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PaperclipPerfector  4d ago (text post)   1861 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 1, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Tell me honestly: Am I boned?

I've worked in a small Australian tax accounting firm for 1.5 years. Every single time I ask for feedback on my performance people state that my work quality is very good and that I'm responsible; I was recently given one of the most complex jobs in the firm and I had my manager state in my last one-on-one review that she was impressed I was able to complete it with relatively few review points. In spite of this, I always get a score of 3 (meets expectations) when I'm being rated.

In addition, I often blow internal budgeted time on clients. For context I am badly, chronically burned out and have a tendency to collapse after every workday - it was particularly bad in Nov-Dec24 when a family member died, and the excess of writeoffs from this period has resulted in me getting a job review on a specific client to which I booked most of my billable time. I am not looking forward to that review. Lately I also find management being a little colder to me and I'm not sure if that's because we're nearing the busy season or if they actually have an issue but aren't willing to say anything. Everything about this feels so disconcertingly fake and I'd prefer people be direct with me; I would not like to get fired without much prior foreshadowing.

The final aspect that makes me paranoid is that they're introducing a new staff member tomorrow. I've been killing myself with anxiety for the past month or so and I can't really tell if there's something to this, or if I'm just psyching myself out.

One failure mode of a good employee is where all your effort and good will for management is captured by your immediate supervisor but then they don't advance you further up the ladder because you're so productive in your current role. Usually this is remedied by switching jobs. Maybe I'm mediocre but mostly everyone I know of get Meets Expectations, usually because supervisors see it as a perfunctory task, instead of something that could be instructive. Not sure how it works in Australia, but in the US the pattern is usually a bad performance evaluation and an action plan for improvement once they decide to let you go. But sounds like you might get a better position if you get a new one.

One failure mode of a good employee is where all your effort and good will for management is captured by your immediate supervisor, but then he doesn't advance you further up the ladder because you're so productive in your current role.

Some would call this a successful avoidance of the Peter Principle rather than a failure.

People in a hierarchy tend to rise to "a level of respective incompetence": employees are promoted based on their success in previous jobs until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent, as skills in one job do not necessarily translate to another.

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