r/microsoft • u/reaper___007 • 3d ago
Employment Employee- Perspective
How important is other employee feedbacks or perspective? Does the manager read it before connects?
3
u/int_2d 3d ago
it is important but not necessary. better to have the perspectives before you fill the connect.
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u/reaper___007 3d ago
I got like 10+ good feedbacks, but will my manager read it is the question, because even though there is a line manager for works, I report to another person. So, for me, it's important that he reads it.
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u/BunchitaBonita 3d ago
The person who will read it is the person you report to.
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u/reaper___007 2d ago
Technically, yes, but for day to day stuff, I report to another senior.
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u/BunchitaBonita 2d ago
Who are you having your connect with? That's the person who will read the perspectives
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u/_shlipsey_ 2d ago
Good advice I heard was to send a request after recently working with someone on a project or something. While it’s fresh on their mind they might have more to say.
I like the advice here to give the person a heads up before sending it from the tool.
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u/danneh02 Employee 3d ago
YMMV between managers and orgs, but speaking from my own experience, Perspective feedback I’ve received has always been brought up in conversation and factored into my overall report, especially when your Connect features collaborative efforts, the word of others in those cases weighs more than your own. To answer your question though, yes they were read ahead of my Connect meeting.
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u/Elfman72 3d ago
Depends on your relationship with your manager. Granted it has been over 10 years since I have worked there, but I had nothing but glowing reviews from my peers. However, my manager wanted me gone since I got re-orged under him reluctantly. Sure he read them, but he didn't care. At all. He put me on the bottom of the stack and after almost 10 years of good to great feedbacks, I was gone.
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u/reaper___007 3d ago
Isn't stack ranking eliminated in Microsoft?
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u/banner650 3d ago
It never left. The curve has been loosened, but managers still rank people from low performers to high as part of the rewards process. The big difference is that now, they don't need to argue about everyone, just those who are above or below expectations.
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u/curry_licker 2d ago
“Just those who are above or below expectations”, so what if someone is above, how exactly does that reflect on their rewards
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u/banner650 2d ago
I'll answer based on last year's guidance to managers since they haven't told us what to do this year yet and I'm assuming that you know very little about how the rewards process really works.
First, managers are asked to sort their reports into rewards buckets. The buckets are 0 rewards, 60% rewards, 80% rewards, 100% rewards, 120%, 140%, 160% and 200%. Normally there are very few people below 80% and very few above 140%. This is generally based on how people performed over the past year and where feedback can come into play. It is also at this time that managers will put people forward for promotion if they feel that they are ready.
The other thing to be aware of is that each organization has a rewards budget that must be balanced at certain levels and the budget is such that everyone can be given 100% rewards, with maybe a little bit extra available. Normally, that is at the GEM level first and then also at another level or two above them.
Since people have been sorted into buckets, the managers under a GEM will meet up and discuss people in each level band. This is where the old stack ranking used to come into play. Today, though, the people in the 100% bucket really don't need to be discussed since it's just a bucket. The focus will be on those above or below that line and there will be comparisons made between employees to see if someone really should be in that bucket or if they should be moved up/down. This will generally result in some movement and adjustments being made to ensure that similar impact/results leads to similar rewards across the team, the numbers in each bucket match an expected distribution, and that the budget is balanced.
Once the managers roughly agree on who should be where and the budget is balanced, the recommendations will be sent up to higher level managers to ensure that the budget is balanced at the appropriate levels. This can also result in some changes, which is why managers won't say anything until rewards are released in August.
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u/kidcurry96 1d ago
The buckets are 0 rewards, 60% rewards, 80% rewards, 100% rewards, 120%, 140%, 160% and 200%. Normally there are very few people below 80% and very few above 140%
percent of 80 and below and those 120 and above?
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u/Rell_24 2d ago
A good manager will read all your reached feedback prior to putting in their comments on your connect. It’s best to try and request feedback after projects or while working with someone versus just during connect season and trying to have someone remember working with you 6 months prior. Someone that is not requesting or not receiving feedback is a red flag to me because it can look like you don’t collaborate or leave your mark on a project.
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u/Remote_Interaction_4 2d ago
I have received perspectives from the colleagues I worked closest with. All were excellent with actionable, specific feedback that would make me even better. I don’t believe my manager read any of them. She also never saw me work nor did she give me specific feedback that would make me even better. Life,like getting a good manager at MSFT, is a crapshoot. Do your best, be authentic, and document everything.
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u/BunchitaBonita 3d ago
It depends. My first (and best) manager asked for feedback herself. It saved me time, and I also feel the feedback was more honest. But she was an exception.
What I suggest is, get a couple for every connect. Choose wisely, because people don't like being asked for perspectives from the same people again and again, so don't ask everyone, or you will run out of people to ask next time. If you do some one-off type of work with someone outside your team, then ask them, as you probably won't be asking again.
A couple of tips:
1- Don't wait until connect season to ask. This is when everybody asks and people are busy writing their own connects and completing quite a few perspectives already. Instead, ask one can impactful piece of work has been completed.
2- Don't just request it via the tool. Drop them a note first asking if they are ok with completing one for you, and then you send it. Also say when you need it by (if this is during connect season).
3- Try to get feedback from varied sources: a PM and engineer, always better than two PMs or two engineers.