Received low performance review yet all goals almost achieved. Should I challenge?

[Sillybreebree]

Hi everyone,

I am about to go on mat leave and received a low performance review of ‘partially achieves expectations’ which outlines that goals were achieved between 40-80%. However, my manager has rated my goals between 80-100% yet I was not given the ‘Achieved Expectations’ assessment. Also all comments were positive with no areas of improvement. I am left feeling baffled and almost can’t help but feel this is borderline discriminatory as I am about to go on mat leave in a couple of months.

Should I contest/challenge this/seek clarification from my manager? Part of me wants to fight but part of me takes this as a sign to look for another job.

Thank you

No negative feedback

Nothing for you to improve

So what was on the action plan?!

Sorry not action plan but poor feedback

Poor rating (sorry!)

They do this so that when it comes to wages/pay rise review, they can use it as an excuse to not give you a pay rise. You definitely should challenge it, and stick up for your hard work, otherwise these businesses just walk all over their staff 😥

Correct, I kept my performance plan from my previous manager (company decision, which was fine by me because the goals made sense). Previous negative feedback I received at the company was constructive and reasonable. It still did not impact my overall rating. Having a strong performance review doesn’t exclude room for improvement which I appreciate and take on as a challenge. This is why I feel discriminated against this time round. Looking at the general feedback, it’s all positive and then there is my rating, which is incongruent with the written feedback on the goal performance. It just jars

IME this is not uncommon where there is a bonus and merit increase pool which means some people need to be reduced for others to be inflated.

mat takers don’t tend to be flight risks so managers suppress their ratings knowing they won’t leave so they can bump up those that they need to retain.

as others have said, push back. Request clear feedback on why you have been assessed as only partially meeting expectations. Then follow up in writing.

Looking at the general feedback, it’s all positive and then there is my rating, which is incongruent with the written feedback on the goal performance

just say this then. Calmly. In a meeting.

your previous negative feedback didn’t affect your performance review. I thought you said you hadn’t ever had negative feedback?

I never received negative feedback from this new manager*. Sorry I wasn’t clear.

I really can’t make head nor tail Op tbh

🤣🤣🤣🤣
they’re not playing around with maternity leave….it’s called unconscious bias…if you think for a moment that in last 5 years suddenly 100s of years of gender stereotyping and unconscious bias has disappeared, you’re very young or very naive
This is why there is a gender pay gap.
it was be nice to think your reply could magic that away
🙄🤣🤣🤣

This is my point exactly. I am not saying they are actively or outwardly discriminating against me but there is an unconscious bias. Why would they invest in me if I am about to go on mat leave and will not leave the company? They won’t be getting a return from me in the next months. On the contrary, they’ll have to fork out extra cash for recruitment of my replacement, retrain etc. I am a major burden to them right now. Best reallocate my potential raise to those who will stay and need to work harder in my absence.

I am sure there are genuine companies out there who wouldn’t discriminate. My next goal to set for myself is to look for such companies next time 😁

Sadly, few and far between. I worked for 30 years in a top global company that was even awarded awards from maternity alliance, and frequently won best place to work for shortlists.
their gender pay gap is 9%- so not that bad
I was paid very well, and I was promoted
but my promotions after having a child happened much slower than my male colleagues with children. I was always put in position of having todo the job at higher level before promotion, whereas they were promoted into the higher level role. At 48 years old, a colleague I’d worked alongside ,with almost similar career path, but a grade below me let slip his pay.he was appalled and gob smacked wheni told him I was earning 10% less than him. Most of the time the company depended on us brits not discussing our pay with anyone else .

I once calculated that conservatively, based on my delayed promotions and that 10% pay gap, I lost out on around £125k over the course of my working life -and my pension remains effected by that pay gap I had when working. All women, particularly mothers and menopausal women are shafted by the unconscious bias - and it won’t go away magically.

until the law changes to make employees publish everyone’s pay as they have to in many countries, this won’t be solved. But that’s hugely unpopular, albeit very effective at removing gender pay gap.

The managers in question OP… what is their gender?

Unconscious bias is not a male preserve , sadly.

In that situation ti would have been picked up in one to ones during the year, with the expectation the staff member would raise the issue with me and we would work together to adjust the goals to reflect the factors in the business preventing their completion so that they stay achievable for the staff member. Unless the staff member hasn’t kept on top of it then we wouldn’t get to the performance review and find out that business factors have prevented it.

This. This has been lacking from my manager. The goals weren’t adjusted and was deemed ‘OK’ for me to mark them as not fully achieved due to business reasons outside our control. I should have insisted on it on my part.

So just you OP impacted by the business reasons?

@Ursuladevinia82
The managers in question OP… what is their gender?

Sex, not gender. They may be Maverique or Aromantic Demi-Sexual for all we know — but that's irrelevant.