The only part of Work Life that I can’t stand is the end of year performance reviews that come with it. It truly is the worst time of year (which is tragic since it comes on the heels of my favorite time of year (Christmas holidays). You’d think after being in the workforce for almost 30 years that I’d be used to them, but the fact is that I do not like to sit in another room with another person and have them talk about me – good or bad – directly to my face. It is awkward and awful all at the same time.
My first year with my new company (can I even say it is “new” anymore now that I’ve been here 10 months?) has been a good one. It started with self-doubt and horror that I’d never figure out the job requirements, and has blossomed into a great working relationship with all of my bosses, some new friendships, and some nice perks (free lunches galore, the ability to bring my dog to work with me, complete autonomy). My hope once they hire a fourth admin next year is that I’ll be able to change my hours to work earlier (right now I am 8a-5p, although I usually work 7:30a-5p, with a goal of working 7a-4p). I think I’ll be able to do that once we have four admins in place.
I’m not sure when my review will be, but last week I had to submit my self-review. I am not a fan of self-reviews, but even moreso I am not a fan of forcing admins to set goals. Admins are there to support their leaders. What kind of goals do we need? Answer phones after the first ring, not the second? Increase our typing speed from 100 wpm to 120 wpm? Set up travel more efficiently? I made it be known (just as I have at EVERY job I’ve had in my illustrious career) that I’m not a believer in admin goal-setting. And was asked to come up with something anyway.
So I came up with three goals.
1) Take a refresher Microsoft Access class to figure out a more efficient way to track the several hundred projects my bosses are working on at any given time. I used to design databases back in the day, but it has been 10 years and I’m sure the program has changed enough to warrant taking a class.
2) Become more firmly entrenched in the work that my bosses do so that I can better anticipate and manage their projects.
3) Continue to build relationships with both company staff and our clients.
These goals are not quantifiable, and cannot be held to a metric of any kind (other than “did she take the class? Is she more involved? Does she know more people?). And so they are completely worthless. *sigh*
I was also told that the one manager in the company never gives higher than a 3 (Meets Expectations) because most admins – that’s what they do. They meet the expectations for the job. Well, my score at the end of my self-review was 4.4 out of 5, so I don’t know what pipe he’s smoking. I EXCEED expectations every single day of week. So if I see a single 3 on my final evaluation I’ll be ticked.
The deadline for manager feedback is mid-November, which means that sometime after that will be my official review. I’ve already told the woman in charge of my review (with whom I have a really great relationship) that I’d prefer she just hand me a printout of my review, let me read it, sign it and date it before handing it back. That’ll make this review much more enjoyable for me. She laughed and said she’d consider it.
I don’t think she knew I was being serious.
