Proof my company cares more about warm fuzzies than hard work

[Food Lady]

I got my review today. I was expecting the equivalent of a D, and I got it. Now, all of the positive written comments were about my work ethic, conscientiousness, reliability. And I'm discounting 5 of the "D" grades because I was specifically told every single person in the store got those because of bad survey scores and safety inspections. (Nice--we get dinged on stuff that may not even be our fault). But the rest of my markdowns were stuff like being willing to train and help people (seriously??--I love training newbs and often get picked to do so, and coworkers come to me often for help with stuff, which I don't mind at all). Another was my lack of urgency. Uh, I have urgency constantly, seeing as how I always try to get as much done as possible, since we're chronically understaffed, and over-shopped (tons of foot traffic). I'm like this whether feeling good or in pain, well-rested or tired. I just push myself harder when I'm not as good physically. Another "D" was communication, despite the fact that I overcommunicate with managers.

So I figured out the base problem is that I'm apparently not approachable, not friendly enough with coworkers (asked boss for advice about this and she told me to chat more--really). Yet, we are told to stop talking and get stuff done, and when staff is chatting, I see customers getting ignored and peeved. So all my hard work nets me nice comments, but my grades, which determine my review score and raise, are totally based on personality and things beyond my control (customer satisfaction scores, Building Services' assessment of safety, how long the lines are and the overall quickness of response to backup cashier calls, and call button response times [I'm not even salesfloor]).

[dragon_wings]

Such rubbish. So sorry sweetie. *offers yummy cookies*

[Kristev]

I think that's what happened to me, actually. My company wasn't impressed by the fact that I was a hard worker. They were impressed by the fact that I wasn't a nice and friendly person.

[LillFilly]

Those grades really are rubbish, yet it seems they're what speak the loudest. Got a D during my work internship, despite sheets of customer compliments, and told I was not welcome to return to the company for employment Meh.

[Hanzoku]

Well, you pinpointed why you got bad grades - grades affect your raise. The company does not want to give out raises, so you get bad grades despite being a good, hard worker. If you went the other way and chatted more, you'd have been dinged for not working as hard.

[Food Lady]

^ Exactly. I make more than my supervisors and am about to cap out on pay. Ah, well, got my 1.5 % raise, so whatever.

[eltf177]

It would be nice if management spent less time on trying to find ways to avoid paying out raises and bonuses but instead focused on increasing their customer base so, surprise surprise, the business makes more money meaning they _can_ pay out raises and bonuses!

[blas]

I'm in a rock and a hard place at my work. I'm friendly and warm, as I've been told, but, I'm one of those people who has to be "watched" because I talk too much, or only to certain people, and it rubs the tattletales the wrong way.

Everyone gets dinged for something really stupid once in a while. Me, it's the talking and favoring my friends over other coworkers, for others, they get dinged for not having a good enough attitude (when they are forced to do the work of two or three people every day and are expected to like it), others get dinged for not working fast enough while having to do two or three people's work, etc etc etc.

No one ever wins, I realized.

If I were to shut up and quit talking and only worked and worked and ignored everyone, despite the fact that it'd be dead silence for 12 hours, I'd all of a sudden be reamed for being unsocial and withdrawn. If I talk at all, I'm distracting my coworkers.

My male companion....gets shit for not being friendly enough to anyone, or just to me and no one else (same as me favoring him over other coworkers. I didn't know pissons weren't allowed to play favorites). He gets in trouble for not being social enough, I get in trouble for being too talkative.

[Bright_Star]

Well, you pinpointed why you got bad grades - grades affect your raise. The company does not want to give out raises, so you get bad grades despite being a good, hard worker. If you went the other way and chatted more, you'd have been dinged for not working as hard.

IF they don't want to give out raises then why not say that instead of playing stupid games?
For once I'd like to see a company say that they're not giving raises because they don't want to.
Beating around the bush because they don't want to give raises makes the company look petty & the employees hard work seem meaningless.

[wagegoth]

I'm so sick of hearing about how we have to work on our soft skills.

And a new study showed that this emphasis on soft skills is nearly useless.

[houdini]

IF they don't want to give out raises then why not say that instead of playing stupid games?
For once I'd like to see a company say that they're not giving raises because they don't want to.
Beating around the bush because they don't want to give raises makes the company look petty & the employees hard work seem meaningless.

My company does do that. However, it pisses everyone off even more, because we're also told that our company are making record profits, and look, the CEO got a 15% bonus! I suppose at least we're spared the stuff about "improvement" and "customer service" - it is recognised that we do a brilliant job. They just don't want to pay us any more for doing it (and then wonder why people leave for better-paid work...)

[Racket_Man]

at least when us drives got forced into split pay last summer my franchise was VERY up front ---- NO RAISES for the forseeable future. essentially my pay is FRONZEN NO matter how many CHUMPS cards we get, no matter how many excellant customer surveys we get (individually or as a group), no matter how hard we work, no matter how much more money we make for the company and no matter how good our "metrics" get

NO MORE RAISES for anyone. The managers however MAY get bonuses this year.

[tropicsgoddess]

Seems like the stuff they dinged you on the performance for was just some bullshit excuse to not give you a raise.

[wagegoth]

Seems like the stuff they dinged you on the performance for was just some bullshit excuse to not give you a raise.

I'm sure many of us here have worked at companies who do that regularly.

I've told about it before, but the review I got after my first year at one firm was the beginning of the end for me there. I had been working so much overtime. I was working up to 20 hours overtime a week. It was good money, but I was wearing out. I have kids and a long commute.

Anyway, in the review I'm told how great everyone thought I was, but that they did have one complaint that I needed to work on: I didn't volunteer enough. I sat there for a moment, then said, "I worked until 8 pm last night, and 11 pm the night before. When do you suggest I have time to volunteer?" The reviewers (who hadn't even been to our office before) sat there with their mouths hanging open. I then said something about them checking my timecards. The 15 minute review ran almost an hour, and I came out of it crying with anger.

I knew then that despite loving my coworkers, I would not have a career there.

[blas]

Oh gosh, wagegoth. I nearly punched someone FOR a coworker the other day when he shared that at his review, despite being an unpaid trainer (because at the time we were practically skeleton crew at certain things), and training people and doing multiple people's jobs, like most of us are expected to do when we stretch out so thin, he got nailed on the part of the review that covers job knowledge. Yes, you read that right. He knew how to do all of these things, trained a bunch of people without an actual title or trainer's wages, and was dinged for still not being good enough.