Appraisal - odd timing

[4efte]

I have a bit of an unusual situation at work, so I'll try to explain as best I can.

My manager has recently requested everyone in the department to attend their "annual" appraisal and this must be completed before the end of the month, that in itself is not unusual. However, myself and colleagues last received an appraisal in 2018 and it previously has never been a priority for my manager, at the same time we are currently in consultation for a couple of redundancies and I believe I am likely to be selected.

All of my colleagues within the at-risk pool and myself have received our scores for the selection matrix and we have been informed that the redundancies will be based on that score, although we are still waiting for confirmation of who will be made redundant. I expect redundancy notice to be given in the first week of March.

So, given that a number of staff will be leaving in the near future, what is the purpose of this appraisal? It seems pointless to set goals and targets for the future, when that future doesn't exist.

Has anybody experienced anything similar? Is it possible to refuse the request for an appraisal until after the redundancies have been "officially" confirmed? I personally don't want to do something that is an exercise in futility.

[GT03ROB]

Given the situation I wouldn’t be refusing to do it. Not the time to be the difficult employee.

[4efte]

GT03ROB said:

Given the situation I wouldn’t be refusing to do it. Not the time to be the difficult employee.

I'm not going to refuse it. But let's just say the outcome of the appraisal won't change the outcome of the redundancy.

[Trailhead]

Why are you so averse to the appraisal? Just have it and see?

[Jasandjules]

There is a chance that if there is an equal scoring amongst those in the pool they might use the appraisals as a "last choice"

[Dynion Araf Uchaf]

your boss in under the cosh from HR to demonstrate competency of his team, No appraisal recently means that he can't do that. So now he has been forced to complete an appraisal, the likelihood of which will go towards the scoring matrix used to determine who will be made redundant. However it is highly likely that the chosen people for redundancy have already been decided, so the appraisal will either be fine ( because it's not you) or unfair, (because it is you).

Good luck, and whatever you do when you fill in your part, don't mention any mistakes and do highlight that everything you've done has turned to gold. Make the swines work for it!

[GT03ROB]

4efte said:

GT03ROB said:

Given the situation I wouldn’t be refusing to do it. Not the time to be the difficult employee.

I'm not going to refuse it. But let's just say the outcome of the appraisal won't change the outcome of the redundancy.

It may or it may not, but even once they’ve made the selections, if you are one of those selected you should be offered further interviews to confirm their decisions. Generally they will have known who was going before the scoring started.

Good luck whatever happens

[Brainpox]

4efte said:

So, given that a number of staff will be leaving in the near future, what is the purpose of this appraisal? It seems pointless to set goals and targets for the future, when that future doesn't exist.

By the sounds of what you have said, most people will be staying, so they still need targets set, and some of those targets will probably involve covering the posts that have been made redundant.

[4efte]

Jasandjules said:

There is a chance that if there is an equal scoring amongst those in the pool they might use the appraisals as a "last choice"

There isn't an equal scoring between the candidates.

Although the matrix is a little strange, it appears to have been completed about a month or two before the redundancy announcement and the announcement was nearly two months before the individual consultation meetings. That and the scores in the matrix don’t add up correctly, it looks like the scores were changed in the categories and then the final score wasn’t changed to match.

[4efte]

Dynion Araf Uchaf said:

your boss in under the cosh from HR to demonstrate competency of his team, No appraisal recently means that he can't do that. So now he has been forced to complete an appraisal, the likelihood of which will go towards the scoring matrix used to determine who will be made redundant. However it is highly likely that the chosen people for redundancy have already been decided, so the appraisal will either be fine ( because it's not you) or unfair, (because it is you).

Good luck, and whatever you do when you fill in your part, don't mention any mistakes and do highlight that everything you've done has turned to gold. Make the swines work for it!

You're probably right, that he's being pushed from HR and the lack of recent appraisals makes it difficult to accurately score the matrix.

And thanks! That sounds like a plan.

[crofty1984]

Sonds like they're just getting their paperwork in order. They're going to do what they're going to do, but have to be seen to be doing the right thing. I doubt the appraisal will have any affect on the outcome unless you whap it out and piss on your manager's tie.

[Dan_The_Man]

Jasandjules said:

There is a chance that if there is an equal scoring amongst those in the pool they might use the appraisals as a "last choice"

This and they may be able to verbally (off the record) sound out who is actually up for leaving and can tilt the matrix in their favour to get redundancy.
We have a redundancy situation most years and usually the ones that want to leave end up going.

[4efte]

Brainpox said:

By the sounds of what you have said, most people will be staying, so they still need targets set, and some of those targets will probably involve covering the posts that have been made redundant.

It isn't a large redundancy and only one person in the pool will be staying.