Bad Boss

I have trouble sleeping last night. It is a regular cycle. Every year around this time, I will have a bad spell of insomnia. This pattern started three years ago. What does the title has to do with insomnia? Performance review and pay increase! The last two years I was not satisfied with my PR and PI. They were well below my expectations. This year my company has change the system in order to recognise high performers. We have multi-rater feedback(360 feedback) and a forced ranking system of high performers, solid contributors and need to improve.

I heard stories of 360 feedback and how others can sabotage you. So I was a little concerned. I was not satisfied with the old performance system either. My boss just write it up on his way to Asia. He use only the negative things he see and hear. This year with 360 feedback, my performance review was good. In fact my boss has to use the comments that were in my 360. He however still insist to rate most of my leadership skills "meeting expectations" even though there were a couple which should have been rated "exceptional".

With "calibration" i.e. forced ranking and rating from 1 to 9 with one being why are you still in the company to nine you have exceptional leadership skills and exceeds expectations, I received an eight. My boss thought it should be 7. He gave me a merit increase that is below the average(midpoint) of range allowed. Clearly, this is to signaled that I do not deserve even the midpoint of the increase. I was very discouraged to say the least.

Considering I have grown the sales and profits significantly i.e. profit grew by 100% annually for and Sales by more than 30% for the last 3 years, it is a strong signal he thinks I am not valuable to him. I have to re-consider my career option.