How Honest Should I Be About Missed Deadlines in My Performance Self-Assessment?

Hi, I need to write my performance evaluation self-assessment and had several instances of missed deadlines during this review period, which I think were due to health and other work pressures. I have never had similar issues previously and have been a long-standing employee of the company.

My concerns are:

- Do I need to mention the missed deadlines in my self-assessment?
- If I mention them, will I be perceived as a person with health issues and someone who can't cope with the workload?
- What impact will it have when I change employers and they want copies of my previous performance evaluations?

Thank you

Dear member,

The replies to your questions are as below:

Do I need to mention the missed deadlines in my self-assessment?

Reply: If you write about missed deadlines in your self-assessment, it will show that you acknowledge your failures. If you do not write, it could be interpreted that you are unconcerned or lack remorse. Nevertheless, to justify the missed deadlines, do not rationalize by saying that in the past you did not miss them, so what if you do it for the first time?

The heading of your post is "writing negatively on Performance Self-assessment." While providing the reasons for the missed deadlines, you need to be truthful. For the sake of being "positive," one cannot be untruthful. Positive thinking does not demand camouflaging the truth with falsehood. Therefore, come out of the trap of "positive thinking." Yes, positive thinking is important. To project that you are a positive person, you may show the reviewer the action plan so that the problem of missing deadlines does not recur.

If I mention it, will I be perceived as a person with health issues and someone who can't cope with the workload?

Reply: The perceptions of the reviewer of the self-assessment will depend on what you write. What exactly was the "health issue"? Have you started suffering due to a chronic disease? What medical treatment are you taking? Has the treatment shown tangible improvement? In your post, you have written the reasons for missing deadlines as "which I think was due to health and other work pressures." What kind of "other work pressure" was it? Were you given more tasks than you could handle, but in the bargain, you had bitten off more than you could chew?

By the way, what is the meaning of "which I think was due to health"? Why are you "thinking"? Why are you uncertain about the reasons for the missed deadline? Is it that you are searching for the reasons and wanted to push "poor health" as the reason?

What impact will it have when I change employers, and they want copies of my previous performance evaluations?

Reply: The performance evaluation or assessment is the internal matter of the company. Employers, while hiring a job candidate, are expected to create robust recruitment practices so that they can filter out unworthy candidates. However, they cannot rely on the performance evaluation done by the past employer of the candidate. Nevertheless, if some employer approaches the old employer to furnish the records of the past evaluations, most probably this strange demand could be declined. Therefore, your concerns on this count are unfounded.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

The Importance of Honest Self-Assessment in Performance Reviews

According to various studies, an honest self-assessment process is all that a performance review committee needs. In this changing era, where employers are taking care of the physical and mental health of their employees, it's better to write the real reasons in delicate language.

Balancing Self-Appreciation and Areas for Improvement

Your self-evaluation must not be about self-appreciation only. You must write about the scope of improvement and how you can do better. Writing about missed deadlines and health issues, along with stating the honest reasons behind them, won’t hamper your appraisal and other selection processes.

Evolving Employer-Employee Relationships

Nowadays, the employer-employee relationship is changing, and equal priority is given to employee engagement activities, transparent performance reviews, and happier workplaces. So, don’t be rude or helpless in your language; just write an honest self-assessment. If your employers still don't understand or don’t offer a space to justify your reasons, then it might be a red flag for you!

Dear Colleague,

It is a very beautiful and meaningful question you raised. First of all, our appreciation for such a valid question.

Do I need to mention the missed deadlines in my self-assessment?

The answer is a little tricky in this materialistic world. It is like whether I should be honest in writing my self-appraisal or not. Here, in my view, take a practical view instead of an "idealistic view." Meeting deadlines is one measuring parameter of the KPI that was fixed for your performance evaluation. But remember that no performance evaluation tool is perfect, and at the end of the day, there are biases, mistakes, favoritism, and so on in every organization, and no one can claim their system is perfect, etc. Hence, if you are going to write all facts in the self-appraisal, it is not going to help anyone, as any appraisal is a post-mortem of what was done in the past. Therefore, write it carefully without affecting your future career and without feeling guilt. How can it be?

In your self-appraisal, begin with all the good work done by you in this specific period. You can also write about your future plans and how you wish to contribute further to the organization in a realistic and practical way. In the case of certain missed deadlines, mention it without hiding, but with valid reasons in a subtle manner, without making it the main highlight in the self-appraisal. You can also mention the support you need from the organization and the required resources. Create a draft first, rewrite it several times until you have a good draft that mainly focuses on your achievements in detail with all data points, and includes your plans to overcome shortcomings and the support required. Finally, highlight your positive contributions at the end of the report. This way, your self-appraisal will be more about contributions and less about the misses in a balanced manner, as your manager will know all the details of your performance, and you cannot hide much. But within this method, you can overcome it.

What impact will it have when I change employers, and they want copies of my previous performance evaluations?

Normally, the performance appraisal report is purely internal to the organization. When you change employers, they are more interested in the outcome rating, such as whether you were an outstanding performer, a good performer, or an average performer, or your rating on a scale like 4 out of 5 points. Therefore, the outcome is more referred to by prospective employers, and not the entire report, as it is an internal document.

In the present world, one should not be a typical Buddha but a tactful Buddha, of course, with honesty fused with how to present. The approach should be seeing the glass as half empty or half full, and you need to present yourself as the glass being half full. Be open to development and seek help from the organization to overcome known shortcomings, as they will follow you even if you change employers. The same performance measures will be there, and the race will never stop. It should be approached as a marathon and not a short run. Therefore, take concrete steps to keep learning, stay fit in health, and perform well in this competitive world to be useful to the employer and your family. God Bless!