Is It Fair to Request My Teammates' Appraisal Ratings to Understand My Low Score?

I work with one of the top 5 IT companies in Chennai. Last year, I shifted to a new role within the same organization/Business Unit. I made this shift to stay within the same hierarchy that I have been a part of for the past 5 years. In my last appraisal, which was completed in November, I was rated as the lowest performer within a team of 8, receiving a score of 32 out of 40 total points. The reason for this low rating was a reorganization at the top level, which prompted my shift to the new role. The new leadership was not familiar with my performance.

My previous boss, who also transitioned to the same organization, has been working to address this low rating issue. The team in my former role, who were mostly trained by me, includes only one other individual who could potentially be rated higher than me in the bell curve evaluation. The other person who could have been rated higher left the company before the appraisal process concluded. I believe I should have been recognized as the top performer and given a promotion, which unfortunately did not happen.

I have been collaborating with my former manager to resolve this matter, and she has attributed the low rating to the new management in that team. After five months, my rating was increased by one level. However, there has been no adjustment to my salary or bonus payout yet.

In light of this situation, I am considering requesting the rating data of my other team members so that I can compare and ascertain who scored higher than 32 on the appraisal. Is it permissible for them to share this information, considering that the rating was used to evaluate me poorly? I believe it is my right to understand how they have assessed my performance, especially in the context of the bell curve. I would appreciate hearing your thoughts on this matter. Apologies for the lengthy post.

Regards

First and foremost, I recommend you go "Anonymous" in case you have shared your real name. It is important for you to protect your identity.

Secondly, the appraisal process is devised by HR. Yours is one of the top 5 IT companies in India. With whatever grievances you have, why did you not approach your HR? I recommend you ask for an interview with a senior HR person to resolve the matter.

Thirdly, as far as sharing the details of the appraisal rating of another colleague is concerned, I doubt whether your company can oblige for this. Generally, the rating is kept confidential. The policy of your company is best known to you.

Comments for Other HR Members:

There is an unsaid part of the post. If you read between the lines, you will find that the poster of the post deemed it fitting to put his grievance on the public forum rather than approaching his HR department. This shows a disconnect between HR and the general employee. In the erstwhile era of Personnel Management, workers felt a psychological closeness with the trade union. Now, instead of trade unions, employees upload their grievances on a public forum. Does this mean that whether during the days of personnel management or HR, nothing has changed and the distance between HR and the common employee remains as usual?

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Protecting Your Identity

First and foremost, I recommend you go "Anonymous" in case you have shared your real name. It is important for you to protect your identity.

Approaching HR for Appraisal Concerns

The appraisal process is devised by HR. You are in one of the top 5 IT companies in India. With whatever grievances you have, why did you not approach your HR? I recommend you ask for an interview with a senior HR person to resolve the matter.

The plan is to approach HR, but before that, I need to know what my options are. Unless I am well-known to the HR team, nothing concrete will happen. The ratings are just in the system; the managers decide who gets what. Nepotism is rampant in every company, and here the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Unfortunately, I am an employee who believes the system should work without any intervention. It doesn't, and I am planning to discuss all these issues/challenges with the HR team this year as well. They weren't able to provide any inputs that changed last time, so this time, I just want to be prepared for all eventualities.

Regards

This may be a bit late, and I hope you have already met your senior HR person with this issue, but if not, here are some responses to your queries above. Even if you shifted/transferred to a new role in a different BU, appraisals are always done by the new manager (assuming you were already in your new role at the time of your annual performance review), in consultation with the previous managers. Since you say your company is one of the top 5 IT companies in Chennai, I am sure they follow this process and the next steps I am enumerating.

Bell Curve Distribution

Bell curve distribution can only be arrived at if the number of employees in a particular BU/dept is large. It cannot be arrived at for small departments. Not sure how big your department or team within the BU was, as you have not mentioned that. Even if the bell curve distribution was done, it would ideally be done across BUs, and your managers would have been brought into discussion to discuss and agree on final ratings for the team, which includes your performance rating, with the BU Head and HR Head and possibly the MD/CEO/Site Head (whoever is the head of the company in Chennai).

If the managers are not able to defend your performance rating (assuming you were initially rated high), then your performance would be compared to others within the BU/Dept (not just your immediate team), and the rating normalized and ranked accordingly. Since supervisors tend to either be too lenient or too strict and some very rarely give objective ratings, this process is adhered to in all good companies.

Confidentiality and Performance Discussions

HR will, of course, as mentioned by others, not share other team members' ratings and certainly not the distribution curve as this is very confidential. But I am surprised that being a top 5 IT company in Chennai, your supervisor (past/present) has not discussed your performance review with you and informed you of your strengths and areas of improvement. Ratings are sometimes also then shared. Then all this would not have been a surprise (shock) to you. Salaries too nowadays (since recent years) are not dependent only on performance rating. There are other criteria as well that are considered by many companies. You really should ask for and set up a meeting with your Senior HR Business Partner for your BU and/or HR Head and talk to them about your issues. HR is always there to help, and I am sure they will help explain and sort out your issue.

Hope this helps and all the best.

As suggested by the seniors above, I think your first step should be to discuss with your HR the basis of your rating and understand the rationale behind it. Approach them with your list of achievements/successful initiatives that should be well documented with you.

I would suggest not assuming anything based on your past experiences with your seniors or HR. These could be your thoughts and not facts. Be open to discuss assertively and politely how such a rating was arrived at. It will not be right to ask for ratings given to your other team members to compare with yours; instead, try to resolve this issue by justifying how your rating could have been better based on your accomplishments.

With best regards,
Vaishalee Parkhi

[LinkedIn Profile: Vaishalee Parkhi](https://www.linkedin.com/pub/vaishalee-parkhi/62/9ab/6b0)