Corporate Feedback BS

Fueled by Caffeine said:

I'm handing out 4-5% raises to my employees.  
 

 

I get a 1.5% raise. 
 

What's inflation at?

Pretty sure you all got a reduction in pay compared to last year.

In reply to aircooled :

Pretty sure?

im damn sure.   
 

last year I got a 2.5% raise so, the excuse is that I'm too high in the band and I did too good of Job negotiating.  Ohh well on to the next company. 

In reply to NY Nick :

I have absolutely seen people pulled aside based on survey responses. 

My last employer took staff surveys quite seriously, especially the parts about loyalty and corporate engagement. After I restructured myself out of a senior management job my old team was shifted from the technology group into corporate and reported to the HR Exec.

My successor came back from his first managers conference all cock a hoop with a certificate and lots of internal publicity because his team had the highest ratings in the company.

He was somewhat less than pleased when I dragged out the results from previous surveys and that on every measure it was the worst ever result "we" had achieved ... 

R

Wally (Forum Supporter) said:Ours is allegedly anonymous. It has to be accessed through your email, and if you try to fill out a second one you get a message that you've already completed it, but it's completely anonymous.  Incidentally in a recent meeting we were told that 72% of us are happy or very happy with our bosses so we have that going for us. 

Last place I worked was the same. It's totally anonymous, here's your PIN number to access it. Right. 
I've never worked in a place with lower morale, but apparently everybody was happy.  Our entire department got together and made a mockery of it. 

I work in Big Corporate Insurance, so of couse we have these surveys. Most of my past employers made a big song and dance about how important they were but nothing ever changed. And, Warren Buffet's company with the lizard absolutely, positively knew who you were if you responded negatively.

My current employer actually does seem to respond to them, though at an expected glacial pace. I don't fear responding honestly in the current environment, but then there isn't a whole lot to complain about, which is why I now work here.

Lastly, a paid-off mortgage and retirement within sight mean IDGAF, which is a wonderful place to be in life.

Pro tip: don't respond to a survey or OKR form by saying these procedures make you want to put a bullet in your head.  The result will be an exceedingly annoying conversation with an HR person incredibly unqualified to be having such a conversation.

I really want to find the person who invented OKRs and give them a piece of my mind... 

I'm over 50 and my "goal" is to retire as soon as possible.  I don't have "career advancement" goals. My career has advanced as far as it will go.  Although by some bizarre twist of fate, I am now in a position I couldn't have imagined even a few years ago. 

Sad that this happens, but ethics are not required to be successful in business.  I have seen surveys work and fail.  My favorite failure is not a survey but sort of is.  An employer had an "employee of the year" thing every december.  You filled out a questionaire asking who you wanted and why.  In the end it seemed more like who the owner wanted to be recognized for whatever reasons they had.  The program stopped after a few years, it seemed that whoever won ended up being fired a year or 2 after.  

Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:

I'm over 50 and my "goal" is to retire as soon as possible.  I don't have "career advancement" goals. My career has advanced as far as it will go. 

Hahah.  Same!  We will get a ride in at Allaire.

I am completely happy to retire from where I am and the level I'm at though I don't make too much noise about it.  Plenty of people retire one band below me.  Above me is almost entirely pure Management Misery.  I've managed to weasel my way into a position where I don't have any direct reports although I do nominally direct about a dozen people on our project.  

tester (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to NY Nick :

I have absolutely seen people pulled aside based on survey responses. 

I have too. Like I said some people self identify, either by name or by saying very specific details. Some people are also completely inappropriate. If they say that "so and so is a total shiny happy person and should be beaten with a stick" in a meeting they will get talked to, if they self identify and say it on a survey they SHOULD get talked to. Just because it's anonymous doesn't mean you should lose all professionalism. They are paying you to be there and paying you to take the survey, as such you aren't immune to repercussions for your actions.

Edit: 

And trust me I don't love mega corp. I like it, there are good pieces, there are awful pieces too. I have raised awful pieces on surveys but I don't do it with can of gas and a pack of matches. I also don't do it by writing my name and SS# (or anything else that picks me out definitively) in the response. If you have a legitimate concern and a well laid out reason for that concern it is a lot different than a F them all rant.

In no way am I going to sugar coat the short comings of the company I work for. If you want to improve, you have to admit that you're not perfect. But you also have to produce results. 

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

2. always rate yourself as high as you can possibly justify, let your boss potentially initiate conflict by proposing a lower assessment. 

I never understood this. When I worked in commercial sales at o'reilly we had yearly reviews and my manager did one of those, 'you fill it out and I'll give you my opinion'. When I gave it back to him as exceeds expectations across the board with all 5 out of 5's he was a bit taken aback and said that he had to give me a few 4's because it couldn't be perfect. Guy. It's not 'perfect'. But I've more than doubled the commercial sales every year since I started this position. When they basically stopped giving me raises, I left.

My last company had reviews in which your manager sat down with you to review, and anonymous surveys. You could not be honest in the reviews, your manager would beat you down mercilessly. In the anonymous surveys, everyone was brutally honest and it painted a much different picture of employee morale. 

they stopped down that here when we got bought out. Our new corporate overlords do not need to hear from us peons, even if we can see how they are running us into the ground.

On the subject of raises: I got a penny raise last year.  Yes, one red cent. Here was the official reason:

"your currant pay rate of $XX.97 is very close to the high end of the range for your position, so you'll receive a pay increase to the high end of the range.

Your new base pay will be $XX.98"