Do you trust that your manager’s manager or other people in your management team didn’t make your manager lower your last year-end rating to fill the quota?
Who has their finger on the scale and why are Wells Fargo’s performance review methods so terrible?
19 replies (most recent on top)
In Tech, it is May and the performance OKR's for measuring performance have not been defined, the Products and their processes are not defined or hardened, the roles/responsibilities of team members have not been defined within products, and
mid-Year reviews are upon us.
The question was asked in an "Ask Me Anything": How will resources be measured at mid-year?
Response: after stammering for an answer, the answer given was the 7 "S" are still the best way to measure performance.
These Tech "Leaders" are sub-standard and couldn't lead a way out of a paper sack. JP Morgan rejects for a reason.
Failed to get Products defined, Failed to get them operational, failed to address risk, fail to properly test resulting in defective WF products with customer impacts, fail to listen to Teams that have resolutions, Fail, Fail, Fail....How I wish I had input to "Leadership" evaluations.
thought the posts here could be summarized via chatGPT:
Common Threads:
Distrust in the performance review process: Many posts express a lack of trust in the performance review process and question the integrity of the managers and senior management involved.
Manipulation of ratings: Several posts suggest that managers are pressured to lower ratings to meet quotas or protect their own positions. There are claims of ratings being changed without valid reasons or without considering individual performance.
Negative impact on motivation: The perception that exceeding expectations is punished and that there is little incentive to go above and beyond in the workplace is a recurring theme. Some employees express frustration and a desire to leave the company due to these circumstances.
Criticism of HR and management: There are posts criticizing HR for not ensuring the hiring of the best candidates and overseeing performance reviews. Some employees also express dissatisfaction with middle management, perceiving them as untrustworthy or ineffective.
Lack of transparency and communication: Employees mention a lack of discussion, feedback, or justification during the performance review process. They feel that decisions are made without proper explanation or consideration of individual circumstances.
Summary:
The common threads in these posts revolve around a lack of trust in the performance review process, manipulation of ratings, negative impact on motivation, criticism of HR and management, and a lack of transparency and communication. Employees express frustration and disillusionment with the system, questioning its fairness and integrity. They perceive a lack of recognition for high performers and feel that the process discourages going above and beyond in their work. There are calls for change and more transparency in the performance review methods used by the company.
My manager openly shared that his exceeds reviews were rejected due to the overall performance of our greater team. So I guess if your team sucks, you can’t personally exceed. F that. It just told me to adjust my work accordingly to just meet since going above and beyond is punished. With my extra time, I’m networking to move to a different company.
They should fire all the recruiters if any employee is lower than a “meets”. Weren’t they supposed to find the best candidates? The HR exec should also be fired for not overseeing the hiring of the best candidates. Maybe her bonus should be based on performance reviews of the employees. Too many low ratings could be seen as not doing her job and no bonus for her.
@1zke+1mEWrVV1 right?!
tho, the last job I want is my mgr's job...or any middle mgmt job. It probably pays well--but you are kissing a$$ and drinking the kool aid--forcing it down our throats...
I'm here for a couple of more years until retirement age for the medicare or a lovely severance package.
Sc--w reviews. They mean nothing to anyone except HR who is worthless. No one fits their ridiculous molds. Let’s have the employees review the management here including Charlie and his minions. Bet their would be lots of PIPS and terminations.
I trust no one in this company and certainly not one of our low life managers. Wells Fargo is the least farthest thing away from trust!
@yrn+1mEWrVV1 Another reason for the Bank to look closely. If you're a top performer on your team, a backstabbing middle manager is going to think that you might take their job if they get laid off, so who do you think they will downgrade & who will they give good reviews (even if they aren't good at their job)? Yeah, the non performers will get a free pass, just like everything else at this company.
WF and “trust” are incompatible.
100% on point and my experience also
WF believes if they put something in writing (i.e. it’s not a curve) then it must be true and employees are not sophisticated enough to recognize the truth.
Disgusting.
F@ck reviews. I will do what I want and where I want. I don’t do what they tell me to do. The managers hereare all stupid. I had to write my own review so I rated myself perfect
It's not even funny that the mentality to "game the system" is applied to everything WF does. AND BADLY.
I fully expect to get a meets next year because I got a consistently exceeds this year. They'll cycle through to other employees. Not sure how it'll impact my comp with going from a 5 to a 3. My bonus is a huge part of my comp.
We actually had someone at a two and then management said no, give them a one. Which was well deserved though.
Manager here, long-time employee. The process is gamed. And yes, as the other poster said, don't trust us. We're not dealing from the top of the deck, not for several years since we got the new HR leadership.
Look for "performance calibration process" on Teamworks.
Read between the lines, "This is not a grading curve", the docs say. It's totally a grading curve. I have been told explicitly, "You need to drop 2 exceeds to be compliant for your team size", not let's talk about how your team is above average and might have earned these ratings, not even about the individual review content - no conversation - these are the numbers, meet them.
There is not a lot of discussion or feedback from senior management in the calibration process (they would have to know what is going on) - they just have a spreadsheet with the number of employees and total expected ratings in the "curve, not-curve". If your team is out of line you have to change it or do a lot of justification, or another manager can be compelled to donate an exceeds, etc. to make the org "calibrated".
They say it's not a curve in several places - look at the slides - there is literally a picture of a bell curve on the slide. Don't insult our intelligence! I have a highly performing team. I get the same allocation of meets/exceeds as some of our more redundant teams.
It's not right.
Luckily my org has only been enforcing the rack-and-stack on the positive side of the curve (forcing exceeds to meets). I have not (yet) been forced to lower a meets to something else that wasn't actually true. I would involve HR at that point (with full expectation of retaliation, up to and including termination). This is HR who rolled this out, so I don't expect they'll take the criticism lightly.
Some managers try to rotate the exceeds between top performers and pad the blow to try and keep top performers that are "meets" when they should have been exceeds. We loose the best talent this way. A shortsighted way to drive attrition - it's working. Rock-stars are leaving in droves while cube-warmers stick around. Good job Charlie - give yourself another raise.
Also, don't search teamworks for "salary calibration process", at first you'll be shocked, then you'll cry. This is your life and we're treating it like a game of Dice and Small Binoculars. That makes me sad, you deserve better, and we failed you as a leadership team.
I don't trust any managers anymore.... I use to!
everyone needs to watch their backs, as some of the current mgrs who were spared displacement are protecting themselves and areback stabbers
Yes absolutely. I had an Exceeds at mid year and was due to get one at year end. My manager was specifically told to downgrade the rating for a few people, not just me.
Shenanigans are being pulled yet again.
I know for a fact that my manager was rating me as a meets and her manager, who never interacted with me during the review period, made my manager downgrade me…and made up negative s#it to justify it. That’s why I quit.
Are you asking if it happens or if it happened to an individual? It's widely known that yes senior/OC managers provide ultimate input on the final grade. I was not impacted specifically by this though.
My manager gave me an exceeds rating. He left and my new manager presented a meets rating at review time. And, flat out told me the manager above her changed the rating and showed me what my previous manager had written. My mid-year rating was consistently exceeds. So, my rating changed from consistently exceeds to meets within 3 months. Nothing changed in my work in those 3 months.