Over the past year I was told that I had essentially risen as high as I ever would at my job (no major complaints, as I’m quite comfortable.) But when my boss told me that my chances of promotion depended on “hoping that lightning strikes,” I said it sounded like I needed to spend more time on the golf course hoping for inclement weather.
When I asked her what incentive I had to continue being the highest producer in our office (out of 25 people, for the 1st 6 months of the year I did 17-18% of the work), her only response was “Pride.” I reminded her that pride comes in many forms, some of which fold and fit in your wallet.
So I cut my productivity back more than 50% over the next 6 months, and played some of the best golf I ever have.
Cut to the punchline, I had my performance evaluation last week, and received a higher rating than I had received the year before. One that guarantees the highest category of bonus (no great shakes, but will pay for a few greens fees!)
I was getting my annual review at my low-end service job and the boss rated me 11 out of a possible 12 on every category. This was because “everyone can always get a little better.” I immediately asked, “so I’ll never score better than 11 no matter how hard I try? Then I’m in no way motivated to try any harder.” She was not happy to hear this. She especially didn’t like that I told it to all the other drones many of whom repeated it at their reviews.
I think this story just goes to show that people often value their work completely differently from the people who are actually signing the paychecks.
Somewhere in an alternate Dope universe, one of your coworkers is making a pit thread about this one other guy in the office who doesn’t do nearly as much work as he does, but still gets high performance evaluations and how unfair it is.
arseNal - Did you miss the part about being one of 25 employees, and producing 17-18% of the output? So Dinsdale was producing about 5 times as much work as the other individuals, and yet was repeatly refused promotion. So now he’s probably doing about 10% of the overall output, still more than double the average output of the other employees.
Just had a similar experience. We took a paycut and layoffs. I didn’t get laid off, but I wasn’t exactly feeling like giving 110% this year. Had a very nice review. No bonus - we are still in paycut mode. No raise. But apparently I don’t need to work as hard as I thought I did.
That’s by Dinsdale’s metrics. Maybe not everyone else in the office sees it the same way. That was the point I was trying to make.
I’m not trying to be snarky here. This happens all the time and reasonable people can disagree on the relative value of their own contributions and those of others. Or what percentage of the entire office’s total output they are singlehandedly responsible for. In most cases this is an ill-defined exercise at best.
Not any of them - thanks for asking. A very tiring exercise, but we constantly remind ourselves how much better off we are than so many others.
Heck, I have no interest in convincing anyone of my worth to my employer. As long as the checks keep getting deposited. This recent event was yet further confirmation of what really seems to be the rule - when I really put forth the effor and think I am doing a good job and contributing meaningfully, I either get no recognition or even end up in trouble somehow. On the flipside, it seems like whenever I intentionally kick back, or decide to simply say I’m doing something worthwhile instead of actually doing anything, good things fall in my lap. After 20-some years, it is really hard to convince myself to put forth the effort . . .
Yeah, it is amazing how different the view can seem - from the people who are doing the work to the people who are reviewing it - as far as what is important.
Oh, and I didn’t mean to imply that you don’t deserve your improved situation. My congratulations were sincere in that you have successfully maneuvered yourself into better circumstances and apparently without being underhanded or slimy or by throwing anyone under the bus.
I think a lot of smart people fail to recognize how to do this because they are convinced of their own worth. They may be objectively correct but it’s the perception of others that matters in the end.
