Performance Appraisal (1)

I had my Performance Appraisal recently. I was a little apprehensive going in to the process, because I had not had a formal review for over ten years. As a contractor, the only feedback you ever get is "we’re renewing your contract for another 6 months, okay?" How contractors receive negative feedback is fairly obvious.

The process in effect here is that we choose a handful of people to provide feedback, and give the names to our Practice manager. He/she then contacts those individuals and collates all the comments before scheduling the 1:1 formal review meeting. I had asked for feedback from my Business Relationship manager, the Release Manager, and two of my subordinates. The two subordinates were the only ones not to provide any comments at all, which is a matter of some concern to me. I need to follow that up.

In the review, I came out alright actually. The only project I have been working on since starting here, was delivered on time, with no outstanding defects, and only 5% over budget. I was reasonably satisfied with that, and my boss’s comments reflected a similar view. There are, of course, some things I need to work on. I need to be more politically-sensitive when it comes to communicating with our Business colleagues, for instance. Fair enough, I’ll learn.

Surprisingly, I learned that a number of programme managers (like my boss) are actually at the same grade as me. I was asked if I would see that as something I would want to do should an opportunity arise.

I am still thinking about it.

The whole episode got me thinking about the appraisal process in general, though.

The mistake most companies make is to establish a link between appraisal ratings and salary increases or bonuses. It causes far more problems than it solves. There is only so much money available so no matter how well the staff perform, some of them will not receive commensurate increases.

More on this subject soon.