These co-worker feedbacks really make no sense. I chose people I thought liked me. I gave everyone 5’s regardless of how I felt because I’m not doing BNY’s dirty work. But dang this thing has really made hostile feelings amongst the group and lots of gossip about who we think said what. My reviews were above average in total. I don’t like a couple things that were said, but now I’m thinking if I get the person who I’m suspecting said certain things, I need to be a little more honest for the next round. The top says “anytime feedback.” Can I add gripes all year long?
19 replies (most recent on top)
@qk this sums up BNY.
BNY is one of the lone places I've witnessed both my peers and my leadership being threatened by the other. Leadership was insecure and clueless on how to lead and create expectation... while peers were confused as to what leadership expected from them.
As a department, we never had individual nor group expectations. Individuals would learn of failures after-the-fact. Made worse by leadership ignoring the failures and shortcomings of chosen staffers while blasting others for similar or less than infractions.
I worked in Global Payments, we witnessed an entire buddy buddy system of rating poor employees highly while rating high functioning employees that threaten leadership poorly.
We noticed this when layoff rounds began in 2023. Low-level leadership protecting subpar employees who were "work friends" or longstanding bny employees that worked with said leadership.
The crazy part was to witness these shrinking departments that retained some of the worst workers available. Then to witness said leadership be confused as to why these operations were failing at such a high level.
@ch What do you mean by non-client facing role? Do we all have clients somehow? Be it internal or external or technical?
It’s so pointless. I refuse to take anonymous feedback seriously. If you can’t say it to me directly then we can’t have an open dialogue and there’s no meaningful action I can take based upon comments without context or specific examples.
Case in point - I was rated 4.4 for AI, and yet out of all 9 people who rated me, only I have obtained pioneer status and actually worked on an agent that will be used by our entire LOB. These people don’t know that about me because I keep my head down but they were too bent on rating something low rather than clicking that they couldn’t rate the category.
I had a few ratings and knew exactly who said what. The one person who is the most threatened by me, obviously didn't want to say anything positive. Its obvious based on all the non-negative feedback and their feedback, that this person has an issue and I am sure the manager could smell that a mile away. I'm not concerned at all since i was still above my title group and BNY for ratings.
My manager made me show her the list and let her choose - that it had to be a mix of upper, and noone less than a peer. I did OK, but as always the comments show people who have no idea what you do, what for, or whether you do it well.
Sr mgr BELIEVES they are doing you a favor by being HONEST. All it showed me is that they're blaming me for leadership failures when they have no idea what leadership is. I also realized that they are so inarticulate and thought-challenged that they literally use AI to tell you that you could be doing more. Which you can't given short staffing, etc.
I always give people 5s if they're peers. It's amazing who doesn't when they're being anonymous keyboard warriors. (This board makes that kind of ironic, I guess)
@op I have a similar situation but I got multiple comments, can you suggest on how to find out who gave what comment? Teach us the trick please
In regards to the comments on people not hearing from former BNY co-workers after they leave the firm - the environment at BNY is absolutely so batshit toxic at this point that it's every person for themselves. We basically look at other employees the way contestants on Survivor do. Outlast, outplay, out scheme, stab in the back, etc, as long as you get to the end. Nobody trusts nobody, nobody really gives a hoot about anybody else. Sad to watch, but the CEO and CFO and apparently the markets love it.
If HR reads this
The current rating scale unintentionally compresses most feedback into the 4.5 range because reviewers generally avoid giving a 5, as it implies “no improvement possible.” This makes 4.5 the practical maximum score unless someone treats the exercise casually, which limits meaningful differentiation. As a result, the system becomes highly sensitive to outliers. For example, if nine reviewers give a 4.5 and one gives a 1, the average drops to 4.1; even if half the reviewers give 5s, the average still falls below the organizational benchmark. This structural effect reduces the reliability and interpretability of the data used for performance evaluation.
To strengthen the accuracy and fairness of the process, it may help to incorporate statistical methods that mitigate outlier distortion and rating compression. Approaches such as omitting extreme values, applying trimmed means, or using standard deviation to normalize scores across reviewers are commonly used in performance analytics to ensure that final ratings reflect consistent patterns rather than isolated anomalies. Introducing these mechanisms—or adding more granularity between 4.5 and 5—would improve the integrity and usefulness of the feedback system.
I didnt have that issue but noticed i did choose 4-5 but it says 11 gave feedback. So im assuming the system still assigned randos to feedback on you
I suspect this observation may resonate with many people.
One thing I learned largely by accident is that the feedback managers see and the way it is ultimately communicated back to employees are not always identical. During a routine conversation, my manager inadvertently shared her screen while we were discussing why my rating appeared below the broader peer benchmark, and it became clear that there is more interpretation in the process than many assume.
A few practical takeaways:
• Manager relationships matter. Performance data rarely speaks entirely for itself. The narrative surrounding your contributions and who advocates for it can materially influence outcomes.
• Treat employee surveys strategically. Complete the Peakon survey, but avoid using it as a cathartic outlet. Concise, actionable suggestions tend to carry more weight than emotionally charged commentary. For example: “Encourage everyone to keep cameras on during team meetings to improve engagement.”
The broader lesson is that organizational processes are often as much about context and relationships as they are about the underlying metrics.
@ec
Same here. 26 years. And I was a manager who created, developed and groomed award winning teams and people. After I was shown the door because management felt a GS person and some DEI hires could do better, I’ve had only 3 people reach out. I think it is just human nature where people feel awkward or embarrassed by a bad company’s decisions. Some people worry they may not feel
welcome. And one person told me that there is a dose of deep fear for their own position. But it doesn’t mean we are forgotten or dust in the wind. It just means life goes on. And yes, we aren’t best buddies. We are colleagues, bosses and subordinates all. Still, it does sting when people you were close to don’t reach out. But you can still reach out to those you want.
The phone works both ways to break the ice.
@be You are correct. After working there for decades, only 2 people reached out to me when I was laid off. All the rest of the people I thought were my "friends" because they made a big deal about being "friends" and "work family" could have cared less and didn't say a word.
@ch “ Losing even a couple of paychecks can mean foreclosure, food insecurity, unpaid bills, mental health challenges, or the loss of health insurance for someone who depends on it.” is why they rated you low in areas that aren’t even applicable to you. Folks are trying to hang on to their jobs, especially those that have nowhere to go. It’s a toxic environment that impacts the banks goals and a reason why upwardly mobile folks are leaving the bank.
This was exactly my experience, except I was rated below both the company and title average. I did not select people based on whether I thought they liked me; I selected them because I believed they would be fair and honest, which is how the process should work.
What I find difficult to understand is how someone can speak positively about my work ethic, yet still rate me low. My role is not client-facing, and I rarely interact with internal clients, but I was rated low in those areas as well.
When completing my evaluations, I selected "Can't Rate" whenever a criterion did not apply or when I did not have enough information to make a fair assessment. I was rated even in areas that did not apply to me. In all my years of working, this is the first time I have experienced something like this, and I am still relatively new to this department.
While I was disappointed by the outcome, I hold no resentment toward anyone. I understand these ratings may affect my mid-year review, but I also know I acted with integrity throughout the process. If I were to lose my job knowing I always went above and beyond to do my job, I would move forward with a clear conscience.
I believe our actions and intentions are seeds we plant, and in time we all reap what we sow. For that reason, I would never rate someone unfairly in response to how I was rated. The consequences can be far-reaching. Losing even a couple of paychecks can mean foreclosure, food insecurity, unpaid bills, mental health challenges, or the loss of health insurance for someone who depends on it.
All I can say is, may God help us all!
Just goes to show you that you have no “work”friends”.
They will throw you under the bus to save their hide.
They also won’t talk to you when you leave the bank whether it was a voluntary separation or forced.
@a9+1ktd29bh7 Exactly what I was thinking… survivor. Now I have to play their game.
The sad part is, people agonize and spend more time blathering about this feedback garbage than doing work for clients. It is a waste of time
This is like the game show Survivor. Don’t do the company’s dirty work so you and your coworkers will be voted off the island!
Don’t play their game and let them divide us. Everyone should continue with 5s. Don’t start retaliating- that’s what they want you to do.