Bad mid year review

LegacyUser

I have been working for a major financial institution for the last 16 months. I had a review in January and I got a 3/5.

I had my mid year today and was basically told I am on track for a 4/5 due to a few c0ck ups I have had in the last few months. Few examples would be out of 100 commands I gave someone else to do I had a space in one of them which caused it to delete all the the logs this was easily fixed by restarting the processes. Another would be where I have submitted some paper work then I had edited it which caused it to be set back to not submitted state which caused us to miss a deadline.

I have been told for every day next month I have to set goals for myself and review them at the end of day and say why I didnt meet ones I had set out, pips as they called it. This is only between myself, my supervisor and manager and have been told it is not official (aka HR are not involved but I do know they are aware of this).

The main reason for this is because I do not enjoy my role so I never look thought my work thoroughly enough also the long hours and stressful work, and its was always my goal to stay here 2 years (maximum 3) before jumping ship.

Has anyone had any experience like this before? How long do I have left before I can be given the sack?

As I am under the impression that this is the start of the process to let me go.

gugleguy

I have been there, mate. I won't name my organisation, this was 17 years ago. They are still in rude health btw. My other collegues who joined them at the same time thought the same of them (I found out late) , actually from the cleaner to higher ranks than me there. No HR function where that was.
Ask for a meeting 1 - 1 with HR where you are. Admit your mistakes, see what this HR's opinion is. Take it from there.

jethrothe2nd

You come across as very blase about the situation. Why do you not just jump ship now and focus your attention on getting a job that you can put some effort into? I am sure that there would be a lengthy queue of highly qualified unemployed people who would be more than willing to put in the effort and hours required in your current job.

Bruce7

FIwoker wrote: »

I have been working for a major financial institution for the last 16 months. I had a review in January and I got a 3/5.

I had my mid year today and was basically told I am on track for a 4/5 due to a few c0ck ups I have had in the last few months. Few examples would be out of 100 commands I gave someone else to do I had a space in one of them which caused it to delete all the the logs this was easily fixed by restarting the processes. Another would be where I have submitted some paper work then I had edited it which caused it to be set back to not submitted state which caused us to miss a deadline.

I have been told for every day next month I have to set goals for myself and review them at the end of day and say why I didnt meet ones I had set out, pips as they called it. This is only between myself, my supervisor and manager and have been told it is not official (aka HR are not involved but I do know they are aware of this).

The main reason for this is because I do not enjoy my role so I never look thought my work thoroughly enough also the long hours and stressful work, and its was always my goal to stay here 2 years (maximum 3) before jumping ship.

Has anyone had any experience like this before? How long do I have left before I can be given the sack?

As I am under the impression that this is the start of the process to let me go.

Your department will be doing its budget for 2013 at this time of the year. It's safe to assume they will be expected to reduce headcount / costs by a certain amount next year

You are probably on a list of poor performers that is being actively monitored by senior management in your area as well as HR. They need to show that they are giving you every opportunity to improve your performance. In theory, this means you have a genuine opportunity to salvage the situation, but the daily goal setting implies that they are gathering evidence to support a decision to let you go, sorry to say.

What you do have is time. Unless they are way over budget for this year (which they might be, due to your cock-ups!) it probably won't happen until year end. So I would say the worst case scenario is that you are let go at the end of this year. Best case, maybe the end of next March. Most likely, somewhere in between.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it should give you time to come up with a plan B. If you have no other work options, it might be an idea to talk to a solicitor who specialises in employment law. They may be able to find a way of prolonging or even blocking the process.

kjl

In a big multinational organisations when you are put on a pip (performance improvement plan) it normally indicated the start of the end of your employment. Organisations need reasonable grounds to fire you and if you keep down this track of making mistakes and more importantly not caring about them they will have reason to fire you.

If I was you I would really be making a strong effort from now on. Talk to your manager and project leader and admit to your mistakes and explain that you are going to make a big effort to focus on the detail in the future. I have had a few issues with work before and the only thing you can do is eat humble pie.

In the mean time maybe start sending out a few CV's because if you fail to change your ways, it wouldn't surprise me if they fired you.

mikemac1

Getting 3/5 is underperforming these days

Anyway, you can recover from this

Lots of management books out there about every department having a few stars, a few underperformers and everyone else tries hard and are decent.
Sounds about right to me, you could put that in sports or pretty much any situation

But you don't seem to care OP and this will drive management crazy

Everyone makes mistakes and you can turn this around. If you do a consistently strong job for the next year and outperform your teammates this can be recovered

But you're not bothered

Do up your CV and start thinking of moving on and starting fresh somewhere else.
Don't leave the job until you have a job but if you can't turn this around by Christmas at worst they'll let you go next year and at best you're going to be shoved into a corner and watch the new hires get promoted ahead of you

LegacyUser

mikemac1 wrote: »

Getting 3/5 is underperforming these days

I got 3/5 in January and in my mid year even though no one are told scores when I questioned further that I found out that they have to give HR a score and by the fact I was put on PIP (albeit unofficially) meant my score was a 4/5.

I seem to given the impression off that I do not care about the mistakes I have made which is untrue. It was said to me in my 1:1 that it has been noticed that I have been putting in a lot of effort in but its my "silly mistakes" that are letting me now.

kjl wrote: »

If I was you I would really be making a strong effort from now on. Talk to your manager and project leader and admit to your mistakes and explain that you are going to make a big effort to focus on the detail in the future. I have had a few issues with work before and the only thing you can do is eat humble pie.

In my mid year the first thing they asked me was how do I think I have done and I went on to talk about my mistakes I have made since the start of the year. I have always been honest with my manager, come straight up and told him when I have c0cked up so I never have tired to hide my mistakes. It was said to me at the time that not everyone would have done that and would have tired to hide their mistakes.

FIwoker wrote: »

out of 100 commands I gave someone else to do I had a space in one of them which caused it to delete all the the logs this was easily fixed by restarting the processes.

This mistake happened again a while later but not in the live environment and my team lead flipped out saying I need to learn. Even though my name was attached to it, I didnt write the commands the guy who would be just under my team lead wrote it. I was kinda happy to know its just not me who could make the mistake but the guy never owned up to it and I didnt want to point the finger as that guy has been very helpful to me so I took the blame for it. I was meant to have a 1:1 the next day so I was going to explain it there but that never happened and I never got the chance to explain that it wasnt me.

I dont think it has to do with money, as I am on peanuts (senior guys would be at least double my salary and my manager would be on a at least 7 times my salary) and two guys have left my team in recent months.

I am on Permanent Contract so I wondering does that make any difference?

Jack B. Badd

FIwoker wrote: »

This mistake happened again a while later but not in the live environment and my team lead flipped out saying I need to learn. Even though my name was attached to it, I didnt write the commands the guy who would be just under my team lead wrote it. I was kinda happy to know its just not me who could make the mistake but the guy never owned up to it and I didnt want to point the finger as that guy has been very helpful to me so I took the blame for it. I was meant to have a 1:1 the next day so I was going to explain it there but that never happened and I never got the chance to explain that it wasnt me.

I'm in a lead position & tbh I can see why your team lead flipped. People in my team make mistakes, myself included, but repeating the same mistakes or making many mistakes is a major black mark imo. Repeating the same mistake means you haven't learned from that particular mistake the first time. Making many mistakes means you haven't learned in general - if you're prone to mistakes you should always check your work (multiple times if necessary) to catch further mistakes before they are implemented. Anything else is just sloppiness & I'm not accepting of that.

Also it doesn't matter if your subordinate made the mistake because a) your team lead doesn't know this because you didn't make an opportunity to tell him/her and b) if your name is against a task you should always check it before it is implemented regardless of who did the work. Not bothering to do so is, again, sloppiness.

I know I'm coming across as harsh but you really need to gain an understanding of your superiors' point of view if you want to retain your job and/or prospects for progression within the company.

mikemac1

Are you a team leader OP?

I just assumed you were a young junior employee

You have a senior position, well not senior overall but you do have responsibility

The new hire can get away with mistakes that you cannot.

More is expected of you, no point saying other people are making errors too.

I've make mistakes for sure and gotten called to meetings but I've only once seen a junior staff member get sacked

I've seen quite a few managers get let go suddenly

As you go up it becomes ruthless

Other staff will be gunning for your job, can you turn it around?

LegacyUser

Jack B. Badd wrote: »

I'm in a lead position & tbh I can see why your team lead flipped. People in my team make mistakes, myself included, but repeating the same mistakes or making many mistakes is a major black mark imo. Repeating the same mistake means you haven't learned from that particular mistake the first time. Making many mistakes means you haven't learned in general - if you're prone to mistakes you should always check your work (multiple times if necessary) to catch further mistakes before they are implemented. Anything else is just sloppiness & I'm not accepting of that.

Also it doesn't matter if your subordinate made the mistake because a) your team lead doesn't know this because you didn't make an opportunity to tell him/her and b) if your name is against a task you should always check it before it is implemented regardless of who did the work. Not bothering to do so is, again, sloppiness.

I know I'm coming across as harsh but you really need to gain an understanding of your superiors' point of view if you want to retain your job and/or prospects for progression within the company.

Thanks for the advice as its good to see the point of view of someone like my team lead. Yes I do believe I should take responsibly for not reviewing the work by others. I was planning on telling my team lead about it in my next meeting but are you saying it would be bad for idea for me to tell my team lead as it may come across as on the way down I am trying to bring others down with me?

mikemac1 wrote: »

Are you a team leader OP?

I just assumed you were a young junior employee

You have a senior position, well not senior overall but you do have responsibility

The new hire can get away with mistakes that you cannot.

More is expected of you, no point saying other people are making errors too.

I've make mistakes for sure and gotten called to meetings but I've only once seen a junior staff member get sacked

I've seen quite a few managers get let go suddenly

As you go up it becomes ruthless

Other staff will be gunning for your job, can you turn it around?

I am a graduate and their is no one below me.

LegacyUser

Hi OP, I'm going through something similar in work so take heart that you not alone.

Bottomline I think its best to learn from this and try leave on your own terms.
Once a perception is out there it will stick, even if you are doing well you'll be up against it.

I am going through the same thing only over the course of of a year and a half. Management keep changing the criticisms of me, first I'm not X then I prove x then few months later I'm not y I demonstrate y. It just becomes stressful.

Best to leave in my opinion then its all in your control and your terms rather than always stressing and worrying what next.
Best of luck (and dont go through a year of pain like i did)

Jack B. Badd

FIworker wrote: »

Thanks for the advice as its good to see the point of view of someone like my team lead. Yes I do believe I should take responsibly for not reviewing the work by others. I was planning on telling my team lead about it in my next meeting but are you saying it would be bad for idea for me to tell my team lead as it may come across as on the way down I am trying to bring others down with me?

Your opportunity to explain the situation was when it happened. You didn't take that and you haven't made another opportunity since then & if I was your lead I'd be wondering why you weren't fully transparent on the matter at the time. As for telling him/her now...tbh it depends on how recently it was - a few days ago and I think you could/should explain yourself but if it was months ago then I'd be wondering why you're bothering to rehash the past.

Either way, if you do bring it up, I wouldn't phrase it to lay the blame at the other guy's feet. You owned the task as your name was against it, you should have checked the commands before they were implemented. The best you can do is say that the other guy helped you and you realise that you should have taken responsibility for checking it - this will help to show that you have learned from the mistake, however you need to put those words into practice in future to show that you have actually learned!

FIworker wrote: »

I am a graduate and their is no one below me.

Ah, I misread your earlier post and thought the guy who wrote the commands was in a lower team.

Ok, if this is your first job, part of your learning has been general workplace learning - i.e. how to function in a job (any job), your company, office environment, team, with your colleagues, etc. But, you've been there for more than a year - the learning curve for the first year tends to be steep and I would have expected you to have learned a lot about the requirements of your role, especially error checking as that's a basic requirement in any development or admin role.

On the plus side, even if this job in this company isn't salvageable, you'll have learned valuable lessons for future jobs. Pull your socks up and make sure you cover* your ass in your next job. No-one else is going to cover it for you.

* by this I don't mean lay the blame on other people or try to hide your mistakes, rather minimise your mistakes and take your probationary period as an opportunity to really prove yourself as a worthwhile employee in your company.

Good luck

gigawatt2007

I started out my career in exactly the same way OP, rushing through work to complete as much as I could in the time I had. This lead to loads of work being completed but loads of mistakes along the way.

I learned fairly sharpish looking around me that I needed to do less well, so I slowed down and wrote down what I could achieve in a day at the start of every day. Given that I knew I rushed things I said right, I'll do that lot in 2 days instead.

I ended up more organised, less stressed and more efficient.

Eventually I got out of the rut I was in and started to enjoy my work.

I'm now managing the same fella who tried to put me on a PIP

P.S. Permanent contract won't matter much, you need to be made permanent to be entitled to any severance pay.