Appraisals

Former Member

When was your last appraisal at work? Or have you ever had a proper one? What was it like - did you get out of it what you wanted and did it ever change things?

I finally had my first appraisal today after being in my job for eight months. I practically had to force my boss into doing my appraisal because I wanted to know how he thought I was doing, and because I'm aiming for promotion into a different department, so I at least wanted to know what this boss thought before I switched to working under a new boss!

I thought it went pretty well - I got a lot of things off my chest that had been bothering me lately (which he obviously had no idea of!), and I also found out what he thinks of me. He didn't tell me anything I didn't already know.. he complimented me on how intelligent, committed, enthusiastic, etc I am and all that, but he also had a few things to tell me off about.

His main one was that I spend too much time with one of the other managers (ie not my boss - just someone I get on well with as a mate and who has not direct power over me) and that "some people" don't like it. Thing is, these "people" are basically only one particular person - and that person is the woman who is sleeping with my boss! Just about all of his negative comments about me obviously stem from things she doesn't like about me (in fact, I don't think she likes anything about me, but that's another story!). Me and this woman work in completely different departments and none of my work affects her and vice versa. It strikes me and the guy I'm close to that she's jealous of the fact we can have a laugh together and nothing is thought of it (by anyone except her!) but she and my boss (who is also her direct boss) can't be seen to be "having a laugh" together due to the fact they go home together every night - the guy I'm close to is married and loads older than me, so no one suspects anything is going on other than in jest.

Everything negative he said was second-hand... it was all stuff from her, and nothing from my direct line manager or from other managers in the company who's opinions he had asked for. I get the impression this woman moaning about me has "clouded his judgement" somewhat, which I don't think was fair as she has no authority over me and, quite frankly, her opinion doesn't matter in the grand scheme of my career progression with the Company.

The guy I'm close to (who, *when* I get promoted will be my boss) got mad when he found out what we'd been accused of - basically, my boss insinuated that me and this guy "got rather close" when we worked together late nights and at the weekends, when we were alone together in the office(!) - and said I should never have been spoken to like that. He really wants to get me "into his team" as soon as possible but my current boss doesn't seem to want to let me get on with my training. My current boss doesn't want this other guy to have any say in my training because he doesn't want us to work closely together - another thing he got mad about!

Anyway, point is, although I got a lot off my chest and I know I'll just have to wait and see if anything changes because of it (doubt it!), I still feel with it wasn't a fair assessment considering how tainted it was with this other woman opinions and clearly not those of my boss, who's opinions actually matter! I'm sorely tempted to say something to this woman, and I normally would, if she wasn't shagging my boss who in turn would make my working life a misery for as long as I stay in my present job!

Anyone got any suggestions for what I could do, or should I just leave it? :S

Thanks for reading, I know it was long!