I would leverage another offer that others mentioned earlier. your “value” is what someone will pay for you
Maybe I’m just cynical…
I read this thread with a very skeptical eye as to how valuable OP actually is – despite the fact that I know nothing about this particular situation.
A lot of people have a tough time gauging the value they actually bring to the table – I’m imagining a lot of the underperformers I’ve worked with over the years saying exactly these things, and it kind of fits.
^ We can only assume what is being said is true.
To me, I would think improving the process, which results improving efficiency and accuracy, is more valuable than just doing what you are told to, correct?
If the creativity is not rewarded as much as just doing the job, then I don’t think the manager has the right direction of leading the team.
Of course, work is not all about work. You know what I’m talking about.
If I can get another offer, I would just leave. I wouldn’t even bother wasting time on these people who don’t appreciate my real value.
How many hard dollars did these process improvements generate to the firm’s bottom line? Not knowing what business you’re in, how many more customers did these improvements bring? Or how much more investor money did you bring in with these processes? Did you manage to allow them to reduce headcount? By how many FTE’s?
I’m not trying to be a jerk but if you can’t answer these questions, you can’t properly justify yourself asking for a bigger bonus/more money. These are the exact hard factual statements you need to add in your employee comments section. Adding “I worked hard and improved some things” is garbage.
Again, not trying to be a jerk, but what’s the value of a stock with no bid?
I be cautious playing games like going above your bosses head or writing in anything controversial in your report unless you’re sure you can get another job pretty quick.
But if they honestly don’t see your value, and your value is real, I wouldn’t waste my time writing in comments. I’d just start job hunting. You’re not going to win this battle.
I think you are right, I should focus on finding a new job.
I am trying to think of a career scenario where going above your boss has worked out that I have directly seen and I’m striking out. That is a big no-no.
It’s not good to go around your boss unless you are sure you can eliminate them entirely. If you just win on one issue, and they remain your boss, they will not forget and they will make your life miserable and try to isolate you so that you can’t do that again.
On the other hand, you are allowed to have independent opinions, and if you can express them with proper deference to upper management (“my boss and I have some different ideas about X… I understand that he’s my boss, and his view is more important, but if it were me, I’d want to do it this way…”).
When my boss said “we can’t do X, because upper management doesn’t like it,” I did take an opportunity to ask upper management what their problems were with X, and ultimately managed to get what I want. My boss turned out not to mind, but I was very clear with upper managment that I didn’t want to challenge my boss’ authority, but I just wanted to clarify what the concerns were and see if I could answer them. About two weeks later I got the solution I wanted, and my boss didn’t seem at all unhappy with me (probably because my way saved him money, and allowed us to get stuff done faster, and didn’t look like a “defeat” for him).
So sometimes there are ways to talk to people above your boss without challenging their authority. I think that’s key. If you are doing something that will help your boss look better (and have made that assessment accurately), sometimes a conversation with higher-ups can help.
As for the appraisal, you can state that you feel that the appraisal does not recognize contributions X, Y, and Z sufficiently, given that they helped the company in ways A, B, and C. And that you would like to have more attractive lunch servers.