The Appraisal Paradox: Is there any right solution?

Hi, I’m Jay. I joined Treasure Electronics 3 years back to drive the sales of Washing Machine Category, which was contributing 10% of TE’s annual turnover. Everyone believed that the category had huge potential, but Televisions being TE’s 85% contribution, no one really took Washing Machines seriously. Other categories like Mobile Phones and Music Players contributed another 5% of sales, which was also looked after by Television Category head, Benny because guess what, no one in TE was bothered about the menial 5%. Benny dominated major TE decisions, as he pretty much looked after 90% of TE’s business.

I worked extremely hard in the last 3 years, identified the right dealers, launched 2 award winning campaigns that sky rocketed washing machine’s sales for TE. My unique ideas like an extended guarantee for working women and tie up with India’s largest e-tailer for launch of a new model, have been more than successful. This obviously took a toll in my personal life, but I was determined to deliver the best I can. In the meanwhile, Benny also became a great friend, both professionally and personally.

Today, Washing Machine’s contribution in TE is a huge 30%, something no one would’ve dreamt of 3 years back. Last year, my category delivered 20% YoY growth, despite company being at -5%. I have been applauded by every single person in TE as well as industry stalwarts for my significant contribution. My appraisal letter today, in my hand, states 0% Salary Growth.

Hi, I’m Benny. I am with TE from the past 10 years and have seen TE grow from being a small company struggling to find its space in the market, to being the market leader in TV category. I have built the base and worked both mine and TE’s way up. I think Jay is a great professional, and sometimes, I think I need to learn from him, though my challenges are very different. We ruled the color TV space 4 years back and that has set a high base for sales. In the last 3 years, many new technologies have swarmed the TV space, and somehow, TE’s product team has always ended up investing in the wrong technologies. We’ve wasted our resources and energies on Projection TVs and 3D TVs, none of which were accepted by the marked as we expected. Technically, it’s no one’s fault, but as a result, my category degrew significantly over last few years. I am giving my best, trying to launch new models, renegotiating deals with past dealers and looking at various marketing campaigns. Some things have delivered, some haven’t. My appraisal letter today, in my hand, states 0% salary growth.

Hi, We’re Treasure Electronics. We have seen the best of our times, and today, we are possibly at our worst. We invested heavily in some newer technologies and none of them proved to be a good decision. We’re left with a lot of excess stocks, and liquidating those will end up as a huge dent in our P&L. We are also over staffed as of now, because we followed the growth pattern, and now there is no growth. We are now taking some corrective actions, which itself is taking a lot of money for R&D, but we expect this will get our position back in the market. The company, despite promising future, is dry on cash right now. The only saving grace has been Washing Machines, which has grown, but that surely is not covering up for our losses. Appraisals? We need to manage payments for our vendors first, who will possibly file a law suit against us if we don’t pay them on time.

Jay : When my category has performed, do I not deserve my appraisal? Give a salary cut to the people who are not performing!

Benny : It’s not that I have not put in efforts that the company has degrown. Some decisions were taken collectively, and we failed as a company. I have also put in the best of my efforts, maybe the luck wasn’t in TE’s favour.

TE : The focus right now is getting the fire situations in hand. Appraisals and Emotional issues can be dealt with, later.

What do you think of the situation? Who's favour are you in? What would be the right solution? Do post in the comments below!