#performancereview

What was your assessment feedback? Share the most useless and inactionable feedback you received this year.

Enjoy!

https://youtube.com/shorts/qUEdThH-qtM?is=dmMxDbgsclgAw_fz

I got a partially meets for the first time in my career based on very shaky reasons that didn’t reflect my work or feedback. Anyone else in my boat? I’m assuming this just makes me first in line for RIFs, but is it an automatic de*th sentence? If my part of the business isn’t hit will I be let go anyway? Obvs no one is psychic, just wondering about lived experience.

Whats new or different on your review and goals being stressed? Im assuming when mine comes it will be more hyperventilating about using AI and being pushed in thinking of new ways to use AI or commit to taking some type of AI training or certiications. Seems like this will all be used to eliminate anyone not 100% in on the AI cult mentality.

If so - what was it all about?

The way it works is that Execs get a 1 rating by default, that entitles them to rises every year even if turnover and profits fall (no deliverable or goals for them) . The others that get 1 are managers friends, anyone else can do a excellent but will never get a 1. Such a "pre" fixed pointless system. Repeat and rinse every year.

Has anyone had a mid year yet? How did it go?

Can you all see your mid-year check in rating in Workday? I am on medical leave and I don't see anything when I log in from home. (The most recent item under "Performance Reviews and Check-ins" is my 2025 year end review.)

Any idea?

Any idea when we are going to get these back from management? I was told yesterday quite some time ago, but that day came and went...

Interested in hearing if your performance eval rating/manager comments were as expected or a surprise?
For the first time in over 18 years, I received a “less than expected” rating even though I achieved my stated goals, met deadlines.

What is the percentage for merit increase for achieving a performance rating of 2 vs 3 vs 4 vs 5?

Does anyone even get a 5? I heard they don’t give out 5s. Or are they reserved for senior leadership?

Complete the sentence.

It's the middle of July, shouldn't they be showing by now? And yes I know that CVS is notoriously slow at this kind of stuff, but still to not even have your manager say anything to you yet? What gives? The one time that DL's need to pressure managers to get this done is the one time DL is silent.

In past layoffs, does anyone come to you with a list of names and you give your feedback on who you can let go? Do they look to performance reviews? Something I was informed of led me to believe that feed back from PL will be applied in this layoff.

I heard if you get meets expectations this year you only get 50% of your bonus. Anyone else heard this? I asked my manager and they didn't know so I called HR and they said there is no info available to them and to wait and see.

I'm sure a few folks have gone through the new mid-year check-in. What is involved ... was a meeting necessary or could an email take care of it?

We've just had Mid year reviews (which before that we hadn't long done our prior reviews, so what was the point) and now Growth plan reviews?? This just seems like busy work for the sake of it.

My job (and others around me's jobs) is uncertain currently and due to undergo a restructure etc in around August. So having these reviews so frequently is all just a fat waste of time in my eyes. Because my job wont be the same as before due to them wanting to silo by function or it maybe wont even exist and I'll be made redundant, who knows. There are currently no activities for me to add to this growth plan. If I was brutally honest it would be 'continue applying for more jobs'.

I do LinkedIn training etc, but these box ticking exercises are infuriating (also the 'Now assist' AI on the growth plan su-ks, because of the whole making our job titles more generic it doesn't know where to point to).

Management is rolling out a brand-new "Competency Model" framework for upcoming mid-year reviews that completely changes the rules of our jobs right after a massive layoff. They are introducing a mandatory "AI Competency" metric, requiring everyone to use AI tools daily and even "configure simple agents" just to be rated as "Effective" in their roles. This is a transparent move to force a smaller, surviving workforce to use automation to absorb all the leftover work from our departed colleagues. By rushing this out by August 31 alongside mid-year "goal adjustments," management is building a paper trail that redefines what it means to do your job well. If you don't adopt these new automated workflows, they can mark you as underperforming even if you are doing your core job perfectly, creating a loop hole for them to shift to performance-based terminations instead of layoffs so they can dodge paying severance down the road. Just when you think they can’t go any lower, they now want to take away severance pay

Default Rating: Far Exceeds Expectations
Actual Rating: Achieves Expectations
Override Calculated Rating: Yes

Anyone know what this means?

On my he-l. This new Mid-Year review ratings system is an absolute joke! I’ve never seen a more subjective rating system. You can put all the evidence and ecards and global recognition you want in your favor and if your manager wants to take a dump on your career this is a great hall pass! When the evidence listed by the manager points to an exceeds or at the least a meets and the manager just discriminates because they’re an ableist narcissist. Good lord… never in my long career have I ever seen a company circle the drain like this. The bank is asking to be sued via class action AGAIN for discrimination! They treat certain people differently than others based on their own intrinsic biases and never has it been clearer!

Is the max for “Exceeds Expectations” truly just 4%?

How does this mid-year review work.
You either get meets or not meets

My manager said , unless you are “not meet” nothing needs to be done.
Only if you are “not meet”, then it will be documented.

He said he has finish my review, but I did not see anything on my workday.

Just read mine and it looked wonderful until it says I should do more. Ok I work 10-11 hrs daily yet my rating is "tracking towards below expectations" I felt I just got slapped.

I was just given my first BE on Midyear review, after 29 years in the bank and never having anything below meet. I was given BS reason for it, stating I wasn't involved in AI - related tasks, as it was required. Noone ever assigned AI related tasks to me and my current job responsibilities do not involve it. I rejected the rating and commented in the form.
Additionally, I emailed my objections to the Managers. But it is my understanding, it is useless and I will be cut after year end. This is also an attempt to avoid severance payment. I do not have any illusions. I just want to hear your opinions about my possible strategy to go with the severance. Thank you.

I survived all of the previous cuts and was hoping to hang on long enough for the company to become profitable again. No such luck, I guess.

Like others have mentioned, it was a great place to work with great team members. And the hardest part of this is having a recruiter reach out to me with a job position that seemed like I would be a good fit for only to learn that it was the one at OSTK that I was just let go from. (The recruiter didn't notice this when they looked at my profile.)

And now I don't know what to think. Was I letting my team members down without knowing about it. If so, I would have hoped that they would have said so before it came to this instead of always giving me good reviews.

Anyway, it was hard enough when I thought it was more downsizing, but it's even harder thinking that it may have been for some other reason that I will always have to guess about.

Does your review actually mean anything at Nike? Promotions are non existent so is there any benefit to getting Exceeds Expectations over Achieves? Genuinely curious.

When I was still young and naïve enough to believe hard work actually pays off. After the initial PDS review and all the excellent feedback, money savings...I expected top rating. Instead, I got a VG “above average.” I was so disappointed I took a couple of days off. During the PA communication meeting, they told me I didn’t have “global impact.” I asked my manager what that even meant, because I wasn’t assigned to any global projects, that was completely outside my control. He walked me around the floor, opened a huddle room, and said, “See? There used to be only one monitor here. I asked them to upgrade to two.” he also asked to" replace chargers because people complained about slow battery charging in the huddle rooms."
Seriously? These are administrative tasks. Do you really need a PhD and research assignments to do this?

How much did folks get ? Band, %?

Its a check in not a mid-year.

But we are still doing ratings and stack-ranking people and calibrating to the smell curve.

So the real change is, employees dont get a say or the ability to send their accomplishments. As if that would have mattered.

Nice.

Why are they making us write the mid year reviews when layoffs are imminent in next 3 weeks?

My manager literally said in a meeting that she has never given an Exceeds. Seems to track as before joining this company, I've always gotten very high performance marks but since coming here, it's always Meets. Does anyone have similar stories? I only started reporting to this team this year.

An Engineering Director here told us to prepare for low reviews because managers are being forced to rate everyone on their teams using a bell curve, and there is no way around it. This means that even if some people are meeting expectations, they may still be placed in a “needs improvement” category. It feels like Oracle may be preparing for the next RIF or encouraging attrition. Has anyone else heard the same?

Does anyone have any real insight into the typical distribution of Below Strong, Strong, and Above Strong ratings? I’m curious what percentage of employees generally fall into each category during calibration.

There are persistent rumors circulating that another round of layoffs is planned for the end of the calendar year, with planning expected to begin in September. According to these reports, managers will be the primary target this time around.

Urgent Note for Managers:

Prepare now. If these rumors prove accurate, you have limited time to assess your options. Update your resume, strengthen your professional network, and explore opportunities elsewhere before September.

Additionally, reviews will be artificially deflated to encourage voluntary attrition. This appears to be a deliberate strategy to make the work environment increasingly difficult, pushing people to leave on their own terms. Be aware that negative review scores in the coming months may not reflect your actual performance.

If you're a manager, this is especially critical. Document your achievements and contributions now, and don't let artificially low reviews undermine your confidence or your market value as you explore your next move.

Working extra hours and getting good reviews won't save you. If they want you out, you'll be gone.

My manager told me not to submit it as we had regular 1:1, should I be worried?

My engineering team was already incredibly lean after various layoffs and departures over the last half a year. I was basically taking on 2 engineer's work and still got the notification today that I was surplussed despite great EOY performance reviews over the last several years. My manager said "it was not due to my performance" and it was "budget related" but honestly I am in shock and don't know what to believe.

I am off payroll in September, which means I have a few months to find a job --which isn't bad I guess. I am disappointed and angry that I have been cut while others around me who do less are still safe.

We have been told explicitly by our manger to expect that not everyone will get “meet expectations “, even if in reality you did meet the expectations.

I know these reviews are not as important as the year end, but what should we expect? Being put on a black list for the next layoffs?