Here is a common situation. An employee who believes that he is doing a good job receives his annual or semi-annual performance evaluation or some other type of performance review . The review appears to be mixed with both, good and not so great comments. The employee seems to meet or exceed expectations in some categories, while not do so well in other categories. The employee, who strongly disagrees with the "needs improvement" section, decides to write a strong rebuttal, where he explains why the author of the review is incorrect, or even worse - accusing the reviewing supervisor of not being fair or even lying or being discriminatory. The employee has no real factual basis to accuse the manager of discrimination besides strongly disagreeing with the review.
The above rebuttal naturally upsets the reviewing supervisor. Among other things, the supervisor will feel attacked and will develop natural hostility toward that employee or dislike that employee even more than he did before. From there, the relationship between the employee and that manager is very likely to deteriorate quickly. This means that the manager will either fire that employee as soon as possible, or will be looking for a reason to write him up and otherwise make that employee's life at work difficult with the intent of driving that employee out one way or the other.
If you received a mixed performance review or a very disappointing performance review, and you don't have any specific reasons to believe that the manager is out to get you (at least yet), ask yourself what the purpose of any rebuttal would be, and whether you should even bother to submit it at all. In most cases, rebuttal is, at best, a waste of time. A rebuttal will likely gain you nothing. I assure you that your manager or his higher management will not come to you and say "Oh, you are right; we are wrong. We apologize. Here is the correct performance review with a higher mark."
If you genuinely disagree with your supervisor's performance review, you need to remember that he is entitled to his subjective view of your performance. The fact that you disagree with it doesn't mean that the review is not valid or illegal. Chances are that your time and energy are much better spent at looking into whether your supervisor actually has a valid point or two among everything that you believe is incorrect and unfair. Can you actually do something to improve those specific aspects of your performance that were pointed out in the review as needing improvement?
Of course, if you receive a negative performance review, and you have serious reasons to believe that the true reason for that bad review is discrimination or retaliation against you, it's a different situation that would require a different approach, including a prompt involvement of an experienced employment attorney, who can advise you on the best legal and practical approach to your specific situation.
The above rebuttal naturally upsets the reviewing supervisor. Among other things, the supervisor will feel attacked and will develop natural hostility toward that employee or dislike that employee even more than he did before. From there, the relationship between the employee and that manager is very likely to deteriorate quickly. This means that the manager will either fire that employee as soon as possible, or will be looking for a reason to write him up and otherwise make that employee's life at work difficult with the intent of driving that employee out one way or the other.
If you received a mixed performance review or a very disappointing performance review, and you don't have any specific reasons to believe that the manager is out to get you (at least yet), ask yourself what the purpose of any rebuttal would be, and whether you should even bother to submit it at all. In most cases, rebuttal is, at best, a waste of time. A rebuttal will likely gain you nothing. I assure you that your manager or his higher management will not come to you and say "Oh, you are right; we are wrong. We apologize. Here is the correct performance review with a higher mark."
If you genuinely disagree with your supervisor's performance review, you need to remember that he is entitled to his subjective view of your performance. The fact that you disagree with it doesn't mean that the review is not valid or illegal. Chances are that your time and energy are much better spent at looking into whether your supervisor actually has a valid point or two among everything that you believe is incorrect and unfair. Can you actually do something to improve those specific aspects of your performance that were pointed out in the review as needing improvement?
Of course, if you receive a negative performance review, and you have serious reasons to believe that the true reason for that bad review is discrimination or retaliation against you, it's a different situation that would require a different approach, including a prompt involvement of an experienced employment attorney, who can advise you on the best legal and practical approach to your specific situation.
RSS Feed
