This is a bit of a rant, but I think I have good reason.

I've been working for my company for almost 20 years.  My manager has not given me a
formal evaluation in seven years, even though I get an "I'm working on it" every year
when I ask about it.

Last week, I reminded him of my review date passing yet again this year, and I
received a reply from him that states that I need to write my own review.  Note that
this is not a self-evaluation for
comparison against my formal review that he will write.  He wants me to write my
formal evaluation and he will then modify/append to it.  Ok, WTF?!?

Now I received another message from him that states that my review is due to him
before the end of June.  So, basically he is seven years late and now wants me to have
it done for him in a couple of
weeks.  

Would I be wrong in telling him to shove it?  I'm becoming quite pissed about this
whole situation.

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Kyle <hob### [at] gatenet> wrote:
> This is a bit of a rant, but I think I have good reason.
>
> I've been working for my company for almost 20 years.  My manager has not given me a
formal evaluation in seven years
, even though I get an "I'm working on it" every year when I ask about it.
>
> Last week, I reminded him of my review date passing yet again this year, and I
received a reply from him that states 
that I need to write my own review.  Note that this is not a self-evaluation for
> comparison against my formal review that he will write.  He wants me to write my
formal evaluation and he will then m
odify/append to it.  Ok, WTF?!?
>
> Now I received another message from him that states that my review is due to him
before the end of June.  So, basical
ly he is seven years late and now wants me to have it done for him in a couple of
> weeks.
>
> Would I be wrong in telling him to shove it?  I'm becoming quite pissed about this
whole situation.

Define "wrong".

If, by "wrong", you mean acting in a manner not in accordance with rationally
evaluated ethical behavior given the applicable context and circumstances, then
no, you would not be wrong.  He is clearly asking you to compensate for his
failure to execute his responsibilities in a timely and appropriate manner with
your efforts and to do so in an unreasonably short time frame. You knew this.
(Duh.)

If, on the other hand, by "wrong", you mean not acting in a manner which can
reasonably be expected to produce a desirable result, then yes, inviting him to
use the blank review form as a suppository would be wrong. Since you are even
entertaining the notion placating this imbecile with compliance, I shall infer
that maintaining your employment in its present form is a matter of practical
necessity for the time being.  This being the case, you should bite the bullet
in the short term while making the necessary plans to take yourself to a place
where such appeasement will not be necessary in the future. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2_Machiavelli

Good Luck and Best Regards,
Mike C.

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Kyle wrote:
> He wants me to write my formal evaluation and he will then modify/append to it.  Ok,
WTF?!?

Welcome to Dilbert-land! I suggest finding the comic series that 
discusses this, and attaching it to the review. :-)

> Would I be wrong in telling him to shove it? 

Me, I'd ask for clarifications:

"You know, I'm not a manager. What sort of thing would you put in my 
review if you were writing it?"

Then, when he can't or won't answer, write up your own review as if 
you're God Incarnate.  "Saved 8.3 million dollars last year, and 7.9 
million the year before. Created four new product lines, with 83 
patents. Is seriously underpaid, and deserves a 3x raise. Occasionally 
performs boss's job, when boss fails to meet the requirements and 
expectations of his own position."

Optionally, when he argues, ask him why he didn't tell you what he 
wanted before you spent all the time writing it up, and since he clearly 
knows better than you do, it should be his job. ;-)

If you wanted to be serious about it, ask him why after seven years he 
suddenly wants a review. If it's merely because you asked for it, point 
out that you already know how to review yourself, and its the boss 
reviewing you that's of value. I.e., you don't want a review as such, 
you want the boss's clarification of what he thinks you should do more 
and what he thinks you should do less; you're already doing what you 
think the boss wants. If it's because he talked to HR and suddenly 
*they* have a bug up their ___, then it's a different question. In that 
case, definitely do not put anything the least bit self-critical in your 
review, lest they be building a case to fire you or something.  (Not 
sure what country you're in, w.r.t. employment laws.)

Why *do* you want a formal review?

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
  Helpful housekeeping hints:
   Check your feather pillows for holes
    before putting them in the washing machine.

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The way it works for me (and everyone I work with) is that we do a self-
evaluation, and then it's reviewed by the manager.  This happens with 
ratings (on a 4-point scale IIRC), so there's room for agreement/
disagreement.

I might be inclined to write this as a self-review, even though that's 
not strictly what you were asked for.  That way you can be honest about 
your achievements (though as Darren said, I'd not mention anything 
negative in this circumstance).  Put it in the first person.

Keep a copy of it as written.  Then see how he changes it when he submits 
it.

Part of the issue may be how hands-on (or not) the boss is.  My boss is 
on the other side of the continent, so isn't aware of a lot of the things 
I do from day-to-day, and that makes doing a review of my performance 
very difficult as a result.

Jim

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> The way it works for me (and everyone I work with) is that we do a self-
> evaluation, and then it's reviewed by the manager.

Yup same here - you review yourself against your targets, your manager adds 
some comments, and after a review meeting you come up with a list of targets 
for the following year.

Post a reply to this message

Kyle wrote:
> This is a bit of a rant, but I think I have good reason.
> 
> I've been working for my company for almost 20 years.  My manager has not given me a
formal evaluation in seven years, even though I get an "I'm working on it" every year
when I ask about it.
> 
> Last week, I reminded him of my review date passing yet again this year, and I
received a reply from him that states that I need to write my own review.  Note that
this is not a self-evaluation for
> comparison against my formal review that he will write.  He wants me to write my
formal evaluation and he will then modify/append to it.  Ok, WTF?!?
> 
> Now I received another message from him that states that my review is due to him
before the end of June.  So, basically he is seven years late and now wants me to have
it done for him in a couple of
> weeks.  
> 
> Would I be wrong in telling him to shove it?  I'm becoming quite pissed about this
whole situation.

In the US military, this is expressly prohibited ("Do not have the ratee 
write or draft any portion of the report" is the verbiage from Air Force 
Instruction 36-2406), but except for people who are out of favor, the 
practice is universally ignored if the ratee is an officer or an NCO.

Granted, the supervisor is free to change anything in the report, and in 
fact every Tom, Dick and Harriet in the chain of command makes whatever 
changes the feel like making, so the effect of this violation is minimal.

Regards,
John

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Kyle wrote:
> This is a bit of a rant, but I think I have good reason.
> 
> I've been working for my company for almost 20 years.  My manager has not given me a
formal evaluation in seven years, even though I get an "I'm working on it" every year
when I ask about it.
> 
> Last week, I reminded him of my review date passing yet again this year, and I
received a reply from him that states that I need to write my own review.  Note that
this is not a self-evaluation for
> comparison against my formal review that he will write.  He wants me to write my
formal evaluation and he will then modify/append to it.  Ok, WTF?!?
> 
> Now I received another message from him that states that my review is due to him
before the end of June.  So, basically he is seven years late and now wants me to have
it done for him in a couple of
> weeks.  
> 
> Would I be wrong in telling him to shove it?  I'm becoming quite pissed about this
whole situation.
> 


Welcome to my world....
At least I never was asked to write my own review like this.

Take it as an opportunity to put all of your achievements in writing in 
front of him.  For good measure you do need to list some shortcomings so 
that it will be taken seriously.

While you can't be stupid in putting it together, you can turn this 
around to be something that might get you more on the good with the manager.


Best luck


Tom

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This happened to me once and I told my boss I was
uncomfortable with writing my own review--ethics and all
that. He finally did my review and it was trash. He screwed
me over... Do the review yourself...

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> Would I be wrong in telling him to shove it?  I'm becoming quite pissed about this
whole situation.

I suppose that depends on how much money you make and if you could find
comparable employment somewhere else before your savings run out, LOL...

Seriously, it's pretty common where I work for midlevel managers and above to
complete self-evaluations that are then reviewed and (sometimes) modified by
their bosses.

Since I actually wrote the web-based evaluation tool that all
managers, directors, VPs, etc use to write the final appraisals for their
employees, I end up seeing quite a lot of them while I work with HR to make
sure everything goes smoothly.

Not having a a review in 7 years though, that's BS. How can they possibly gauge
your raises each year? You can't do a merit increase without rating someone's
merit!

-Rob

"There is no spoon."

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And lo on Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:21:02 +0100, Kyle <hob### [at] gatenet> did  
spake, saying:

> This is a bit of a rant, but I think I have good reason.
>
> I've been working for my company for almost 20 years.  My manager has  
> not given me a formal evaluation in seven years, even though I get an  
> "I'm working on it" every year when I ask about it.
>
> Last week, I reminded him of my review date passing yet again this year,  
> and I received a reply from him that states that I need to write my own  
> review.  Note that this is not a self-evaluation for
> comparison against my formal review that he will write.  He wants me to  
> write my formal evaluation and he will then modify/append to it.  Ok,  
> WTF?!?

Oo do you get to write about yourself in the third person? Heh -

Kyle is like unto a god, his dedication to the company is an example and  
inspiration to us all. Indeed many of his achievements have not only  
increased our profits, but often have staved off imminent bankruptcy and  
liquidation. As such I cannot stress more firmly the need to keep this  
gentleman on our payroll and thus conclude that a 100% pay increase  
backdated to the start of his employment is in order along with the  
retention of a 24-hour on-call masseuse in case he every feels stressed.

There you go let your boss modify/append that :-P

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

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