Work

[Astro Hollywood]

'None of your fucking business' to every one of those.

[SuperBacon]

Just now, Astro Hollywood said:

'None of your fucking business' to every one of those.

I panicked and thought I might still be in a glitch part of the assessment questions.

[Frankie Crisp]

Bloody dropdowns. No option of free text or uploading supporting evidence has robbed you.

[RancidPunx]

Just found out a peer got a new job with a 100% increase for a more junior role in IT.

 

 

[Slapnut]

We’ve just found out our bonus outcomes over the last two weeks based on appraisals that were done in July, and I have a slight issue with mine.

It was determined that people marked at level 1 (performing as expected), level 2 (high performers) and level 3 (going above and beyond) would all get bonuses, but not level 0 (underperforming). This is how team members were appraised back in July, but the actual bonus outcomes themselves were only determined at the start of November, and were retrospectively tagged onto the grades. This bit is important for later.

Anyway, I didn’t get a bonus, which would indicate I’ve been graded at level 0. However, when I queried this with both my current manager and my previous manager who appraised me, both confirmed that I haven’t been underperforming and I’m performing at the desired level, but still no bonus, and that’s the end of that.

As I mentioned earlier, these bonus outcomes were only retrospectively added onto the grades early November, while the grades themselves were determined in July. Having sat in a number of appraisal sessions myself back in July, I witnessed quite a lot of team members having their grades downgraded by senior management who didn’t think certain evidence suggested person A should be on a specific grade. Unless you fought hard against this happening, that was the end of the story, with the justification being that we’re unlikely to be getting bonuses this year anyway so it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, so I’m fairly certain this is what’s happened with me.

Do you think I’d be within my right to raise this with HR? I know bonuses aren’t contracted salary so aren’t guaranteed, but a bonus on the low end of the scale is no short of a grand, so I feel a little hard done by. Plus, being an Assistant Manager myself and appraising my own team members, I know you need to give concrete feedback and evidence as to why somebody has been graded at a certain level, and I don’t feel my feedback in any way reflects my outcome.

Edited November 27, 2020 by Slapnut

[gmoney]

Have you got a union? I wouldn't bother with HR. 

[Slapnut]

1 hour ago, gmoney said:

Have you got a union? I wouldn't bother with HR. 

Unfortunately not. I work for a big 4 consultancy firm so there’s no chance of anything like that to the best of my knowledge. Your HR response is what I feared to be honest, they’ve not been great in my admittedly few dealings with them.

[gmoney]

Unfortunately in my experience in that situation, they will back the company to the hilt as that's what they're there to do. Do you have any other outlet, like an employee forum or anything? 

[Keith Houchen]

Your best bet is to see if someone in your exact same position and circumstances has been given a bonus, then you can ask why. However, having worked somewhere with bonuses and grades within grades, it’s frowned upon to disclose your remuneration with others so that may hinder your attempts. 

[MPDTT]

Hi @Slapnut, HR here,

Start by asking your HRBP why you got no bonus, it could be a payroll issue or something simple. 

But......If you get no satisfactory response, or are told your rating was downgraded in calibration to a bottom rating (disqualifying you from a bonus), then you need to raise a grievance. Your justification for your grievance is that at no point has your manager indicated that your performance was not up to standard, has said they are happy with your performance and this comes as a total surprise - its unfair as you've not been given the opportunity to improve. 

Knowing that you work for one of Deloitte, PwC, EY or KPMG, I know these firms tend to be quite ruthless when it comes to exiting poor performers  and some expect the bottom 10% to be exited every year (they actually measure this). So....if you have been given a bottom rating you want to know about it pronto - so you can either fight it or start looking for a new job.

 

[Keith Houchen]

Exiting is wankerspeak for sacking. 

[Chest Rockwell]

52 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

Exiting is wankerspeak for sacking. 

He's already said he's HR, this is redundant.

Anyway, wankerspeak aside he's not entirely wrong about the best course of action. @Slapnut have you confirmed you definitely weren't downgraded to a 0? Your rating shouldn't be a secret and you have a right to know if you are considered to have been underperforming. And if that's the case you're well within your rights to ask if other grade 1s across the board haven't received a bonus, even though you may not get a direct answer to that question. Don't be afraid to ask - worst they can do is not tell you. Get all the facts and then you can decide whether you want to fight your case or not. It's certainly reasonable to expect at least a 1 if throughout the year in 1-2-1s or in your mid-year appraisal there was never any indication that you were underperforming.

There's a decent chance it's just that you got a 1 and they didn't give bonuses to 1s this year though I guess, if you've already had previous indication that the bonus pot was light this year. But go find out. Don't be fobbed off with people saying it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things; that's bullshit. Although bonuses aren't guaranteed if you have every reasonable reason to expect one you deserve a bit more transparency. 

[MPDTT]

12 hours ago, Keith Houchen said:

Exiting is wankerspeak for sacking. 

Only trying to help.....

[Keith Houchen]

2 hours ago, MPDTT said:

Only trying to help.....

And you do. Many have benefited from your advice on here, 

[Slapnut]

On 11/27/2020 at 9:31 PM, MPDTT said:

Start by asking your HRBP why you got no bonus, it could be a payroll issue or something simple.

 

What does the BP stand for in this instance? I’m not familiar with that term.

I had the news broken to me by my current manager as per protocol, but he wasn’t the manager who appraised me so he had no actual context. It was when I raised it with my old manager who appraised me did I get told I was performing as expected.

@Chest Rockwell I haven’t had it confirmed in black and white that I’ve been graded as a 0, but us team leaders were told outright that we would be getting bonuses if graded 1, 2 or 3. I’ve also told both managers I’ve spoken to that I’m assuming I’ve been graded as a 0 and received no response that would persuade me otherwise, which in my place is as good as confirmation. I’d be surprised if I receive a direct answer on that, they’re very secretive at my place about this sort of thing.

Interestingly, I spoke to a work friend about this yesterday who confirmed he’d received a small bonus, and I know for a fact he’d been graded as a 0 as well because I was in the wash up session. Admittedly, he’s a pay grade below me, but those in his pay grade were only confirmed to be getting bonuses at grade 2 and 3, so fuck knows what’s happened there. The only thing I can think of is that he was promoted during the financial year, so his bonus has potentially come from his time in his prior job role, but my counter argument would be that I was also promoted during the same timeframe, so if that’s the case then I should have also been appraised for a period under my old role.

On 11/27/2020 at 11:00 PM, Chest Rockwell said: