As a manager of a group at work, I’ve been tasked with doing mid-year reviews for my team. I find it a bit frustrating that I have to spend hours of my time putting together documents that don’t really add any value in our company. Everyone gets a 2.5 – 3.5% raise at the end of the year and no one gets fired, it doesn’t really matter what it says in your review. If you’re doing poorly enough to get canned, which no one is, it’s blatantly obvious and no one needs a review to establish that.
If the company actually based merit increases on our reviews and made them a sizable amount then I would gladly spend the time putting them together. Until then, I grudgingly create them at the last possible minute. Here are some interesting articles so far this week:
-Generation X Finance offers tips on how to deal with car salesman.
-Mighty Bargain Hunter gives some tips for people looking to make extra money from direct sales parties.
-Lazy Man talks about inflating your eBay rating. In my experience, eBay users aren’t dummies. It only takes one click to check your past sales to see what types of things you’ve been selling.
-Money, Matter, & More wonders when lifestyle inflation becomes a problem.
-Blueprint for Financial Prosperity talks about donating stock to charity and is also looking for your votes to help him win a free trip to California!
-The Simple Dollar has a detailed guide to becoming self-employed.
Written on June 14, 2007
Quit spamming other sites jerk.
Comment by bob — June 14, 2007 @ 6:38 am
Thanks for your value-adding comment bob.
Comment by Ben — June 14, 2007 @ 9:22 am
So is 3.5% the absolute maximum raise that someone can receive - even if he/she is doing a stellar job?? That’s not even enough to keep up with the pace of inflation!
My manager is actually completing mid-year reviews right now as well and he uses an Excel spreadsheet which seems to make his life a little easier. He basically grades each individual on multiple performance objectives on a scale of 1 to 5 and after entering in a few comments here and there, a score and subsequent raise is automatically calculated. Anyway, I thought it seemed like a pretty simple and objective way to go about it. Good luck to you!
Comment by Jim — June 15, 2007 @ 7:11 am
If you’re promoted to a new position you receive more than a 3.5% increase. The range for the annual merit increase is 2 - 4% but most people don’t get as low as 2% or as high as 4%. Not very good motivation to excel in my opinion.
Comment by Ben — June 15, 2007 @ 1:59 pm