Had a poor review today and am worried

[Anonymous]

I had a not-so-good review. I had a few 3's and a couple 2's (out of 5).

I was surprised because I am a hard worker and had several successes. I did not have support staff for several months until they recently hired someone to help me. I was solo during that time, trying to juggle the workload of 2.5 jobs. No complaints about my work until now so I was caught off guard. The issue that were brought up were minor compared to my accomplishments.

I was not put on a PIP (my company does PIPS) but I don't know if this is the first step in building a file against me. My relationship with the boss is neutral - she has her favorites, I am not one of them, but I didn't think I was on the shit list either.

She basically told me that I have the potential to turn around, esp now that i have a helper to offload projects too. I know I should start looking, but I really like this job and felt that any shortcomings were due to the lack of a 2nd person. Any thoughts? (For the record - the last person that got fired had 1s and 2s on her review so I feel a little better knowing I got some 3s).

[Anonymous]

It could be your HR group requires her to "balance out" her numbers among her direct reports. So giving you 2's and 3's lets her hand out 4's and 5's to some other people. You were an easy one to throw under the bus because you were working without support.

I'd give it some time since you have help now.

[Anonymous]

If it is the us dept of education
Fsa then
Leave ASAP

[Anonymous]

If you work for my company (which is doing reviews now, and is based in Reston), the best thing to do is to find another job within the company.

[Anonymous]

I work for the federal government. I am the third top performer on my team of 18 people. I got the standard "meets expectations" review because anything more requires written justification and may lead to a (gasp) bonus. So maybe it's just your corporate culture?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work for the federal government. I am the third top performer on my team of 18 people. I got the standard "meets expectations" review because anything more requires written justification and may lead to a (gasp) bonus. So maybe it's just your corporate culture?

This. The numbers are all relative. Without knowing what the 2s, 3s, and so on stand for, it's difficult to give advice.

Is a 2 "meets expectations," or is a 2 "needs improvement." That makes a difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a not-so-good review. I had a few 3's and a couple 2's (out of 5).

I was surprised because I am a hard worker and had several successes. I did not have support staff for several months until they recently hired someone to help me. I was solo during that time, trying to juggle the workload of 2.5 jobs. No complaints about my work until now so I was caught off guard. The issue that were brought up were minor compared to my accomplishments.

I was not put on a PIP (my company does PIPS) but I don't know if this is the first step in building a file against me. My relationship with the boss is neutral - she has her favorites, I am not one of them, but I didn't think I was on the shit list either.

She basically told me that I have the potential to turn around, esp now that i have a helper to offload projects too. I know I should start looking, but I really like this job and felt that any shortcomings were due to the lack of a 2nd person. Any thoughts? (For the record - the last person that got fired had 1s and 2s on her review so I feel a little better knowing I got some 3s).

Sounds like stack ranking.

Start playing politics. I learned late in the game that quality of work above a level of acceptance is very subjective. To turn average work into great requires the right people to give compliments to the boss.