That seems...weirdly precise? I mean, I'm on a "just because we put numbers on it doesn't mean it's objective" kick, but, damn.

A month's worth of various metrics. I object strenuously to the "Oh, you got an A. Why isn't it an A+?" thinking.

Tell them you have to hold back a little bit so you'll be rested when the crunch comes.

yep, he'll be here right at 12, sure enough....still waiting, ate lunch already. Now do I really have to work from home?!? BOO.

I object strenuously to the "Oh, you got an A. Why isn't it an A+?" thinking.

I feel the "This high score isn't good enough" mentality is harmful. But I would feel that way, considering the work thing I just finished was triggered by two A grades in a row, instead of two A+.

A month's worth of various metrics. I object strenuously to the "Oh, you got an A. Why isn't it an A+?" thinking.

I was ranting about "stretch goals" earlier this month, probably during goal setting. That whole, "You worked super hard and were able to accomplish X? Then next year you should accomplish X+Y!" Forget acknowledging that hitting X in the first place was pretty dang awesome.

My company won't allow people to be rated Above Expectations or whatever is above that multiple years in a row, so I flat out told my boss I wouldn't even be trying to perform above a Meets Expectations every other year. You set up the system that way, be prepared for people to play towards it. I do my job, I am not bonus eligible, we don't have any sort of tracking software evaluating us, so it is all subjective and then when my boss tells you what he thinks, you kick it back to him most times anyway and tell him to lower it, so nope, nothing above and beyond from me unless I find it interesting or I feel my job depends on it.

I fully embrace that I go through waves of being a barely average employee.

As always, yearly reviews are stupid.

I've had my own business for 30 years now so I am the only one to review my performance, well and my customers. Back in the day I had a job for a huge corporate entity and we had this performance board with all the peeps names and scores and such. After a couple weeks or so of being at the top I asked what one had to do to advance in the organization. My boss told me that advancement was on a seniority basis only. I took a quick glance at the 80 or so people doing the exact same thing as me and gave my 3 day notice (end of that week). He called me unprofessional for not giving him more notice. Yeah, I have no regrets.

you kick it back to him most times anyway and tell him to lower it

What does this mean?

We're entering "PEP season," where "PEP" means Performance Evaluation something-or-other-starting-with-P. However, we also just finished a major restructuring, with revised official goals, so most people's jobs are only tangentially related to whatever they put in their PEPs last year. Our Director wisely told the supervisors that this year's PEP review would be entirely pro forma, because we've all been working toward shiny new metrics since around last October, so it's stupid to hold us to standards set up last May. This place has some of the saner management I've worked with in my ~30 years of gainful employment