From My Pen---THE APPRAISAL SAGA

So here I am, once again ready to offer my readers one of my experiences which I had a stint with recently.

I must say it was amazing to meander through the valleys and mountains of feelings and emotions that I was exposed to. Must say an intriguing ride . Before we start, a little enlightenment on reference in which I am using the word APPRAISAL. In this article appraisal means the battery of parameters on which your performance is judged in your organization by your managers. So we can say the ratings that we get in appraisals decide how good or bad you are at your work.

Usually appraisals create a divide in your office which has three categories. The first is the satisfied lot which obviously has received good ratings and end up getting substantial increment in their salary. The second one is the unsatisfied, back stabbed, deceived (sometimes adjectives just do not seem to end) etc... Who are at the lower end of the rating parameter. And certainly there chances of monetary gain are pretty bleak. And the last lot is the one who have got less rating and accept these ratings with profound humility with a vow to improve upon the next time.
But as I have mentioned in my previous article “ONSITE EUPHORIA” I belong to the era of recession. So certainly my experiences differ from what most of you have had. In this doomed time of recession, appraisals redefine the whole categorization of work force that I just explained in the above paragraph.


Now the most blessed lot (the one with the higher ratings) is the most helpless. Good ratings but no monetary gains. It feels like a bunch of thieves who have taken all the pain in planning and sneaking into a bank which has already been robbed. So even though they enjoy the rare and prestigious privilege of robbing a bank but ultimately they end up getting nothing. And their entire fraternity looks at them with sympathy. The situation for the second lot is almost similar. They still continue to curse the top management of being partial, insensitive, biased and what not. The third lot is completely wiped off and is replaced by a new group of scared employees who have received the lowest ratings as their jobs are at skate.

Appraisals also do a lot of harm to the managers. Appraisals during good times used to create a strong lobby of employee (with good ratings) in favor of their managers. So managers could easily win and oblige a lot of people. But the situation completely changes when it comes to appraisals during recession. All they are left with is enemies (I know that is a little exaggeration). Almost the entire office strength irrespective of their ratings contribute generously in cursing their managers (as if it will help them attain moksha).

Now comes the most important part of this appraisal drama. It is called the one on one session or the grievance session between employees and their managers. But recession has not spared these sessions too. Now it is more like a banging session (in Hindi we can say a BAJAATE RAHO session). I guess the readers are intelligent enough to guess who is at the receiving end in such sessions. What is quite interesting to see in such sessions is the inability of managers to explain the employee why he or she has been rated less. Reasons for low ratings are also worth mentioning here. This is the time when managers get real creative and come up with kick ass (pardon me for my profanity) ideas. Some are said they lack communication skills, while some has been rated less because his shirt fail to appeal the eyes of his managers some day, while some of the employees were victimized because of bad mouth odor (just kidding). The only blissful moment during this session is when sharp legitimate logic wrapped in soft words of the employee tears the poor opponent (hope you all know who the opponent is) into shreds. Even though you emerge as an undisputed winner of these BAJAATE RAHE session, but still it leaves you disappointed because the ratings have been given and nothing much can be done until the new appraisal cycle comes.

Considering all the above facts, I strongly feel why such risky affairs are entertained by any organization where the respect and integrity of managers and honesty, sincerity and hard work of employees are at stake. I just don’t understand why the top management of any organization tries to jeopardize the peace and harmony of any team or project. During recessions such activities should not be carried out.
Why can we just wait for the dark night to get over peacefully? Why do we forget the bright sunny day is inevitable.