Promotion Exercise

The recent promotion exercise by the Public Service Department (PSD) has taught me one important thing. Read further for the details...

Several officers who worked hard and dedicated serving the organisation were left out from the promotion exercise. One of the main reasons was due to the so called performance evaluation marks were below certain benchmark level used by the central agency PSD. Instead of giving promotion to the existing long serving officers, outsiders who had just joined the organisation were rewarded. The reason being was that the outsiders scored higher appraisal evaluation marks. 

However, PSD failed to recognise the fact that appraisal evaluation by immediate supervisor was very subjective and depended upon the level of generosity of the evaluator and how he perceives the excellenct working criteria and performance result. This is the result of the organisational's performance culture and working environment. Different organisations may have different way and benchmarks how it evaluate their people's performance. For example, the 90% marks and above could be given to those who excel in work performance. But, for some organisations, the excellence criterion is defined within the range of 85% to 90%. The score above 90% would only be give to a handful employees who had shown exemplary and outstanding achievements.

Therefore, if the PSD were to maintain this outdated promotion system, I have learned one thing. If you cannot change the system, then live it with the system and find ways how to exploit the system to your advantage.

What did I learn? When you feel your promotion is coming, be sure to keep reminding your boss of a fair appraisal evaluation. I would not hesitate to request from my supervisor for higher marks if I fully satisfied with my performance. I will clearly say to my supervisor that his fair contribution will have an impact on my soon to be higher grade promotion. I believe, by telling the truth (about our feeling) will result in a win-win situation. My supervisor and effectively the organisation will benefit from positive performance of highly motivated of mine. And of course, I will get higher appraisal marks from the supervisor and hopefully be considered for promotion by the PSD. I give work commitment, my supervisor gives me a high evaluation score. So, fair what???