It is MOST PROPHETIC that the blog on Performance Appraisals is getting published on April 1st….All Fools Day!! Appraisals are about making a fool or getting fooled!!
Am sure most of my readers have got appraised & received feedback in their careers. It is that time of the year!!! but tell me sincerely & truthfully How many of you were HAPPY with your appraisal? How many felt it was fair & correct? That you indeed got their legitimate due? That your Boss did “justice” to their efforts and contributions? My 34 years in HR & 9 Years in consulting have taught me time & again that no one is ever happy!!! Happy with Appraisal is a NULL SET!!
Even on the happenchance that you feel good with your feedback & rating, the joy lasts till you exit the Boss’ cabin : as soon you come to know that Falana got the same Rating (“How could he?”); Dhikana got a better salary increase (How could she? we all know her work in the whole year!!) & that Third Person got a promotion!!! ( My God! is management blind? Or are they appraising over drinks in a most casual manner? I should never trust the system”). Sounds familiar? Welcome to the Annual Appraisal Cycle.
Sometimes I feel this is one sure shot time when the entire employee strength is unhappy, across the length & breadth of the company!! Remember the Anna Karenina principle: all unhappy families are unhappy in their own way. Similarly each employee is upset for his/her own reason. Some HR heads have confessed to me that it takes nearly 2 months for employees to overcome their “appraisal depression” & get back to normalcy & team-working.
One part is to wrap your head around what the appraisal lottery got for you. After a while you do reconcile, as you know that nothing will change, now you have to wait another year. The more hurting part is to see others’ promotion, others’ increment. तेरी साड़ी मेरी साड़ी से सफेद कैसे ? as Lalitaji made famous in the iconic Surf ad years ago. It is not what you got or did not get, but what your colleague got that adds fuel to the fire raging inside.
The bleeding heart, the raging fire requires assuaging & you most naturally turn to your boss. And here you hear the most classic reply ringing from times immemorial in all such interactions,” Your appraisal is not in my hands” “I tried a lot for you, but the seniors did not agree”. “You know the Moderation Committee, some unknown people take decisions without knowing the details”. “I did my level best. But the process is set by people bigger than me. Can’t help”. “I argued a lot, took up multiple times & yet…Your final rating is not in my hands”. And if you insist on meeting the Boss’ Boss to press your case, his reply is also the same from years, ” We had recommended, but you know HR”.
Interestingly, the Bell Curve guideline, the appraisal system, the process of review, the appeals process, the Promotion Policy is all discussed in Senior Managers’ meetings. It has the tacit acceptance & consequent approval of all. It has always been so!! But as soon as an individual challenge comes, the solution is standard….Blame HR!! They do not appreciate what we go through. How we have to get work done. They sit in their offices & pontificate. Let them manage my department for once. All such discussions invariably succeed each Appraisal Cycle. Par-for-the-course?
Lalitaji had made a plea for समजदारी in her ad. But in the corporate world this समजदारी is a rare bird. Personal pressures, individual agenda, & relative equity rules the roost. I am never happy with the one piece of mithai in my thali. I am always more bothered by the two pieces in my neighbor’s thali or the fact that his mithai looks better than my plain white one. My happiness is determined by what you have got & not by what I have. This could be the general human condition, but it is never more exacerbated than at appraisal times!!
Maybe all this is normal & after so many years it is what an employee should expect & accept. But what I cannot get is my boss saying It is not in my hands. Then whose hands is it, pray? Through the year have worked for you. You gave me projects. You got me to work extra hours. You got the desired output from me. And you thanked & complimented me from time to time for my work & maintaining time-lines. But when it comes to the finish line, suddenly It is not in your hands!!?? I struggled, I worked & delivered for you. What if your style was my approach when you were giving me timelines & deliverables? At that time we were best friends & close colleagues, in the boat together. So now why try to push me off the boat? Why distance yourself from me? Why do I suddenly become an orphan?
Having worked in HR for 34 years I am quite used to being used as a whipping boy. After all we are the last mile! The blame accumulator!! But it’s high time the line leaders stood up & accepted that HR was never in the equation for 11 months of the year. So how come they become so important in the 12th month? Do they have the power & clout to change things which the line leaders are passionately pushing? Or are they just convenient pegs in the blame game of corporate appraisals cycle?
Having said this let me put down my conclusions:
- Bell Curve began purely as a budgeting exercise. While there are issues with the Bell Curve, no one has yet found a viable alternative.
- There is no simple solution to this issue. I have yet to come across a company in my 43 years HR experience, where employees are happy with appraisals & the compensation system
- Managers must learn to take responsibility both for their actions, as well as the corporate guidelines. They are senior leaders & telling their teams that I have no control does not behoove their status. Managers cannot shun accountability.
- Moderation Committees exist for a purpose. If no ratings from immediate supervisors are changed, then Moderation Committees are not fulfilling their purpose. Managers must understand & communicate that ratings & increments which go to Moderation Committees will change. That is the nature of the beast
- Employees must remember it is employment at will. If you are not happy, walk. Being a bleeding heart and cribbing, helps none.
Let me end with an advice I got from Khandekar who was Personnel Director in Siemens. He told us. ” Keep an updated CV in your top right hand drawer. Once in a while float it in market. You get a higher salary, higher title, just GO. You will be happy & the company will survive… If you don’t get another job, be happy with what you have. Put your head down & work”
Remember it is not the load that breaks you down, it is the way you carry it: vikas
PS: many thanks to my nephew Abhishek who challenged me with the “It’s not in my hands” line & motivated me to pen this blog
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