SoapZone Community Message Board

At the bindery, we had yearly reviews that occurred a short time before the date of our anniversary with the company. We'd go into the main office, sit down with our supervisor and listen as he or she told us what we did good, what we did poorly and how we could improve. Supervisors rated the workers in a number of set categories such as attendance, attention to detail, cleanliness of work area, etc. At the end, you had the chance to ask questions or get clarification on a rating*, then they showed you what they wrote about you in summary and how much of a raise you were getting (you had to be a truly awful employee not to get SOME kind of raise and even being merely good, instead of great, usually got you the full raise allotted). You signed off on the review and bam, done.

* I only ever questioned my rating once. I had one supervisor who refused to give anyone an "excellent" on ANYTHING. His rationing: "there's always room for improvement". I didn't doubt that when it came to keeping a tidy work area or following instructions but I really wanted to know how I could "improve" my attendance when I always showed up at least 5 minutes early, never left my work area until the bell rang at the end of the day**, was usually the last to punch out, always worked OT and called in sick less than a dozen times in 30 years (and was only faking it once <g>).

** OK, we were supposed to be cleaning our work station right up until the bell rang but not only did almost nobody do so, some of my co-workers were already lined up at the time clock, time card in hand, ready to punch out the second that bell sounded. Most of the time, I was finished with my cleaning with a minute or two to spare so I just hung out in my work area and waited for the bell.

Anyways, I wasn't introduced to self reviews until my next job. And...ugh. What's the point? Spending 30+ minutes filling out a questionnaire online about what I did well, where I could improve and where I can see myself with the company in the upcoming years was awful. Does anybody ever write "Yeah, I suck and deserve to be fired"? I remember reading the Swiss Miss's performance self-review and not only was it long and rambling, it was full of blatant lies. IMO, a good boss knows who you are, what you do well and what you should work on to improve. And don't ask me where I see myself in upcoming years...I'm pretty sure "not here!" is not the answer they're looking for <g>.

On a related note, my store manager is one of those people that always wants something done the SECOND she finds out it needs doing. On the morning of January 5, she found out we needed to fill out a performance self-review. On the afternoon of January 5, she was telling us to get on it...even though they're not due till January 23, and there's only 6 of us to sit down with for a review. Possibly only 2 of us; SM made it sound like it was only the keyholders that needed to go online and fill out the review. Anyways, I resisted, planning on getting around to the (stupid, pointless) review some time later this week, which would still be a full week early, but I'd no sooner clocked in yesterday than SM was marching me to the back room to do my review. Granted, we didn't have any customers in the store at that moment but still, I wasn't in the mood.