Work situation - need advice

[worksucks2023]

Have name changed for this.

I've worked in financial services for the same company for over 20 years, been in current role for 5 years. Mid management level. Never ever had any performance issues in all of that time.

I've just had my mid year review and have been put in a category which effectively means I'm not performing. This has come completely out of nowhere, no previous conversations about issues with my performance. I'm very angry and upset. The summary that my manager has put together of the first half of the year is inaccurate and unfair. There have been some development needs flagged, which I'm ok with, but I'm not ok with being put in an underperforming category. Manager isn't very good, doesn't motivate, basically made me feel like shit to the point that I was in tears in the meeting and had to cut it short. He suggested next steps are that I work on pulling things back during the second half of the year.

BUT: I don't want what will effectively be a black mark on my record. In the business I work in, this marks you as first out the door if there are redundancies.

I haven't changed anything about how I work, but the business I work for have become more and more demanding around performance and you have to do a lot more now just to be seen as having a good performance.

My instinct says I need to challenge this with HR but I don't know if that will do me any favours in the long run. I also feel like I want out - I'm in my 50s and just don't feel able to cope with these kinds of demands any more. But I can't afford to leave unless I get a pay off.

Any advice?

Objectives? Don't be silly - we don't have anything as helpful as that.

Two of the things which have been called out as me not achieving are things I was only asked to work on in the last couple of weeks and I haven't had the chance to start them.

As I said - very unfair.

I started to draft my response to everything yesterday but I suspect it was a tad emotional. I will revisit on Monday when I'm back in.

Thanks everyone. I guess I just wanted to know whether I was right to go into battle on this.

The other thing which has seriously crossed my mind is going off sick with stress. With the end game of getting a pay off to leave.

Bumping for any advice on this. Have spent two days non stop worrying about the whole situation.

If you want to continue -
Take the feedback and set up regular 1:1 to go through an action plan of what you need to do
Skip level? Make sure his manager knows your worth.

This makes me feel like I will literally have to work my arse off for the rest of my working life, just to stand still. It doesn't feel like the right way to treat people. This has knocked my confidence massively and I'm not even feeling like I want to turn up for work tomorrow.

I totally understand where you're coming from and sympathise with you (not sure that helps but!) Unfortunately it seems to be the way FS is going / has gone. It's always been a competitive industry but even more so now I think. You need to play the game. It doesn't mean you have to like the game but...

Have you decided what are you going to do about the rating?
(Other than considering going sick which is definitely a tempting short term option but bad news for the medium or long term).

I wonder if making a plan, drafting & editing your email, planning conversations for meetings etc. would help you cope? Make you feel in control, knowing what your next steps are.

@Chewbecca I want to challenge it. But I really don't know if it'll get me anywhere and end up causing me more stress.

@HundredMilesAnHour interested in whether you think this is worth the challenge - you seem to know the industry well.

@worksucks2023 That's a tough question. Over the years I've got sick of the bs and briefly tried other things (fitness instructor, plus a similar role to what I do now but in a not-for-profit) but have always ended up coming back to FS because it seems I'm a demanding, fast-paced stress-loving FS person. 😂It seems it's too ingrained in me. 🙄(Turns out I have ADHD so that may be part of the problem/attraction).

I think you can overcome this. The question is do you want to? Personally I would (clearly I am!) as the extra years of decent income will make a significant difference to your pension etc. And actually that intellectual challenge is something that you may miss if you step away. That's what I found in those brief times I took a break from FS. I never thought it would matter to me but it did. You don't realise how acclimatised you've become to working with the 'best and brightest' until you work with 'normal' people at 'normal' pace (whatever 'normal is' - not something we tend to be familiar with in FS). I spent a lot of time being even more impatient than usual and muttering "what's wrong with these fucking people?!" a LOT!

When the politics / competitive pressure bothers me now my mantra is "just smile and nod". I play the game and I stay on message / on brand. There's so much corporate bs (such as bell curves) that I disagree with but I "smile and nod" at what I can't change, cover my arse at all times and very much show willing, and when there's an opportunity to change/improve things I push hard to make a difference. At times there are things I fundamentally think are wrong and then I kick off (in a professional way - always fact/evidence based) and make a stand. It's all about compromises.

Failing that, I refer to the fridge magnet in my kitchen with the Winston Churchill quote "When you're going through hell, keep going".

My suggestion for you would be grit your teeth, go in tomorrow with your action plan and focus on showing them what you're capable of them. If there are areas you need help, ask for it. Prove to them how wrong they are. And while this is happening, over the next few months take the time to look around and weigh up your options. You don't have to rush a decision. Sometimes not making a decision is actually the decision. But get past this and then use your time to think about what you want and if there are alternatives.

Thankyou @HundredMilesAnHour - that's very helpful. You sound a lot like me. Except that part of my problem is that I wear my heart on my and find it very difficult to hide my feelings. Maybe I need to get better at that.

Just to add that I wouldn't challenge the rating. You've admitted that there are areas you need to work on. To me that makes it a done deal. Challenging it will just open a can of worms for you. They won't have done this lightly. And they will defend the rating, and from what you've written they can actually justify it. Maybe you took your eye off the ball for a while and this has been a nasty shock. Now you need to show them what you're capable of.

Should have said heart on my sleeve.

I'm hung up on some of the wording of the framework which says things like 'does not have the necessary skills and experience to do the role' and 'does not produce a reasonable amount of work' - I find it a bit humiliating to be put in this category when I'm effectively doing a full time job in 4 days and have over 5 years experience in this particular role.

Unfortunately I do think you have to challenge it, as just accepting it means it definitely stays on your record whereas it might not if you challenge.

I'd bullet point the bits you wish to discuss and ask to understand how the scoring framework works, as based on your understanding you shouldn't be marked as underperforming. I'd also ask why this hasn't been raised before as being told this shouldn't come as news to anyone in a performance appraisal.

You need to stay icy calm for all of this, pretend you are discussing someone else.

If you sense there is no budging, I'd ask for very specific deliverables for your next appraisal so you can move off this score.

Sounds rubbish and I feel for you. Thankfully we have moved away from scoring so it just means our pay rise is worked out in some black box somewhere.

Oh and point out that you work 80% not full time.
I'd ask very specifically what throughput is expected and what you are not delivering.

If your previous reviews have been positive I'd be asking them to describe exactly what they think you are doing differently to what you did before. I'd imagine they will struggle to do that.

I'm happy to help.

I've been there - slightly different scenario - I got a good rating and then 1 week later was put on a PIP! Turned out they wanted to give my role to someone else (long story but they needed to keep this man in the company and my role was the only one suitable for him) so they fabricated a pack of lies about my performance. I was devastated. I gritted my teeth and focussed on delivering way more than their stupid action plan wanted and blew them out of the bloody water. They were gobsmacked. Because senior management had believed the lies they'd been told about me and hadn't actually looked at my work. The PIP actually gave me an opportunity to showcase how good I was. I went from loser to golden and highly respected within one month. And once that was over, and they were happy with me, I consulted a lawyer (who agreed they'd broken the law) and went after them for a settlement. Which I won.

Not sure if that story helps. But I get it. And you can do this!!! I can't count how many times I cried my eyes out in the Ladies, or at home in the evening. Let the emotion out in private but keep your game face on in public.

Thanks all.

The other thing I can't get past (and sorry if this is a bit of a drip feed) is that a couple of years ago they changed the banding and amalgamated two bands into one. I was on the lower of the two bands. But the peer group I'm now being compared to largely consists of people who were on the higher band, so I don't compare favourably. The pay band is also very wide and I suspect I'm near the lower end although actual salary bands are kept a bit quiet. So I feel like I'm being expected to perform the same as people who are potentially being paid £15-£20k more than I am. The unfairness of this makes me very angry.

@HundredMilesAnHour wow, that's terrible. But amazing that you came back from it.

Also - tho this sounds absurd, try NOT to take it personally. Your manager is just looking for an easy life.

refute each bad point. Say you are challenging it. Ask HR to sit in on the next meeting.

maybe all you are guilty of is being just very good at your job and not the politics. So an easy target. Maybe do less work but more networking and shouting about how good you are.

FS attracts the lunatics, they are just in it for the money and have no honour.

who does your manager respect and listen to? Make that person your target for praise. That’s what I did and it really helped. I realised my useless manager just listened to one of the sales guys so I made sure that he was my top priority.

you got this !

Another FS person here. We don’t expect our employees to be ‘excellent’ to hit satisfactory but do expect to have stretch goals in place to hit ‘good’. If they don’t meet these but have done the basics, it’s a satisfactory/adequate. If they are struggling it’s a needs improvement.

FS sector pays well (depending on what area you work in) so expectations are high.

But OP, you should absolutely having regular 121s with your line manager against your goals. Not just at mid/end year. This is as much on you as it is your manager. I would challenge the rating on this basis BUT I would also work with your manager to write VERY clear goals which align to the rating you want for EOY.

Woolly goals = too much room for subjectivity.

Just read this whole thing through.

Absolutely challenge the appraisal on the basis that:

There has been no change to your deliverables, despite you working 20% less

The goals you are not achieving were only very recently given to you and you were not expecting to be assessed on them so soon

Also ask whether there is an allocation amongst your peers into each band of performance, so they have to justify the rating

I’d also ask for HR to be involved because that shows that you’re not going to be a pushover.

Good luck. If you don’t get any joy look around, the financial services market is very healthy at the moment and you might see yourself making up that 20% that you’ve just given up.

Also ask whether there is an allocation amongst your peers into each band of performance, so they have to justify the rating

I definitely know this to be the case. A certain number of people within each peer group has to be given this rating.

So by way of update, I put my challenge together this morning, removing all of the emotion and anger which was in the draft I wrote last week, and just keeping it factual. Sent it off to my line manager before lunchtime. Nothing back from him yet. Feeling a bit anxious about next steps - it's a bit stressful.

Well done, exactly the right thing to have done and it was worth taking the time to work through some of the well-deserved emotion and anger so you could be business like. It means you are representing yourself in the best way possible. Good luck.

I work in the same industry and know how it is. Well done on standing your ground.

If you want to stay - also consult an employment lawyer and stand your ground. You need more proactive, transparent management so that you know what you're supposed to be doing.

If you wanna go, 20 years in FS means a decent statutory pay-off. Your gender, age, menopause and mismanagement you have recieved means that you will be seen by them as a liability for a grievance / tribunal and they'll be aware of that. So play your cards right and you should be able to negotiate a really decent discretionary payoff too.

Document everything, speak to an employment lawyer and milk them for absolutely everything you can pssibly get.

Thanks...he eventually came back to me 24 hours after my email (and only after I had taken a 1-2-1 out of the diary with a note saying you probably need a bit more time to consider my challenge before we speak). His response was oh I'd rather discuss between us than get HR involved. Yeah I bet you would. What you actually mean is you want to bully me into accepting the rating. (I know how this guy works).

I would love to leave with a decent payoff as I honestly don't think I can cope with the bullshit and high expectations any more. I haven't thrown menopause into it (yet) as I don't want to be seen as 'playing a card' (obviously I know it's not a card and it's a very real issue which can impact on work). I just need to think through a bit more how I have that particular conversation.