5 ways to get a fair appraisal at work

Being fair to all employees is a sign of good management, and a manager who plays by the rules is often looked upon at the workplace.

But life isn’t fair and people do have personal likes and dislikes. Personal preferences can be annoying in an employee’s work-life, but it gets worse when an employee feels that the manager is scoring a personal vendetta during the annual appraisal time.

During the rounds of annual appraisals, employees are told how they fared throughout the year and poor rating on this scorecard can not only jeopardise their next increment and employment status, but also diminish an employee’s confidence in his or her skills and capabilities.

Often, the appraisal is a fair judgement but there are cases when an employee may think s/he’s being treated unfairly. It may be seen as the manager’s way of getting back at an individual due to various reasons. If you’ve been in such a situation or you fear facing it in the near future, here are five things that you can do to make it better for yourself.

#1 Speak up. Most companies now ask employees to judge their own work, which is then vetted by their direct managers. Both parties tend to sit together and discuss work performance on several counts and then an overall rating is given to the employee. This is a two-way feedback strategy, so don’t be afraid to speak your mind during the appraisal meeting.

#2 Show your worth. Remind your manager of your accomplishments and the targets you’ve achieved. Prepare detailed monthly/quarterly work reports and take them along to the meeting to demonstrate to your boss what all you’ve done.

#3 Don’t show your emotions. Remain calm throughout the discussion even if you believe the appraisal is unfair. If your supervisor stresses that your work performance has fallen short of expectations, ask him for examples to prove his point instead of just taking the verdict. Importantly, try to see if your manager indeed has a valid point.

#4 Mid-year review: Career coaches also suggest asking for a formal mid-year review in the near future as this is more likely to go in your personnel file and your improvement will be on the record. And these results will be taken into consideration during the annual review cycle.

#5 Follow the procedure. If you still believe you did not receive a fair appraisal, most companies have a procedure that must be followed in such cases. Your next course of action should be to approach the HR and ask if the company has a policy which can let an employee approach a higher authority than the immediate boss for a revaluation of the appraisal. If your company has such a procedure in place, write to the authorities concerned making a strong case of your arguments. But even then, instead of accusing, compare your work output with the assessment that has been handed out to you. Huge discrepancies can lead to a revaluation of your appraisal and can give you a fair deal.

Such actions, however, should be taken only when your immediate boss is in no mood for a mutually agreeable solution. The best way forward is to work with your supervisor and clear the air with him or her.

But if you see no light at the end of the tunnel, maybe it’s time to take your skills and productivity techniques to a company that will appreciate them. But remember – never leave your boss or the company on a bad note.

[Image via Shutterstock]

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