Supposed to be yearly but it has been several years since my last one. My old supervisor would sit down with me, say “your attendance is good, watch your mouth around your co-workers, otherwise you are doing a good job, keep it up”.
New supervisor and new upper management now want a more “formal” review and I had mine Friday. Multiple sections of the review and a score of “exceeds expectations”, “meets expectations”, or “needs improvement” with a sliding scale marked with a line as to where you fall into each rating and a “employee response” area. Got “meets expectations” for all areas except 1.
That area is “employee engagement” and I got a “needs improvement” and my line was at the far end of the bad side of this rating. I don’t willingly volunteer to go to other departments if they need help but will go if I am told, strike 1. I don’t participate in the company’s “community activities” like Earth Day, etc…, strike 2. And “employee interaction” as I tell my co-workers to get off their f-ing phone and get back to work and I don’t socialize with them inside or outside of work, strike 3.
So at the end my supervisor is getting ready to fill in the “comments” section with my responses. I told him I took the job in this department not in the other departments so I am not going to volunteer to do another job when I have my own job to do.
I am tired of doing my co-workers jobs while they are screwing off and if you are not going to tell them to get back to work I will, plus I have my own social circle outside of work and if I can’t stand being around some of them for 8 hours why would I want to spent even more time with them outside of work?
Finally I told him I volunteer through my church and clubs/civic groups I belong to and don’t need the company to fill that roll. I show up for work pretty much everyday and do my job and this category has nothing to do with my job performance.
He just sat there and didn’t write anything. I asked him “are you not going to write my responses?” He said the response area was for how I planned on “improving” so he had nothing to write. Then he wanted me to sign the review, I refused unless he wrote down my responses. He wrote down “refused to sign” and told me to go back to work. Gotta feeling I maybe talking to somebody higher up in the company next week…
By the way I have worked there for over 20 years if that means anything.
Gotta feeling HR will be reaching out to you. I would not assume their interests are well aligned with yours. Update and float your resume while you pick a bigger fight.
Let me just say that I completely agree with the OP in principle, but unless the OP is in a union-protected position with very defined job responsibilities then the OP is likely setting themselves up for trouble.
IMHO, your new supervisor is telling you that they want team players. You don’t appear to want to do this. In addition, unless you have very defined job responsibilities, your job is whatever your supervisor tells you to do (within legal and ethical constraints, of course). If your supervisor wants you to help out other departments, you need to do this. (In addition, it doesn’t sound like it’s part of your job to tell others to get off their phones and get back to work.) The community activities and socializing outside of work are less clear-cut, but the bottom line is that if you are an at-will employee (like most employees in the U.S.), you likely need to decide if you are going to play the company game or possibly find yourself penalized or even out of a job.
With that said, if not doing these things is important to you and you don’t fear the possible consequences, then feel free to stand your ground. But as @QuickSilver says, you should probably update your resume and start looking around just in case.
I want to chime in as the son of a Human Resources executive for a huge organization.
“Comply, and then complain.”
I wouldn’t like anything you described either, but … all things being equal … you might be best served by doing their little dance the best that you can while you look for another job.
If what they’re telling you – fairly clearly – that they expect from you is nothing you want to do, then it sounds like a recipe for a lose-lose.
But keeping control of the situation and getting out on your terms may be a good option to consider.
Here’s my own complaint about annual job reviews. My former supervisor gave me good marks overall, but for the last few years the one item noted that I needed to work on was this certification that was technically required for my position, but wasn’t actually all that relevant. Anyway, every year it got more insistent until on my last evaluation he wrote that I needed to complete this certification that was a “mandatory job requirement for my position.”
So over the course of the next year I killed myself getting that certification. It took me months to finally get it working on it on nights and weekends. And did I at least get recognized on my annual job review? Nope. I haven’t had a review since. Then a few months later I got a new boss, who couldn’t care less about this certification, because it’s not actually all that relevant for my job.
You have to play the company’s game if you want to continue to have a paycheck.
I’m really not outgoing, and I certainly don’t interact with my co-workers outside of work, but I’m polite and pleasant. Honestly, you sound like a PIA as both an employee and co-worker. Being civil is hardly a huge ask.
I haven’t had a job review in almost a decade. I always hated them particularly the part where I had to evaluate myself. I always felt I was doing a great job and there wasn’t any room for improvement since if I could have improved I would have. This never seemed to go over well. The other question that they didn’t seem to appreciate my answers too was where do you see yourself in 5 years which I routinely answer with “I’ll have your job”.
In my last annual review I was recommended for promotion but told that if didn’t start golfing with the VP at least every other week I wouldn’t receive it. 4 months later my boss was fired by that VP and two months after that I was almost put on a performance plan by the same guy but I quit instead.
I’ve never been anywhere the annual review mattered it was always the daily and weekly feedback that determined everything.
If I am TOLD to go to another department I go, I just don’t volunteer on my own accord to go work in another department. I get along with most of my co-workers but I have a choice, do the work of the few who are screwing around on their phones or let the line back up and shut down? My work ethic says keep the line running and I can see covering for a few minutes every now and then but with some of these people it is ridiculous. Do you want me to say “please, oh please get off your phone and come back to your job” or say “get off your phone and get back to work” Sometimes, but not most, with some colorful adjectives added, they seem to listen better then. If management has a problem with me telling people to get back to work because they won’t do it, so be it. Maybe I need to stand around with “my thumb up my ass” like they do instead of trying to keep the line running.
You could refrain from saying “f-ing” when you tell co-workers to end their personal phone calls, for one thing, if you actually do that. Talking that way to co-workers can/does create a hostile work environment.
If you’re not their supervisor, it’s really not your place to tell them to get back to work. If the line backs up once, I’m sure management can figure out the bottleneck and say something.
It’s not your place to tell employees to get off their phone and get back to work. I don’t know if this is possible, but they might be doing part of their job on the phone, and even if they’re not, it’s up to management to determine how much of the time at the workplace that they want people working. They may prefer an environment where people take occasional breaks in order for their working time to be more focused and productive. They may not like it if they’ve cultivated this attitude, but you’re coming in with the opposite opinion while having absolutely no authority to back it up. I would much prefer to have people at an office I work at but have no ownership stake in fuck around all day, since that likely would reflect better on me.
