# Help me with my employee self-evaluation? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 13, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-employee-self-evaluation/532370 "2010-03-13T17:41:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-employee-self-evaluation/532370/21 "2010-03-15T02:09:08Z")
> [@rucciface](#): > > Hi, dopers. I’ve been at my job for a year now, and it’s time for my annual evaluation. My manager, The Cheese, gave me a form to fill out and return so that he’ll have something to go on for our face-to-face meeting regarding my job performance this year. I dutifully filled it out and returned it. A few days later, he gave it back to me! and said, “Give it more reflection, please. It will serve you in the long run.” > > Okay. I originally answered the questions as they were asked, was direct and honest, without giving too much away. Now, I’ve given them more thought and have come up with more truthful answers. The problem is, I’m afraid that with this new version I might self-evaluate myself out of a job. So, I’m looking for suggestions as to how I can be more tactful and make a good impression, while still being honest. > > I don’t want to bore you more than absolutely necessary, so here’s the nutshell: > > (Preface: I know things are tough all over and I’m very lucky to have a job at all. Please don’t let this sound like I’m ungrateful for what I have.) > > I work for a company that does contract work for the government. The company manufactures protective gear for the military, such as ballistic vests and such. I run a sewing machine in the production department…not my regular line of work, but it’s a job. Just a job, a $10 an hour, dead-end, not going to lead to anything, nowhere to grow with the company type of job. > > Before this gets too long to read, here is a transcript of the form I’m to fill out with my original answers and what I’d really like to say. > > 1. My most successful job accomplishments since last performance period are: > > I’ve developed a very discerning eye for my work. (On reflection, what I’d like to have added: My pass rate is 100%. I don’t submit an item for inspection unless I’m confident in it. But you’d never know that, because until you handed me this evaluation you hadn’t even spoken to me in probably 3 months, much less know the quality of my work or even what I work on each day.) > > 1. My least successful job accomplishments: > > I’ve yet to learn how to operate machines D and E. (What I want to add, but can’t: Not through unwillingness or inability, but because team leader, Jr. Cheeseburger, only gives new opportunities and interesting jobs to his cronies. The rest of us are just supposed to shut up and do what we’re told.) > > 1. My key strengths are: > > Hard work and high productivity. (What I’d like to say: I’m the most productive team member you’ve got. I out-produce everyone in the group by 20-300%, depending on the employee and on the items we’re working on, but you don’t know that because none of us are given goals or are held accountable for anything on a daily basis.) > > 1. My weakest areas are: > > None. I am strong in all areas of my work. (I can hardly say: I don’t kiss ass and I don’t call attention to myself, so you can’t even know what a great job I’m doing, and I will never get ahead in this company. With this in mind, I sometimes find it difficult to give 100% everyday, but I do it anyway because I have some pride. Oh, and also, my categorical refusal to get involved in the petty douchebaggery, in-fighting and back-biting that goes on around here probably appears from a distance to be disinterest in my job or this company, but that’s…well, okay, that’s actually kind of borderline.) > > 1. Actions I will take to improve my performance: > > Whatever I’m told to. (I’ve got nothing to add to this one.) > > So, friends, any advice on how to tell the truth, but phrased in such a way that I don’t sound as jerkish as I have in this post? All suggestions serious and non-serious will be welcome and appreciated. Thanks in advance 1. Be sure and give details to how many of what patterns you have produced, for a total of X in each category. And: “My pass rate, according to X standards in the manual, is a one hundred percent no fail rate. I don’t submit an item for inspection unless it has passed the rigorous standards that are delineated on pp. XX of the XX manual. In addition to these criteria, I have imposed the following stringent measures to complement the training in order to save time in re-manufacturing process: a…b…” 2. I still haven’t been trained to operate the D and E machines. I am very hopeful that I shall soon be given the opportunity to receive training on them, and to prove that I can be of further value to the company. 3. I believe that I am the most productive member of this team. If my observations are correct, I out-produce everyone in the group by 20-300%, depending on the employee and on the items we’re working on. Expand on this. 4. I don’t communicate overmuch with my co-workers. My serious demeanor is often, mistakenly, taken for reticence. I often so involve myself in the job that I am doing, (at school, the teachers called this a ‘reflector’ learning style) that I may not be cognizant of a person speaking casually to me. 5. I am constantly working at self improvement. I am constantly asking my friends, co-workers and acquaintances for input on my behavior, to see what sort of image I project, and as a reality check, to make sure that I don’t miss the mark. I shall also ask my supervisors for input on a more regular basis. Hopefully, this will give you some junk to incorporate into your ‘reflective’ response. Best wishes, hh ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-employee-self-evaluation/532370/22 "2010-03-15T02:41:02Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I think that’s just \*\*rucciface’s \*\* translation of the review form. His biggest area for improvement is obvious. It’s his attitude. His entire OP reeks of the arrogance, bitterness and entitlement of the disgruntled employee. I don’t think that you have been in the position of a dead end job, with no room for improvement, where they have these self evaluations. I have. Think state colleges. That is where I was. They asked me for 10 words to describe my performance. \*You \*do that. I talked to my boss, who was also a buddy of mine, and he sat there coldfaced and told me no less than ten would do. OK, Odyssean it is, for the number ten word to describe myself. Self aggrandizing, yep. There is some bitterness, sure, at bureaucratic wastes of time and energy. I had to sit at another eval meeting for one hour, and the bottom line was ‘good job, no raise’. That was fine, but most of the hour was reviewing my benefits, which every employee already knew by heart. Telling how much the company was paying that was not cash. Did they think I was a moron? It took a whole hour to retell me what I could read on my paystub. It was very insulting, to be taken step by step through all that the ''company was doing for me, that wasn’t measurable in a monetary payout." Patronizing. Oh, I was also told that the reason for the no raise is because one had to meet certain criteria for it. The criteria was only something that somebody two or three levels above me could do: increasing teh college’s productivity, or cash flow. The next year, the boss finally saw what a stupid and counterproductive measure the eval meeting was. He then went to a better job, and his successor started all over again. If there is bitterness, it may serve to ask what the root cause of it was. Best wishes, hh ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-employee-self-evaluation/532370/23 "2010-03-15T06:34:42Z")
Lets face facts, I don’t remember what I was working on 11 months ago so how can I expect my manager to for me and the 12 other people he’s evaluating. I keep a file that I put notes into as I complete each project throughout the year. When the time for self evaluations comes up I can choose my top 2 or 3 of the year and write a couple lines about it. For the weakness sections I can talk about something that went wrong a few months ago that I’ve already fixed. In my last job our evaluation program was online and available all year round so I could actually put the comments in throughout the year. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-employee-self-evaluation/532370/24 "2010-03-15T09:31:36Z")
Use numbers! Be specific! Everyone is going to say they “work hard.” Give your manager some hard numbers that _prove_ you are a good employee. Obviously, he has something in mind for you. Here is what I would put: 1. My most successful job accomplishments since last performance period are: My greatest accomplishment is achieving a 100% pass rate during my first year at this company. My output is consistently of the highest quality. I have successfully mastered machines A, B and C and look forward to the chance to learn to operate machines D and E. 1. My least successful job accomplishments: I regret that I have not had the opportunity to train on machines D or E. I believe that learning to use my skills at a wider variety of tasks would greatly increase my ability to contribute to this company. 1. My key strengths are: I have extremely high productivity, and consistently produce 20-300% more products than average. For example, when fulfilling the recent order for magic wizard capes, I produced 3040 in the course of 3 days. 1. My weakest areas are: I would like to develop deeper relationships with my co-workers. I can sometimes be a very serious person, and I am afraid that may be mistaken for unfriendliness. 1. Actions I will take to improve my performance: I will continue to focus on doing producing high volumes of high quality products. Furthermore, I would like to keep closer contact with my immediate supervisor and co-workers. Finally, I hope to have the chance to train on machines D and E. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-employee-self-evaluation/532370/25 "2010-03-15T14:00:11Z")
IMO, the big issue is what your realistic goals are in this job: are you just getting some cash while you avoid telling them that you’re looking for real work, or are you seriously trying to move up in this company? (I’m assuming, since you’re asking about your evaluation, that you’re not in the category of ‘they know this is temporary for me and are OK with that’). If you’re in the first situation, you want to be as bland as possible in your review-- if you come off as too competent, they might agree that you’re overqualified and might decide to get rid of you before you quit. If you’re in the second, then by all means don’t be afraid to toot your own horn a bit. You’ve got to decide, based on the local politics and personalities, how much and in what way to complain about the little cheese not giving you oppportunities, but remember you can play it as ‘Gosh, I’d like the chance to be trained on this… I don’t know why Little Cheese keeps avoiding it’ if you don’t want to be a trouble maker. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-employee-self-evaluation/532370/26 "2010-03-15T16:40:50Z")
> [@Moonlitherial](#): > > Lets face facts, I don’t remember what I was working on 11 months ago so how can I expect my manager to for me and the 12 other people he’s evaluating. > > I keep a file that I put notes into as I complete each project throughout the year. When the time for self evaluations comes up I can choose my top 2 or 3 of the year and write a couple lines about it. For the weakness sections I can talk about something that went wrong a few months ago that I’ve already fixed. > > In my last job our evaluation program was online and available all year round so I could actually put the comments in throughout the year. Excellent suggestion. I write stuff on my online calendar and review it to see what I did. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-employee-self-evaluation/532370/27 "2010-03-15T16:44:49Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I think that’s just \*\*rucciface’s \*\* translation of the review form. His biggest area for improvement is obvious. It’s his attitude. His entire OP reeks of the arrogance, bitterness and entitlement of the disgruntled employee. I’ve seen asshole employees and asshole managers, so I don’t think we have enough information to make a judgment here. Not talking to a report for 4 months makes me lean towards the manager being a jerk, though. > [@](#): > > To be successful, it takes more than just being an efficient biological component of the assembly line. You also need to develop relationships with your coworkers and supervisors so if an opportunity for advancement presents itself, your managers see you as a potential candidate. You should seek out opportunities to make your company work more efficiently, not just wait to be told what to think. That’s true, and **rucciface** seems to be trying to be more useful by learning the new machines, without a lot of support. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-employee-self-evaluation/532370/28 "2010-03-15T16:47:10Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > Kissing ass and favoritism are indeed great career advancement techniques. Sadly, there is an art to it, and just telling the boss that he’s the greatest thing since sliced bread will just aggravate him. Learn the secrets, and you fly. Fail to learn, and you will have a career strikingly similar to mine. > > Best wishes, > hh I haven’t seen ass kissing work very well, except maybe if the boss is a total moron. In which case you want to get out anyway. What does work is understanding the bosses goals, how they mesh with the goals of the company, and do things to support both. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-employee-self-evaluation/532370/29 "2010-03-15T16:59:13Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > I don’t think that you have been in the position of a dead end job, with no room for improvement, where they have these self evaluations. I have. Think state colleges. That is where I was. They asked me for 10 words to describe my performance. \*You \*do that. I talked to my boss, who was also a buddy of mine, and he sat there coldfaced and told me no less than ten would do. > > Best wishes, > hh No raises are pretty standard everywhere these days. But I think you are missing something. No room for improvement means in your current workplace, not necessarily in your career. There is always room for improvement in your skills and network. If you are going to get the same non-evaluation and non-raise no matter what you do, spend some time advancing yourself and making connections. Maybe I could have gotten a few bucks more by ignoring the outside world and concentrating on my company only, but maybe not. (Not that I’m complaining.) But the time I spent looking outside gave me a great network, one good enough so that I think I could have gotten a job if I had needed one - and it is possible that the perception of my management that I could leave at any time helps me not have to. It also helps that I’m the only person who knows how to do lots of things (even more so when others got laid off.) But, most important, I enjoy work. To a large extent I work for myself even in a big company. But you said you were in this job. Do you have a better one now? (I hope.) So, if they pretend to pay you, pretend to work, and have fun the rest of the time, fun that will help you leave if you want to. Did HR read you the benefits, or did your boss do this? I know that a lot of places want you to know how much they spend on you, but I’ve been reading about performance reviews for a long time and that’s one of the worst stories ever. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-employee-self-evaluation/532370/30 "2010-03-17T03:08:53Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > I don’t think that you have been in the position of a dead end job, with no room for improvement, where they have these self evaluations. I have. Think state colleges. That is where I was. They asked me for 10 words to describe my performance. \*You \*do that. “Came to kick ass and chew bubblegum. Out of bubblegum.” ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-employee-self-evaluation/532370/31 "2010-03-17T13:15:15Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > “Came to kick ass and chew bubblegum. Out of bubblegum.” Nicely done. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-with-my-employee-self-evaluation/532370.md?page=1)