To find Work Appraisals excruciating

[frankentall]

The main issue is being instructed to comment upon my own performance and achievements. I am not a dream employee, a rockstar over-achiever. Nor am I useless tosser - just an ordinary person doing an ordinary job.
Most of my job is boring and utterly pointless admin that adds no value and I hate those parts - and in my book that includes appraisals.
If I am not doing what I'm supposed to do the the required standard I expect my boss to tell me, that's part of her job managing people. Otherwise I'd like to be left alone to do the job as well as I can. But no, some git has designed a process to torture me.

Hate them. We seem to have employed a hundred people to develop a new framework for PDRs and it is all bullshit. I just load some made up objectives and ignore them until the next review.

Its an outdated antiquated business model that has to stop

Dates back to sweat shop call centres and putting people in fear of their jobs. Its a form of control.

I employ 47 people and would never ever use this. Good managers should be on top
of things at all times. I believe in a relaxed environment where people
feel safe to communicate freely

It would not be so bad if poor performers or those who are very difficult to work with were moved to jobs more suited to them, or lose their jobs. The process does not do this in my experience.

It's the best way.

Load of bollocks - l don't want to climb the ladder, l want to get home on time and not think about work til the next time l am in. Don't make me say my ambitions and goals cos l have none and am ok with that!

Years ago had an appraisal just after giving in my notice call centre job so exactly dream job . When ask what my goals were for coming year I replied to leave as soon as possible 😁
Not much left to say at that appraisal really

Yep hate them.
Never know what to say or put
And yet you're required to put god knows what

Yes!

I hate appraisals too. Where I have worked they have been nothing more than demotivating and pointless box ticking exercises.
In my last one, my manager had just left and I had my appraisal with someone who didn't know me and had never worked with me. They then proceeded to give me a very low rating and no feedback whatsoever to say why. I don't work there any more.
In my new role, I actively sought out a company that has regular one to ones with managers and no annual appraisal.

I told my LM I didn't want any development goals as I see myself as fully developed at 60.
That wasn't an acceptable answer 😂

Are you in the civil service by any chance. I was for many years and they love all the waffle of this type of thing. Make a simple thing into a mind numbing long winded process.
My old department went through phases of various schemes like 'investors in people' - spent hours producing evidence for scheme assessors to get a plaque on the wall. Lost the will to live 🙄🙄

You're a woman after my own heart. I find them pointless. I just want to say "listen I'm only here for the money and don't want to progress in this role. If you have an issue you should tell me when it comes up and this whole thing is a waste of time."

But then I know colleagues who LOVE them and put tons of effort into theirs.

Hmm. I'm a senior manager. I hate appraisals with a deep, committed passion. Mainly because of the paperwork and the need to summon up management-speak.

But. There does have to be a moment when we agree what the point and purpose of the role is for a visible period ahead. Agree that in roles which don't change much this can be brief!

The bit I like isn't the assessment of objectives and all that crap, it's the conversation about 'how was that for you? What do you think we should do next?' The human bit. In busy roles its really hard to make an hour to reflect and chat. I'd like the whole thing shifted to that (and less form-filling).

I don't mind the monthly 'catch ups' with my manager, they're quite informal. Mid and end of year reviews are a pain though. We're required to evidence how we've been meeting/exceeding targets in order to be rated for bonus/pay review, but they decide the ratings weeks before the actual meeting and before the documents are submitted. It's just a tick box exercise.

I loathe them.

Get AI to write them, always give yourself a glowing review because then the manager has to argue it down in the actual meeting and focus on getting them to remove anything remotely negative from the form. Never mention anything negative about yourself. As soon as they start speaking, turn it round into a feedback session of improvements to how your manager manages, just to run up the clock.

I feel this too.
It's as though they were invented to give managers a reason to be.

Once I didn't have a manager the a year and just managed myself. Bliss!

Good to hear this!
A manager should be aware of stuff happening at all times, not once or twice a year!

I had mine last month. Got myself in a right tizz about it as in last year's I ended up a sobbing mess due to some personal issues and a couple of years of crap.

This year's was better, but still pointless. I refused to fill in the form until the day before as I can't be arsed with all the reflective bollocks. Just pay me fairly, let me do my job and speak to me informally if there are any issues.

I agree its very important. I also always involve co workers on any decisions that have to be made re their specific roles.

asking people what works best for them is my modus operandi. Because of this I get an amazing amount of support.

Dont get me wrong, there have been many learning curves along the way.

They are pure shit.

I firmly believe that, if I have a manager, it is that person’s job to check up on me, to observe what I’m doing well or otherwise. It is not my job.

Hate it deeply. And hated doing them when I managed people, they're just so pointless. Busy work for people who don't have enough to do.

If I'm not doing my job properly, tell me right away so I can fix it. If I am... that's great. No further action needed. Why do we need to write some bollocks about it just to tick boxes?

We have 'continuous improvement'... 🤮

Yes. I would just leave and work for yourself. It really is the pits. So is pretending you care about the company you work for. It’s exhausting.

I used to be quite skilled at deflecting and turning the conversation so my managers spent the session ranting about their own jobs.

Now I work somewhere that it's entirely up to us. We can have that sort of chat with management at whatever frequency we like, which can be never.

I share your feelings op

It feels like a huge waste of all our time. We fabricate these goals, get told they must be "stretch" goals, that are not our "day to day responsibilities".

Half the time they relate to vanity projects that management subsequently axe due to cost etc.

I spend loads of time coaxing similar out of my team as well.

One time i had a bit of a good year, the shit hit the fan on a few unexpected things and i stepped up, as a result i got the "exceptional" rating. When i got the letter about my annual bonus it had made an absolutely miserly difference. A few hundred pounds after tax for months and months of long hours, stress, working while on holiday, cancelling a weekend away.

I swore never to do it again, it gave me grey hair and high blood pressure basically for nothing.

I hate being both sides of the equation. Fortunately, I've had some really great managers who know it is all bullshit and so we work through it together. I've always tried to do this with my teams too, but it doesn't stop it all being bullshit.