Performance Appraisals

Hello, I'm posting this question here because I want responses from
engineers, so please don't be offended. I want to know what your
thoughts are concerning Performance Appraisals at your company, are
they beneficial, how are they conducted, and what is the best way go
give performance appraisals?

Where I work, the manager brings you into their office, starts a series
of short questions concerning your family and other things not relating
to your job and then finally gives you a pat on the back and says, good
job. Not much is really discussed and therefore not really useful.

Your comments are welcomed.

thanks,
joe

Joe,

The "performance appraisal" is a purely formal game. The only purpose of 
it is to protect the company from lawsuits. If someone who was let go is 
considering himself offended and brings the case to the court, then the 
company will need something in writing to prove their point.

Vladimir Vassilevsky

DSP and Mixed Signal Design Consultant

http://www.abvolt.com


jjlindula@hotmail.com wrote:

> Hello, I'm posting this question here because I want responses from
> engineers, so please don't be offended. I want to know what your
> thoughts are concerning Performance Appraisals at your company, are
> they beneficial, how are they conducted, and what is the best way go
> give performance appraisals?
> 
> Where I work, the manager brings you into their office, starts a series
> of short questions concerning your family and other things not relating
> to your job and then finally gives you a pat on the back and says, good
> job. Not much is really discussed and therefore not really useful.
> 
> Your comments are welcomed.
> 
> thanks,
> joe
> 

"jjlindula@hotmail.com" <jjlindula@hotmail.com> wrote in 
news:1156965525.874885.19940@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com:

> Where I work, the manager brings you into their office, starts a series
> of short questions concerning your family and other things not relating
> to your job and then finally gives you a pat on the back and says, good
> job. Not much is really discussed and therefore not really useful.
> 


If there were something wrong with your performance, this is probably not 
how the meeting would go.

-- 
Scott
Reverse name to reply

> The "performance appraisal" is a purely formal game. The only purpose of it is to protect the 
> company from lawsuits.

Not if they're done right.

While I was at Nortel 8-15 years ago they carried out performance reviews
which I have since realised were more useful than most people gave
credit for. There were objectives set in agreement with your team leader
that could be used to justify training etc. There was also a fairly
honest apprisal of your performance against last years targets etc.

The targets and objectives were set as much by your own character
assesment as your bosses, these had to be agreed.


Now, working for myself I know I should be carrying out the same exercise
for myself (but never seem to have the time).


Nial. 

Hello Joe,


> Hello, I'm posting this question here because I want responses from
> engineers, so please don't be offended. I want to know what your
> thoughts are concerning Performance Appraisals at your company, are
> they beneficial, how are they conducted, and what is the best way go
> give performance appraisals?
> 
> Where I work, the manager brings you into their office, starts a series
> of short questions concerning your family and other things not relating
> to your job and then finally gives you a pat on the back and says, good
> job. Not much is really discussed and therefore not really useful.
> 
> Your comments are welcomed.
> 

When I had to conduct my first ones I learned from a book:
William S.Swan "How to do Superior performance Appraisals

Helped me quite a bit and the engineers I gave appraisals later said 
they liked the style. Appraisals can be very helpful for the career of 
the person being appraised. If they are done right.

-- 
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

jjlindula@hotmail.com wrote:
> Hello, I'm posting this question here because I want responses from
> engineers, so please don't be offended. I want to know what your
> thoughts are concerning Performance Appraisals at your company, are
> they beneficial, how are they conducted, and what is the best way go
> give performance appraisals?

I've worked both sides of the desk since about 1974 when I first became
a hiring manager. In organizations larger than a few dozen people,
especially those with HR departments, the formal process is necessary
to organize and document skill sets and salary administration in a
uniform way.

Many people have a hard time tooting their own horn, and a good
reciprocol review cycle gives the employee a clear time to intiate
discussion about new/added responsibilities, promotion goals, and
salary goals.

Likewise, sometimes marginal performance isn't worth the manager taking
you aside and telling you to pull your own weight (or else), but at the
review cycle, it's much easier to open the employee up and find out
what is causing the weak performance. Be it training, home problems,
lack of motivation, lack of respect inside the team, lack of guidance,
etc ... all things easier discussed when this process is administered
well. The first few places I was a manger, there was zero traning for
what was expected, or the gains that could be made organizational if
this was done well ... certainly better training can help both side of
the desk.

> Where I work, the manager brings you into their office, starts a series
> of short questions concerning your family and other things not relating
> to your job and then finally gives you a pat on the back and says, good
> job. Not much is really discussed and therefore not really useful.

Stresses outside of work, affect employee productivity big time. A MH
checkup at review is more than useful to understand what is going on in
your life that affects your work. I'd say your manager is on the ball,
and if anything was wrong, you certainly would have heard about it.

It's always a good idea to take your boss to lunch, and talk about the
review process from both sides of the desk. You will probably be there
sooner than you expect, and having that discussion, can sometimes be a
key opening discussion that you are THINKING about your job, and where
your advancment will take you.

Have Fun!
John

jjlindula@hotmail.com wrote:
> Hello, I'm posting this question here because I want responses from
> engineers, so please don't be offended. I want to know what your
> thoughts are concerning Performance Appraisals at your company, are
> they beneficial, how are they conducted, and what is the best way go
> give performance appraisals?
>
> Where I work, the manager brings you into their office, starts a series
> of short questions concerning your family and other things not relating
> to your job and then finally gives you a pat on the back and says, good
> job. Not much is really discussed and therefore not really useful.
>
> Your comments are welcomed.

Glowing perfomance reviews and stock options are what companies give
valued employees instead of raises.

Luhan

Luhan wrote:


> 
> Glowing perfomance reviews and stock options are what companies give
> valued employees instead of raises.

Good point, Luhan. In the big company, there is a salary schedule: how 
much is getting paid to a person in this position. There is actually no 
way for them to give any raise.

Also this is how the loafers from HR are making themselves look very useful.

VLV

Hello Luhan,

> 
> Glowing perfomance reviews and stock options are what companies give
> valued employees instead of raises.
> 

And stock options can be a darn good thing. It's the American way :-)

-- 
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

Luhan wrote:
> Glowing perfomance reviews and stock options are what companies give
> valued employees instead of raises.

Glowing perfomance reviews are your collaterial for a promotion. Stock
options are way far over rated. In 19 out of 20 small to mid-sized
companies they are worthless, and maybe worth less than your option
price when you can finally cash them out. In larger companies, they
might actually be worth something, or a golden handcuff that stops you
from advancing faster by changing jobs. Stocks are gambling, and unless
you are on top of the market, or extremely lucky, I'd not bet on them
even being worth the overtime you might spend to justify them.

Raises in almost every company are there for those that show steady
improvement in skills at all levels, a strong work ethic, and a
stronger interest in being successful and making the company
successful. For those companies where this is not true, I'd change
jobs, unless you have decided this a comfortable retirement job, AND
you have some faith they will let you stay to retirement. Even then,
I'd change jobs, because I HATE the lack of challenge in my job.