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Original poster

Come and regale me with your tales of messing up at work. I have cocked up my appraisal and need cheering up!

16 replies

Dancetherain · 16/09/2019 12:03

I have been in my job for almost a year and have my first appraisal today. I brought home the documents to fill in and only realised today that they needed to be done before and sent to my.manager.

Feeling a bit sick as I could have looked earlier and clocked this then. I am such a fool. This is my first job after a decade out of work looking after the kids and I so want to do well.

Please share your tales of messing up so I don't feel quite so useless!!

OP posts:
HumberElla · 16/09/2019 12:08

An appraisal should be a two way process, not you reporting or completing a piece of work.

Explain that you want to review the year together and that you would like to reflect on your meeting together before writing it up?

Original poster
Dancetherain · 16/09/2019 12:17

I think the idea is that we both have input to the appraisal document prior to the meeting and then go through it together. The meeting is today so she will not have seen what I have put or had the chance to put her bits in.

At my last job (roughly a million years ago) with a different NHS trust I had filled in at home and brought to the meeting and I just assumed this was the case here. I'm quite an anxious person anyway and I feel like I've completely messed up! Otherwise this job did seem to be going well!

OP posts:
foxyfemke · 16/09/2019 12:50

Just explain to your manager that you weren't quite aware of the process for this. I'm sure you won't be the first!

Aaaaarghh · 16/09/2019 12:55

Jot down some bullet points quickly before meeting and then write up formally after

maxelly · 16/09/2019 12:58

I really don't think you need to panic. Yes ideally you've have done your bits first and sent them to her (and she would have done the same), but I guarantee that in busy NHS Jobs the majority of people (line managers and employees both) don't do this (many don't even come to the meeting with their thoughts organised and ready for the discussion, let alone with nice typed up notes), trust me I have worked in NHS HR for many years and the 'perfect' well organised appraisal process probably only exists in the minds of HR people.

If your manager really expected the form ahead of the meeting she'd have chased you for it. Chances are she'll be as surprised as you are that this is what the forms say you're expected to do! Just focus on having a good conversation and you'll earn plenty of brownie points if you then type up the forms quickly and accurately after the meeting rather than expecting her to do so and/or have to chase you...

maxelly · 16/09/2019 13:02

Just to make you feel better, in my last job, for my appraisal (with a senior HR manager no less), both of us had forgotten to book a meeting room or office in advance, so had to do it in the canteen with people we knew clattering past with their lunches on trays and stopping to chat throughout. My boss then got distracted by BBC News playing on the telly over my shoulder and completely failed to listen to me for the last half of the meeting (to be fair he'd been up all night with his vomming toddler so I'd have struggled to concentrate too!). Total appraisal fail and if we can't manage it, not really fair to expect more from the rest of the organisation!

Rarfy · 16/09/2019 13:05

Wasn't actually my fault but was iyswim. I sent out a Web link which when clicked on showed personal details of the previous person that had logged in. Something had gone wrong with the link which was for a website provided by an outside company.

Was fucking awful. Luckily, all involved were linked in some way or another so although it was horrendous nothing big came of it but it could have done and I would have been the person that took the fall.

Herocomplex · 16/09/2019 13:09

I would just admit the mistake. Apologise for wasting the appointment and suggest reschedule.

applestrudels · 16/09/2019 13:14

To be fair, it's a 2-way process. Your manager could equally have chased you up for it and she didn't, so it's a little bit her fault as well. Anyway, it's not the end of the world, just say sorry, I didn't realise and then she can read it during the appraisal. If you've been there a year already I'm sure they're broadly happy with your work anyway!

If you want a failure story, one time at work I was supposed to be ordering 2 separate services from 2 separate suppliers, but I accidentally ordered the first service from both suppliers, and didn't order the second service at all (which cost about £500 each) I only noticed on the day they were due to be delivered to the client, which meant I had to quickly order the second service, pay the suppliers extra for a rush-job, deliver a couple of days to the client, and I lost the company £500 by paying twice for the first service.

Compared to that your mistake sounds very small!

Original poster
Dancetherain · 16/09/2019 13:16

Maxelly thank you so much for that! My plan is to take what I have done and be completely honest. I just panicked and honestly if I had just taken the time to look properly at what she sent me this would not have happened!

Blimey Rarfy glad it was ok in the and!

You are right though, it's a very busy department and my hours are only part time (which is why I wanted to do it at home). I dont know her very well as my hours are wierd and I don't see anyone but she seems like she would be understanding and I can type up tonight.

OP posts:
EBearhug · 16/09/2019 13:28

This is not a major error. Don't stress about it. If it were that important that you do it before the meeting, you should have had a reminder.

Original poster
Dancetherain · 16/09/2019 14:11

Thank you. I'm a bit of a worrier and having been out of work so long I feel like I'm starting from the very beginning again! You have all calmed me a bit so I will go to work in a bit and see what happens!

OP posts:
StealthPolarBear · 16/09/2019 14:13

This happens all the time where I am. If you do do it in advance its huge brownie points

Original poster
Dancetherain · 16/09/2019 21:06

Line manager completely not bothered! Now feel silly for getting so worried!!

OP posts:
StealthPolarBear · 17/09/2019 07:57

It's not silly it's diligent. But it is worth thinking about the impact of your 'mistakes'. The worst that could have come of this is that you waste his/her time. No (other) financial loss, no reputation damage, no safety issues etc... Apply your diligence where it will be most appreciated :)

Onionsoup64 · 17/09/2019 08:09

I do a pretty run of the mill school admin job. I find appraisals, for my role, a bit of a waste of time. It's hard to dig up a few new targets each time, and even harder to come up with ways of evidencing the meeting of those new targets. Sometimes we're literally coming up with crap, such as 'sharpening all the pencils in the stationary cupboard' - evidence - pencils all sharp - just to put something down on the document.

I am a 53 year old woman. I have been doing this job for 10 years, and will probably be doing it till I'm 67. Appraising me feels a bit like a put down. Talk to me, encourage me, help with difficulties, yes, but don't give me ridiculous targets to meet.

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