, since now I'm doing triple the work I was 4 or so years ago. Whether or not I get a raise depends mostly on how lawmakers feel about state workers. After a decade of no raises and furloughs, our governor said "We're investing in state workers." That investment was a $500/year annual raise. I'm surprised, actually, that I've gotten a 2% raise every year for the past two years, and one effective as of Jan 1.. Normally you don't increase your costs...you reduce them. And lawmakers still don't like state workers..
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tractor
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Post by tractor on Jan 6, 2020 12:27:44 GMT -5
One of the minor frustrations I have is the set the budget for the following year in October. This includes any changes in pay. So in essence they know what they are going to offer 4 months before they actually do. They like to make everyone wait, so any changes show up in the first pay period of February. Just tell me what it is so I can make plans, don’t draw it out, my “review” has nothing to do with a change in pay.
I also have my 3rd new boss in a 3-year period. I’m not convinced any of them have compared notes during their transition, so with each new boss, they base their salary adjustment on working with me for less than a month. Oh well, at least the continual change has been consistent.
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swamp
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Post by swamp on Jan 6, 2020 13:37:10 GMT -5
My annual review of my employee:
"Hey, Assistant, you're doing a fantastic job. Keep it up."
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NomoreDramaQ1015
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Post by NomoreDramaQ1015 on Jan 6, 2020 13:46:48 GMT -5
Ours are in November. They changed it last year to a set type of goals like "show up on time" "does her job" for everyone who wasn't management. Before that they made you review yourself and set goals and it had to be DIFFERENT goals every time. UNMC used to do the same thing. I hated it because as a lab person it can be difficult to achieve those goals in the time period alloted. Like one year I did not complete my goals but that was because I spent 9 months out of the year absorbing another person's job. So I did "learn and grow" but it wasn't what I had put down my my review so I had to document I did not achieve my goals. The thing is raises were set by the state, you can't get a promotion at the university without having gone back to school for umpteen degrees. So it's not like me achieving or not achieving an arbitrary set of goals actually meant anything. It felt like I was justifying some HR person's job existence every time we did one. January is a big pile of cold grey suck. There is nothing to distract me from how much this time of year sucks in the midwest. It's usually slow in the lab during this time of year so not much to occupy my brain for 8 hours allowing it to drift. I often start questioning all of my life choices which leads to depression. Probably have SAD but I refuse to use one of those forehead light thingies.
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NoNamePerson
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Post by NoNamePerson on Jan 6, 2020 13:47:21 GMT -5
I had a hate relationship with January. Worked for CPA and January was the hardest most stressful part of “tax season” 16 years down the road and I still say thank you that I quit that rat race and I think this every January!
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NoNamePerson
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Post by NoNamePerson on Jan 6, 2020 13:50:02 GMT -5
My annual review of my employee: "Hey, Assistant, you're doing a fantastic job. Keep it up." That was my bossy lady! Was same set up as you! Just the two of us. Bonus got thrown in at Christmas!
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wvugurl26
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Post by wvugurl26 on Jan 6, 2020 14:03:17 GMT -5
January does suck. The holidays are over and all that fun ends.
We are supposed to do our self review this month. Reviews are supposed to be done in February I think? I haven't seen dates for this year.
I'm sure like the last two years, they'll have stupid, arbitrary things that are months old in some cases. Anything to avoid writing a narrative justification for the higher rating.
I'm sure the people who do nothing all day will still get satisfactory reviews.
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swamp
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Post by swamp on Jan 6, 2020 14:26:30 GMT -5
Ours are in November. They changed it last year to a set type of goals like "show up on time" "does her job" for everyone who wasn't management. Before that they made you review yourself and set goals and it had to be DIFFERENT goals every time. UNMC used to do the same thing. I hated it because as a lab person it can be difficult to achieve those goals in the time period alloted. Like one year I did not complete my goals but that was because I spent 9 months out of the year absorbing another person's job. So I did "learn and grow" but it wasn't what I had put down my my review so I had to document I did not achieve my goals. The thing is raises were set by the state, you can't get a promotion at the university without having gone back to school for umpteen degrees. So it's not like me achieving or not achieving an arbitrary set of goals actually meant anything. It felt like I was justifying some HR person's job existence every time we did one. January is a big pile of cold grey suck. There is nothing to distract me from how much this time of year sucks in the midwest. It's usually slow in the lab during this time of year so not much to occupy my brain for 8 hours allowing it to drift. I often start questioning all of my life choices which leads to depression. Probably have SAD but I refuse to use one of those forehead light thingies. I have a SAD lamp on my desk. Best $38 I ever spent.
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Cheesy FL-Vol
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Post by Cheesy FL-Vol on Jan 6, 2020 15:00:54 GMT -5
I never minded January much, but having moved to TN after living in FL for 29 years, I am realizing why they call it the sunshine state. So many just cloudy days here. I don't even mind the colder temps. Too much. The number of cloudy days is starting to bug me.
I am a remote employee and perfectly happy with that, since I am an introverted homebody. Because I am such an introvert, I absolutely hate self review. We just had an email today with instructions for the process online. Really the biggest thing I have to improve on is getting my work processed quicker. I am not a haste makes waste person. I also know that I am one of the employees with the lowest rate of mistakes. If I rush too fast through work, I am afraid my quality will slip. So I continue at the slower pace more or less, and continue to provide quality and the most error free work I can possibly do.
I guess the loathed self review process is a trade off for being able to to a job I love to do in an independent fashion without being micromanaged.
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tskeeter
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Post by tskeeter on Jan 6, 2020 15:28:02 GMT -5
One of the minor frustrations I have is the set the budget for the following year in October. This includes any changes in pay. So in essence they know what they are going to offer 4 months before they actually do. They like to make everyone wait, so any changes show up in the first pay period of February. Just tell me what it is so I can make plans, don’t draw it out, my “review” has nothing to do with a change in pay. I also have my 3rd new boss in a 3-year period. I’m not convinced any of them have compared notes during their transition, so with each new boss, they base their salary adjustment on working with me for less than a month. Oh well, at least the continual change has been consistent. If they tell you about salary adjustments as soon as they are known, the exodus of dissatisfied employees would begin four months sooner. (I remember starting a job search when a HR staffer disclosed that salary increases would be significantly lower than the prior year.) So, the notification is usually delayed in order to delay how soon people leave their jobs for better opportunities. On the other hand, based on my 30 years managing budget preparation for manufacturing plants, budgets for salaries are not normally prepared on a employee by employee basis. Rather, they are prepared on a department wide basis, or something similar. The budget increase tends to be allocated to individual employees not too long before salary adjustments are announced.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2020 15:33:28 GMT -5
My annual review of my employee: "Hey, Assistant, you're doing a fantastic job. Keep it up." My kind of boss. Your assistant is really lucky! When I worked at Kaiser they had just came out with that 360 degree review BS where your "customers" got to give their own input. Nothing like your compensation being tied to the last doctor or department manager who decided to complain about your work when they were tired and overworked... especially when having to review your work gave them even more stupid paperwork to fill out they didn't want to do. And, I had two bosses. One was the "everything's excellent" type and the other was like the college professor who never gave anyone an A or graded on a really steep bell curve. So, my reviews were always very bipolar. Ah, fun times. Nice to freelance now. Customers who like my work keep me working and pay me. Those that don't, well don't. Easy peasy.
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tskeeter
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Post by tskeeter on Jan 6, 2020 15:34:07 GMT -5
Ours are in November. They changed it last year to a set type of goals like "show up on time" "does her job" for everyone who wasn't management. Before that they made you review yourself and set goals and it had to be DIFFERENT goals every time. UNMC used to do the same thing. I hated it because as a lab person it can be difficult to achieve those goals in the time period alloted. Like one year I did not complete my goals but that was because I spent 9 months out of the year absorbing another person's job. So I did "learn and grow" but it wasn't what I had put down my my review so I had to document I did not achieve my goals. The thing is raises were set by the state, you can't get a promotion at the university without having gone back to school for umpteen degrees. So it's not like me achieving or not achieving an arbitrary set of goals actually meant anything. It felt like I was justifying some HR person's job existence every time we did one. January is a big pile of cold grey suck. There is nothing to distract me from how much this time of year sucks in the midwest. It's usually slow in the lab during this time of year so not much to occupy my brain for 8 hours allowing it to drift. I often start questioning all of my life choices which leads to depression. Probably have SAD but I refuse to use one of those forehead light thingies. I have a SAD lamp on my desk. Best $38 I ever spent. Yup, this is really a sucky time of the year in NNY. But, it is a great time for some time in the sun. If your Dr. prescribes a course of vitamin D therapy, does that make your Hawaiian vacation a medical expense?
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swamp
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Post by swamp on Jan 6, 2020 15:42:07 GMT -5
I have a SAD lamp on my desk. Best $38 I ever spent. Yup, this is really a sucky time of the year in NNY. But, it is a great time for some time in the sun. If your Dr. prescribes a course of vitamin D therapy, does that make your Hawaiian vacation a medical expense? Let me run that by my tax guy.
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tcu2003
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Post by tcu2003 on Jan 6, 2020 15:46:10 GMT -5
My employer does reviews in the quarter you were hired, so mine is usually in late August. Of course, ever since I became a team leader, that means I have to fill out at least one person’s review every quarter. Blech.
I don’t get to participate in the request for raises for employees (at least, not until my next promotion), but basically the team VPs put in the request for what they want for each employee being reviewed that quarter to our business unit leader. S/he reviews it with the VPs, and then sends it to our core leadership team, and they make the decision. Raise amounts depend on performance and to a lesser extent, what the market says (ie is someone being underpaid and we don’t want them to possibly leave because it’s a hot market for Engineers). I hear the raise amount in reviews and most of them this year were anywhere from 3-7%.
In addition to annual reviews, we do touchpoints the other 3 quarters. Which basically means one of the team leaders takes you to lunch or breakfast (or even happy hour for a drink) to check in and see how things are going. We usually end up talking about family and personal life and getting to know them better, but most people seem to like it. Or at least they like free lunch. 😉
Assuming an employee is doing well, we usually give some informal feedback when bonuses are handed out to thank them for the work they’ve put in this year.
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TheOtherMe
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Post by TheOtherMe on Jan 6, 2020 16:29:50 GMT -5
I had a hate relationship with January. Worked for CPA and January was the hardest most stressful part of “tax season” 16 years down the road and I still say thank you that I quit that rat race and I think this every January! Same when I think about my years working tax season. Pressure at the IRS did not depend on time of year.
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toomuchreality
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Post by toomuchreality on Jan 7, 2020 6:49:48 GMT -5
My ex husband once asked me, when we were still married and I liked him... What's another word for exceptional? It turned out he was writing his review and couldn't come up with any more great words to describe himself and how well he did his job!
Wow.
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teen persuasion
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Post by teen persuasion on Jan 7, 2020 10:53:01 GMT -5
Never quite sure when a review will come up. Previous boss did them in spring, but she left unexpectedly just before that time a few years ago, so we were in a tizzy for a while. I think new boss did reviews a year later, but not sure I remember exactly when. We were just asked to do self reviews this past fall, very casually, with no follow-up at all. I think new boss is just ticking boxes on her to-do list for the board of directors: staff reviews, done!
As far as raises, well I know the other part time staff will be getting a raise, because the next step in the state minimum wage kicked in 12/31, and it's higher than their current wage rate. Not sure if there will be anything left for raises for me or the boss, that 2% tax cap limits our ability to increase our budget. And there's another minimum wage hike this December...
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raeoflyte
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Post by raeoflyte on Jan 7, 2020 17:18:10 GMT -5
My ex husband once asked me, when we were still married and I liked him... What's another word for exceptional? It turned out he was writing his review and couldn't come up with any more great words to describe himself and how well he did his job! Wow. How'd you let such a winner get away?
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toomuchreality
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Post by toomuchreality on Jan 10, 2020 5:42:43 GMT -5
My ex husband once asked me, when we were still married and I liked him... What's another word for exceptional? It turned out he was writing his review and couldn't come up with any more great words to describe himself and how well he did his job! Wow. How'd you let such a winner get away? Hard to believe, isn't it? 🤔 Bwahaha! 🤣🤣
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tractor
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Post by tractor on Jan 12, 2020 7:57:29 GMT -5
This is the week. I have my annual review, find out about wage adjustments, bonuses, 2020 goals, etc.
I also have a school board meeting, interview for a leadership position at another volunteer organization and a meeting with our CEO to ask for a commitment from his discretionary fund for 20K for a “special” project I’ve been working on......I’ll be glad when next weekend gets here.
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weltschmerz
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Post by weltschmerz on Jan 12, 2020 13:15:51 GMT -5
My ex husband once asked me, when we were still married and I liked him... What's another word for exceptional? It turned out he was writing his review and couldn't come up with any more great words to describe himself and how well he did his job! Wow. Was his name Donald?
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toomuchreality
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Post by toomuchreality on Jan 12, 2020 20:31:12 GMT -5
My ex husband once asked me, when we were still married and I liked him... What's another word for exceptional? It turned out he was writing his review and couldn't come up with any more great words to describe himself and how well he did his job! Wow. Was his name Donald?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2020 8:36:37 GMT -5
I feel like I'm just waiting for January to go away. November and December were a blur: Hawaii in November followed by Thanksgiving, then DS and DDIL visiting, then driving to SC for a week to see family at Christmas. And now January just drags on. We're not even halfway through! Every time I make plans it's "weather permitting". I love my house but it's in a neighborhood with a steep hill leading into/out of the place that's the only entry/exit. (We bought in July. ) It runs beside a lake and the thought of ending up in it terrifies me even though that end is really shallow and I'd most likely just slide straight down the road and end up on the road beside it, not in it. We have a private service that salts and plows but if they haven't been by it's impassable. I'm not even sure I'd feel safe in Shasta's truck. I'd move to SC to be near Dad and my siblings but DS and DDIL are firmly planted in Des Moines with my 3 adorable grandchildren.
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