I fought for getting a 4/5 rating at an old job and gave lots of examples. Their argument was that I didn't deserve it because those were just expected. I pointed out my work compared to others in my team and was told that it compares across the company, not the team. I kept causing a fuss about it because I was so angry about it and finally my manager said something about the bonuses has already been communicated and people would be angry to get less. I was confused because I didn't want more money, I was just offended they said I was performing on average when I was going above and beyond every day. It was also really embarrassing to me. If they'd just said the rating doesn't affect anything except your bonus I wouldn't have even cared.

The whole thing is all BS.

[–] Natanael@infosec.pub 18 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (4 children)

finally my manager said something about the bonuses has already been communicated and people would be angry to get less

That's because they have a fixed budget and the proportions are tied to evaluated performance tiers, increasing your rating would contractually require them to compensate you more from the same pool of money

[–] Feyd@programming.dev 13 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

You're falling for the "we've constructed this machine to tell you no so you can't argue with us" ploy

[–] Natanael@infosec.pub 1 points 39 minutes ago

No, as I said to another, upper management has every opportunity to fix the budget. Your direct manager however can not

[–] WoodScientist@lemmy.world 9 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Nah, that's bogus. It's a private company, they can do what they want. They could have absolutely given OP the 5/5 rating, and just had them sign something saying that they were content with the bonus appropriate to a 4/5 rating. No one would have had to receive a penny less.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 3 points 14 hours ago

It's very annoying to have managers say their hands are tied when they very well could go to bat for you with their superiors. I was lucky to have one manager really push for me in the past like that. It's rare.

[–] 1984@lemmy.today 5 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

That fixed budget is what they always say. The budget for the company is their problem, not yours.

[–] Natanael@infosec.pub 1 points 41 minutes ago

Upper management can certainly increase the budget. Your line manager probably can't

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 5 points 17 hours ago

Yeah, no shit, thank you for repeating what I said. The point being I never cared about the money and didn't even understand it was only about the money. I only wanted recognition.

[–] 1984@lemmy.today 6 points 14 hours ago

You will soon become just as jaded as the rest of us, and stop expecting your company to appreciate you. It wont feel good but you can change jobs often and get your salary up without any feelings of illusional loyalty.

[–] bitchkat@lemmy.world 6 points 11 hours ago

At one job, my manager had a spreadsheet that he was tapping away at during my review. He had the audacity to tell me that he had to downgrade some things so that he wouldn't have to go to a committee to defend at the individual or group level.

I transferred to a different product.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 5 points 13 hours ago

I don't work at Amazon, but we have a similar system. I've gone all-in on a couple of subordinates saying they deserved a 4/5 for this or that work. And because they were new-hires, I eventually got the grades punched through after a bunch of hemming and hawing.

Also advocated for my own higher-than-average marks on a few occasions. And just arguing the case gave me the grade as often as not. If everyone in the department had been as stubborn and insistent, I don't know that they'd have given the whole floor these grades. But the squeaky wheel...

[–] vivalapivo@lemmy.today 4 points 13 hours ago

Haha, the same. Was doing great, supported customer calls, onboarding new engineers, along with ongoing incoming tickets and got 3/5, wrote a few good and a dozen bad RFCs.

Then the manager had the audacity to ask why I am changing the company with a 40% raise. I could've asked for promotion, he said.