Heritage

Headache as Shiro ties Easter plans to bonus

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I am also upset because I saw the ugly side of my boss during my appraisal discussion. PHOTO | BD GRAPHIC

The year is moving fast and all around me, I am getting reminders about this speed.

Yesterday, Shiro wanted to know what we are doing for Easter. I looked at her blankly asking “What is there to do?” She responded with a whole list of things she thinks we could do, including going to Mombasa or to Mt Kenya Safari Club.

I cited expenses and tied it to plan for the expected baby. Trust woman and trust Shiro to give me a way out. She talked about how she would be recycling Maingi’s stuff and so the expenditure would be not as much as the first time. She then gave the punchline: “Plus, you got your bonus.” I nearly choked on my cup of tea, wondering “What bonus!”

“But babes you told me that you get paid your bonus in March and so you will be loaded this March,” Shiro said. I was in no mood for uncomfortable conversations, saying I needed to rush, “the jam nowadays is insane.”

As I drove to work, I started wondering how I would break the news that this year my bonus is nothing to write home about and I plan to spend it to buy a new water tank for my parents and to overhaul my car.

I am also upset because I saw the ugly side of my boss during my appraisal discussion. I asked him about who in the company would do my appraisal given that my former boss resigned one month ago. To make matters worse my former boss resigned under questionable circumstances; rumours are rife that he was taking kickbacks from clients.

When I asked the HR manager, she said: “Since your boss is the CEO, I am sure he can do the appraisal.” This did not sit well with me and I said the guy hardly knows about my work from last year, “so why don’t you use my mid-year review?”

Sometimes I wonder if HR exists to make life easier or difficult for employees. She went on and on for about 20 minutes about how appraisals can be done by senior employees.

That is how I ended up with an uncomfortable conversation with my boss who decided that all my work from last year was in his view, “unsatisfactory.” I asked him why he decided that but said the constant feedback he got “from your former boss was that you were always distracted and you were not pulling your weight.”

I decided to use some of my presentation skills to make my point and pulled out the half-year review document, giving a good account of myself.

The CEO pushed the document aside, saying it did not count for much. I realised that despite my best efforts, the guy was not going to budge and owned up: “I appreciate your feedback and I will work on my performance this year.”

The CEO then spent the next 40 minutes talking about his own career and how he ensures he delivers. The long and short is that as result my bonus will be half of what I expected and, therefore, I will have no money to splurge on holidays for the family.

I wanted to raise the matter with the HR manager about my unfair rating but given my past experiences with her, I figured she would not be of much help.

How to deal with this rating in 2015 had me deep in thought all the way to the office; so much so that it took me two whole minutes to figure out that I was late for a meeting with the CEO.

I rushed to the meeting room only to find it was progressing well and sitting next to the CEO was a junior analyst called Benta.

The CEO said: “Josphat, no need to join this meeting, Benta has it covered.” This year is clearly not off to a good start.