It’s that time of year again, time for performance evaluation. Unless you’re one of those super employees, you’re likely to get some nerves, for with evaluation comes questions of whether you meet the cut or not. If you do, you may get a promotion, some bonus and perhaps a pay raise but if you fall short, your salary may be cut or worse, you may not have a job come next year. I’ll be honest with you – I’m not a super employee but I’m not too bad either, otherwise I wouldn’t still be here. That said, I, like many labourers, am not 100 per cent certain I’ll always have this job, which, as I’ve said many times before, is not my dream job but it helps me pay the bills. Last year, I wasn’t so jittery in the days leading up to my appraisal for two reasons. I’m overqualified for this post (I don’t mean to brag) and secondly and most important, I had a patient and understanding supervisor. He took the time to actually look at my work, how and when I did the assigned tasks. If I did a good job, he lauded me. If I made a mistake or didn’t do a task as expected, he corrected or advised me on how to improve. Basically, he did a good job of what a supervisor is supposed to do, not just with me but with everyone he was charged with. Come evaluation time, I got a good score, not overrated and certainly not underrated and while I didn’t get the highest pay raise, I earned a couple more francs and that was good for me. Things have changed since then, however, and I can’t say it’s for the better. The personable and very professional supervisor left for greener pastures and the replacement is nothing like him. I feel like the new guy doesn’t get what we do and if he does, then he just doesn’t appreciate our individual contributions to this firm. After almost seven months on the job, he still doesn’t know some people’s names and every now and then, he’ll ask what it is you do. Now how do you expect someone who’s not even sure of who does what to conduct a fair assessment? The boss is supposed to know best but I think he got this one wrong. I’m told the guy even felt at liberty to share some people’s performance ratings! That is so wrong. Evaluations, like salaries and other personal details should remain the classified data it’s meant to be. I’ve not had any run-ins with him but he strikes me as the kind of person who would jump at the opportunity to get back at you and what better chance to deny someone a salary raise than declaring that they’re not doing a good job? This must be why almost everyone I work with is doing everything they can to get in the guy’s good books. He surely is enjoying all the attention, not to mention the free drinks he’s always being offered by those hoping for glossy remarks. Unfortunately, I’m not really good at sucking up to people. My work is going to have to speak for itself because I could use a promotion and generous bonus.To be continued…