I used to believe that if I worked hard and stayed loyal, my manager would protect me. Then I got put on a PIP after my manager promised me I was safe. They don't have your back. They have their own back. Never forget that.
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@ck dude. Seek help. That was how many years ago! If you haven’t been able to move on in six years it sounds like they got it right!
@a4 In relation to the assessment process being a yes man has nothing to do with it. The rules are defined. They can’t rank everyone outstanding and call it a day. What do you expect?
@fm what really goes on is your supervisor enters a starting assessment category into career connect before the meeting. Each supervisor has to meet the distribution with their team. In the meeting they talk for two minutes about you. It is rare to move far from where your supervisor placed you to begin with.
You think your manager is God OP? Managers have to follow the system. Try ranking your team and see how it goes. Someone has to be NSI. Fit the distribution!
@fm Your assessment group likely has other supervisors from groups that are slightly different than yours so he/she is trying to get you to use language everyone will understand. (The ‘they’ is probably just the other supervisors.) And remember it is a relative assessment. There is a bit of an unknown element, because your supervisor only knows what their direct reports have accomplished. They don’t know the accomplishments of everyone else being assessed until the actual meeting. Then everyone’s accomplishments are compared, relatively. You could all be great employees but some did more relative to others.
@OP That’s interesting, because I used to have a supervisor who would make these strange statements that never quite added up.
For example during one of my first evaluations, I walked through everything I had worked on that year and he didn’t seem particularly impressed. Then six months later my ranking came back strong and he almost sounded surprised. He said something like, “Well, your ranking came back very well, so congratulations.”
What stood out to me was the wording: your ranking came back well. Not “I ranked you well.” Not “I fought for you.” It always sounded very third person, like the result arrived from somewhere else.
Another year, I wrote up accomplishments using the actual project names and technical terms we all used internally, things he and even his management chain were completely familiar with. He suggested I rename them more generically because “they” might not understand the terminology. And I remember thinking: who exactly is “they”? Because supervisors are constantly told to “own” the evaluation process, but little comments like that make it sound like there’s another layer of people in the room evaluating employees who may not even understand the actual work being discussed. I’ve always wondered what really goes on in those ranking meetings and who ultimately carries the most influence.
It's corporate America people! Nobody has your back. Nobody is your real friend, just work friend. And the rules are set up so there aren't enough chairs for the people. It's a game with shifting rules but reliable principles.
Same rules apply to your manager, and the next one up, by the way. Everyone has a gripe - even the company presidents. You get into a ranking meeting and learn just how little power you have over the results.
Yes they pick the supervisors and managers based on their willingness to do the dirty work. The management will sc--w you in a heartbeat. If they don't do the masters bidding they will fall. It is sick how they seem to love destroying people's lives. You can see it in their eyes and faces mad with power. One lovely stupivisor talked so badly about a piped employee. It was sick to see her trashing this poor individual.
It sounds like Facilities at Permian in 2020. What a manager. S-B
Manager can only do so much. At the end of the day someone has to be NSI
@ab Everyone is replaceable. Even in startups with limited resources, people who built key capabilities eventually move on. Sometimes even the founders leave and the company still moves forward. So for a company the size of XOM, where many people do similar work, it’s even easier for operations to continue without any single individual. So many people left in Covid but this toxic place kept growing...
It's always like this. I never heard anyone receiving a heads-up before PA communication
If you think that you are irreplaceable, then you cannot be promoted.
@a3, don’t be so fast to laugh at this guy. If you’re still here, you’ve got some magical thinking going on in your head as well. Sure, everyone around you is getting cut, but you’re the guy with unique skills that the company can’t do without. Or you’re the strong performer with the network of supporters who will be the last to be PIPed. Keep on believing.
These managers are made because they are yes men.
They will always do what their bosses tell them to do because they are spineless.
They are not leaders.
And in other startling news, water is wet, the sky is blue ... and HR isn't there for you. ::shocked::