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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to hate work yearly reviews

87 replies

user789653 · 19/10/2021 19:37

Tomorrow I have my yearly review at work and I'm dreading it. I hate them at the best of times but this one is my first since been back at work after cancer and my confidence is so low.
Feeling so anxious about it. AIBU?

OP posts:
homeonthehill · 19/10/2021 22:15

They're so old fashioned and unnecessary! Any feedback good or bad should be a continuous natural part of your every day conversations.

I'm sorry right there was a problem it would have been raised at some point ahead of the meeting though

daimbarsatemydogsbone · 19/10/2021 22:17

YANBU pointless shite

daimbarsatemydogsbone · 19/10/2021 22:23

Why can’t we trash this fuckery when everyone hates it?
50 years of setting objectives that are almost immediately obsolete as top brass always thinks of some new way to fuck things up and make our lives impossible.

purpleme12 · 19/10/2021 22:26

Oh god I've found my people i hate them too
Same comments each year I put
Never know what to put either
However this year I know will be the worst one ever as I'm on a PIP even though I've not changed what I'm doing and they've just brought in new rules that if you don't hit the targets you're put on one, despite doing everything you should be. So every meeting I'm anxious about anyway

daimbarsatemydogsbone · 19/10/2021 22:31

This year we are reorganising (again). I can’t have my old job title so need a new one despite nothing I do changing - only I can’t have my new job title because I don’t have enough people reporting to me. So we are having to pretend someone reports to me who doesn’t. None of the actual work has changed. Thanks HR or People or whatever you are calling yourselves this week.

MuppetsRus · 19/10/2021 22:52

YANBU! I hate them as a line manager and for myself. We all know it's a pointless waste of time but are forced to play the game 🙄.

Siameasy · 19/10/2021 23:18

Pointless. I will attend work, do what I’m asked to do provided not illegal or immoral and go home and you will pay me. The end.

VienneseWhirligig · 19/10/2021 23:20

We don't have annual reviews, but monthly ones. And they are horrific as a manager, I find the conversation about where my team see themselves on the talent grid excruciating.

Mantlemoose · 19/10/2021 23:30

I hate having them as much as I hate doing them.

Lucyccfc68 · 20/10/2021 03:56

@VienneseWhirligig

We don't have annual reviews, but monthly ones. And they are horrific as a manager, I find the conversation about where my team see themselves on the talent grid excruciating.
Talent grids - another old fashioned waste of time. Management need to stop putting people in boxes and just have a conversation.
madnessitellyou · 20/10/2021 07:37

Oh I hate them with a passion.

I had one manager that gave me, as a target, an objective to improve sickness absence (I was a manager). The pandemic had just started. Sure. I can easily manage that Hmm. Took that to HR on the grounds that it wasn't exactly SMART. Particularly the 'realistic' bit in a pandemic.

Another manager (same organisation) was of the opinion that no one truly deserved any praise and marked everyone's ratings down so his bell curve of high rated appraisals wasn't affected in any way.

I don't work there anymore.

eurochick · 20/10/2021 09:01

I'm in appraisal season hell too. I have to do loads for my team and have my own. I hate both sides. I'm not sure the dozens I have had over my career have made any difference whatsoever.

Blankspace4 · 20/10/2021 09:36

The bell curves are awful.

The appraisals are generally used 80% plus of the time in my organisation to justify why someone’s performance rating, pay or bonus isn’t as good as they hoped. Of course there are a minority of people who are happy but it’s a huge consumption of time for very little reward and people hate being put in boxes (quite right too)

SturminsterNewton · 20/10/2021 09:59

We have to mark ourselves out of 10. The first year I assessed myself honestly and my manager reduced everything by a couple of marks.

The following years I've given myself all 9s and 10s. My manager still reduces, but now that gives me 7s and 8s and we are both happy! Grin

It's a stupid game, both managers and staff hate them. Don't let it get to you OP.

NerdyBird · 20/10/2021 10:05

Where I work we are supposed to do continuous feedback, which means anyone can give feedback to anyone, at any time. You can ask for feedback too. It isn't any better than an annual review. People rarely ask for feedback and most people are too busy to give it all the time.
But this thread has reminded me that our system has stopped sending alerts about objectives being overdue and I'm sure some of mine are! Thankfully line manager and team leader don't care, but department manager probably does...sigh. Might try and update stuff before xmas!

nicknameidea · 20/10/2021 10:41

I used to have a line manager who utterly hated me and tried all sorts of tricks to try and get me sacked or to leave. One of these was through my annual appraisal, we had to get 5 people to give us feedback every year and he would choose his cronies for me so my feedback wasn't great. HR knew and did nothing. He called my appraisal my 'permanent record' like it was some kind of criminal record that would follow me forever. I stuck it out for 3 years then left, funnily enough my record with that company stayed there. Horrible man and a shit manager.

Appraisals are so outdated and as for setting SMART targets, these just don't work if you do the kind of job where what's happening changes daily, especially if these targets are linked to the work of others that you have no control over.

thetesdybears · 20/10/2021 11:02

In my opinion they are a tick box exercise. I can't imagine many people feel they get anything out of it.

I hate them too and worse still our monthly 1-2-1 is now almost like a mini one. Hate it, I am not interested in goals, I don't have the time for it in my already very busy workload. I do a really gd job and I work out of hours to make deadlines etc. I have colleagues that are a lot less busy, probably half my workload and they have time to do improvements and other stuff. They then get all the praise for it and it pisses me off.

MayorGundersonsDogRufus · 20/10/2021 13:22

I manage several people and put quite a bit of thought into their annual reviews. As PPs have said, I try and make sure there aren't any surprises and I try and focus on getting them to step back and think about the bigger picture and what they want out of work and their career. Sometimes people are ambitious, sometimes they are not, but often there are things they'd like to change or learn but just have never spoken up about it. This is my chance to tease these out. I do work in a fairly small company though, where we have the power to change things and tailor things for our team, so that may be different from a lot of people posting here.

Sparklingbrook · 20/10/2021 13:27

For anyone worrying what to say about ‘goals’

to hate work yearly reviews
TheGoogleMum · 20/10/2021 13:30

I dont like them, but with a nice manager they aren't so bad. Goal setting is hard if you just want to carry on getting by!

Neveratruerfriend · 20/10/2021 13:55

Yes I hate them too and think they are completely pointless. To save time, I paste & copy the last year's write up into the current year appraisal form and then just alter it (figures, dates etc).

I suggest appraisal by exception only may be a way forward. ie if you are doing okay (and we all know, and our managers know, who is doing fine) then why have one? But if someone has gone the extra mile (or had performance issues) then an appraisal may be needed for fairness. Similarly people could specifically request an appraisal if they felt they wanted / needed one.

imnotacelebritygetmeoutofhere · 20/10/2021 14:00

YANBU to hate them, a lot of people hate having them, a lot of managers hate doing them. An annual review is fairly pointless anyway, problems and praise should be addressed at the time they are required.
At my work we ditched them and instead have a fortnightly coaching development programme - meet with line manager every two weeks to focus on skills and development needs continuously. So much better!

Sparklingbrook · 20/10/2021 14:09

I had to go on a week’s residential course to learn how to do people’s appraisals in a previous job. Role plays, the works. Urgh. It only took that week for me to realise I didn’t actually want to do them.

Pushkinia · 20/10/2021 14:58

They’re pointless and I hate them. Our appraisals are standard Council Service ones and unsuitable for my work as a peripatetic teacher. I resent being given targets/work challenges that will inevitably have to be done in my own time.

Questions such as “What target can we set that will benefit the Service as a whole?” are a nightmare to answer because I’m not given any paid time for extra “activities”!

To be fair, my last 2 appraisals have had “Continue to uphold excellent teaching standards” as a target, because neither my boss nor I could think of anything.

I just want to do a good job and go home!

Neveratruerfriend · 20/10/2021 15:32

@imnotacelebritygetmeoutofhere

YANBU to hate them, a lot of people hate having them, a lot of managers hate doing them. An annual review is fairly pointless anyway, problems and praise should be addressed at the time they are required. At my work we ditched them and instead have a fortnightly coaching development programme - meet with line manager every two weeks to focus on skills and development needs continuously. So much better!
That seems to be the problem. When appraisals are ditched, they get replaced with something that appears to be just as onerous - I'm sure I'd hate a fortnightly "coaching development programme" even more!