My gf just got a “Below Expectations” performance review at her marketing firm. She was asked to relocate from Lebanon to Dubai 3 months ago after being highly regarded as one of if not the best employee at their Lebanon branch. They let go most of their other employees in Leb and she was asked to relocate.
The moving months of Aug Sep and Oct were a little challenging with finding apartments and understanding the difference in bureaucracy there but she managed rather well. Despite being asked to do things out side her scope of work… and despite the team sometimes ignoring her ideas and then eventually circling back to them admitting they were great.. she had a decent start.
Sure there were a few rough days .. like 5 or 6 when she asked to work from home because she was MOVING APARTMENTS AND FURNISHING IT. But she was still readily available for meetings and the like online.
Now the quarterly performance review comes in and it says “Below Expectations”
She's really gutted even though she wont show me that straight up. I know she's super pissed. She hates her shit job but is keeping it to support her family and she does it so well. I tried to tell her that this is corporate “we're grading you and we're disappointed..dance better for us” bullshit but she's still a little upset.
Hoping to show her a few comments from this post to bring her up a little and show her that these evaluations serve only to pressure employees into giving far more than they should to impress “the boss”.