I launched a product this year and my score rank seems to be a "Meet". What is MR's EPR score?
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Let me correct it for ya !
EPR has been a joke for a long time now.
It is highly biased against individual contributers (your boss or boss's boss doesn't like you or for that matter doesn't understand your project...you get an average rating,..... you got an exceed rating last year....no matter what you do this year....average rating for you, you don't work in your boss's favorite project....average rating).
Mind you all these applies for individual contributers also known as worker peons in 3M.
If you are part of the privileged class, none of these rules apply. I know quite a few of these managers who had superior ratings for majority of their managerial career in 3M. Ever wonder why your colleague who jumped to management track at the first chance he had, has now been promoted at twice the rate as you or even the vast majority of worker peons in 3M ???
Some personal statistics to prove one more time that EPR is a sham!
I have been promoted 4 times now, but I had only 3 exceed expectations ratings in my career !!
Here is my review of 3M mgmt, at all levels:
Entitled
Lazy
Stupid
Everything derives from that.
As a manager, I agree that performance reviews are a joke.
As Varys says, managers have calibration meetings to decide who gets one of the coveted "Exceeds Expectations" ratings. Last year we were told to keep them under 20%.
I was also told that one of my employees was not eligible to be rated "Exceeds Expectations" because he got it the previous year. I pointed out that his work was consistently exemplary and was told that it was someone else's turn.
Another employee got a deserved promotion 9 months earlier and so was only going to get "Meets Expectations."
And another launched a process that cut them required time from multiple people spending half a day each week to 15 minutes to validate the automated process. Nope, no Exceeds for them because my VP didn't know who they were. Literally, "They can't be that impressive if I haven't noticed them."
EPR is a total sham. Earlier, maybe 15 years ago or so, MTR meetings used to consider input from T6, T7 senior leaders for technical evaluation of people on the group.
These days the overlords are solely the middle managers. Unless you are on the good side of your manager, you will never see another" exceeds expectations" again in your 3M life.
Your manager will tell you some c.o.c.k and b.u.l.l story about why you got
an average rating.
On the other hand, 70% or so of the worker bees will get an average rating. In most cases, it is possible to get an average rating by doing half arsed work, hence some folks take it easy and put in the bare minimum since there is little motivation to go the extra miles these days!
Your post could equally be titled:
"Tell you have have never been in an MTR meeting without telling me you have never been in an MTR meeting"
While your point about 3M not growing appropriately it accurate and fair, it misses hands-on understanding of 3M's broken EPR system.
Through a great many years of MTR meetings, I can tell you with high certainty that the difference between a 'good year' exceeds percentage and a 'bad year' exceeds percentage is right around 5%. A good year might get allowed to be 25% exceeds, if you are lucky. A bad year you might be allowed 20% exceeds.
The very highest I've seen in a group of at least a few dozen people was just a sliver over 30% with other groups paying the price, and then some, for those extra exceed ratings. The lowest I've ever seen was right at 17%.
Company revenue has been decreasing past couple of years. In other words, as a whole, results from all employee contributions have not met market expectations. A company like 3M should be growing at or slightly above GDP. While senior leadership is accountable, so are all employees. As such (given the overall not meeting market expectations), 75+% receiving "Meets Expectations" is appropriate. Ask your PSD counterparts during the height of the pandemic. I would venture to guess that 25-30% exceeded expectations at the time because sales were booming.
Becoming? I mean I think it was always a bunch of BS. Then again I was hired in 2017, maybe things used to be different.
Even with all the eliminated positions and added responsibilities piled on, I know without a doubt I will receive the "Meeting expectations" rating. So, naturally I, like so many others, am seeking to leave this once great American company. It's being called "RemainCo" because 3M is dead.
“ When you look around, are you one of the top 20% contributors relative to your job grade?”
… considering that I have been performing and have responsibilities that are required of 1-3 job grades above mine and I have yet to get an “exceeds expectations” tells me that it is all BS. It is literally just how your supervisor/management feels about you personally. My supervisor hates me and would probably give me a did not meet expectations if she could get away with it. So I tried something new this year and am performing @ my job level, and I was threatened with the possibility of a 1 on my review during my one on one.
I wish there was more transparency into how “grading” was actually calculated. Us peons are just told there are multiple factors, but some are weighted more than others.
The EPR process is easily the single most morale-ki-ling aspect of 3M (other than the current executive batting lineup we have). In 20 years across several roles the company, I would agree with only two of the ratings I have received.
To Varys' point down below, yes, many managers will do a reasonable job of trying to be equitable. However, there are no real checks against flagrantly self-promoting employees getting undue credit, nor is there any visibility to the "sausage-making" that happens behind closed doors with management only present. Employee ratings (and promotions) can be sacrificed on the altar due to:
‐ a manager's political agenda ("this project/person was successful, but I know it's out of favor with the SVP, so....")
- a manager's thinly veiled personal vendetta against the employee
- a different (more senior or influential) manager contradicting the employee's rating or promotion
Interestingly, years ago for some groups the most senior technical people (T6's and T7's, for example) would participate in the MTRs for all technical people within their entire group, as a sort of check-and-balance against this type of behavior. I seriously doubt that this would ever be brought back!
I had a direct report who exceeded expectations one year. Unfortunately, my manager did not like this person and asked me to rate this person “did not meet expectations” despite my arguments to the contrary and the fact everyone who worked with this person with the exception of my manager gave this person a high rating,
You are conflating a few points in your post.
- Most supervisors do try their best to be as fair and equitable as possible within system constraints.
- The exceeds quota is ALWAYS 22-ish percent. Has been 22-ish percent for decades. A team could invent, launch, and sell perpetual motion machines in a single year and still their director is still stuck only giving 22-ish% exceeds. God himself couldn't get a group to 40% exceeds in 3M's EPR system no matter their performance. (executives excluded, of course)
- "EPR process is still the best one I have seen around" - Whatever psychotropic substance you are on, please stop it or share with the rest of the class. 3M's EPR system is easily one of the worst I've ever encountered. It is shallow and does literally nothing to motivate staff to do better - which should the process's primary goal.
When has it not been a joke? The top ratings go to the personal favorites and squeaky wheels, so good luck ever getting a rating that reflects your accomplishments if you are neither of those.
Only about 20% get the Exceeds rating. When you look around, are you one of the top 20% contributors relative to your job grade? Be honest with yourself. I have been on both sides of the ladder (last 10 years in technical role), and generally, your supervisor gets it right. Not saying there will be some who are deserving of the Exceeds rating who get squeezed out, but the EPR process is still the best one I have seen around.
In all probability, your manager will get the credit for his "leadership" qualities in launching the product.
Technical folks get a fraction of the credit they deserve for doing the heavy lifting in the lab.
Wonder why worker bees are demoralized in general and there is no Innovation anymore.
Your manager will explain that you will not credit for success until the product exceeds sales forecast in NPI system.