In June, Plante Moran had their biannual job performance reviews followed by their annual raises. It was the first time that Meg had participated in both and she didn't really enjoy the experience. As I listened to her thoughts on the process, I thought back to the years that Doug and I were promised incentives, bonuses or raises that never came to fruition. Most were because the goals set by the employers were unrealistic and some were because we were absolutely lied to at the time.
I tried to explain my experiences to Meg. I think she started to understand my point. Doug hadn't received a raise in the past three years although he had worked harder during that time frame than any other in his career. Some of the best teachers that I have ever know had maxed out their income possibilities years ago and hadn't seen a raise in almost ten years. I told Meg about my own performance reviews and how I thought that they were an absolute joke as well. I received high praise some years and was criticized in others. I hadn't changed my teaching styles, but instead the parameters had. One year I found out that there was a quota on highly qualified reviews and those of us who were in that category the year before would be put in a lower classification. It wasn't fair and I never liked it, but it was life as a teacher and I got used to it.
Today, I wanted to tell Meg that quitting and finding a new job would solve any issue that she was having at work. That wouldn't be truthful, however. Working is hard, evaluations aren't always fair and raises don't always make one feel appreciated. Instead, I told her to put her feelings to the side, keep her chin up and do her job to the best of her ability. Most of all, I told her to not tie her self worth to her career. She will never be happy that way and will enjoy life so much more when she finds something outside of work to focus on instead.
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