Day 59 – 31 March 2014
Today was the last day of the financial year. Of course there was a lot of preparation for the end of year party with drinks, snacks and fireworks to buy. All of the invites went out weeks ago but there was really no need as everyone knows that the year-end comes round at the same time.
It’s one of the look for events on the social calendar and no doubt there will be some sore heads in the morning. The further north you go the more it is celebrated, it must be to do with the old religion. It is a chance to recognise the new budget available for the next twelve months. The daffodils are showing their faces and the world is filled with renewed hope.
Locally we know this time of year as hogmoney. It’s an ancient word which is redolent of the age old customs of making sure that you spend everything that you have got (or at least accrue for it) and are ruthless about maintaining your budgets for next year. In recent years it has come back into vogue.
I’ve never seen it myself but I understand that in some areas they still maintain the tradition of piling all of last year’s accounts into a boat before setting fire to them and pushing it out to sea. That must be a spectacular site.
It’s also PDP season, the start of the annual Personal Development Plan round where all employees get a formal opportunity to sit down with their immediate line manager and talk about how things are going, what went well in the last year, perhaps what didn’t and the things we will be working on over the next twelve months. The idea is that I start off with the Senior Leadership Team and then they do their reportees, they do theirs and so on until everyone is done.
Of course there is a form to fill in and a reporting process to comply with. I can’t work out why but the percentage of our team who have had a PDP in the last rolling year remains stubbornly below 90%. Must try harder!
This morning I started with (the fresh faced) Bob at Meadowfield who is still not as mobile as he should be. I then went to Tanfield to meet with Lee and Steve but for reasons best kept to myself I pushed Steve’s back. Tony will be on Friday and Neil will have the pleasure next week.
I know it can be a bureaucratic process but, in its defence, how can we expect anyone to understand what is expected of them (and vice versa) if we don’t sit down and speak to them? Of course regular contact between line manager and their people should be just that, regular (and often).
Learning points for today: Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit but can still be very funny; it was only a joke; security requires constant vigilance and; you never know what’s round the corner.
Today’s enjoyment rating 6/10 – not the best of Mondays.
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 
I don’t know if the ‘end of year party’ mention is serious? If so this must be a public service or management thing, I’ve never seen this done anywhere else I’ve worked. Any excuse for a party ☺
As for PDPs, sorry but since I’ve never had one since 2011, or any form of one-2-one with my ‘line manager’ I can’t see that they serve any purpose, especially if no one notices that they haven’t been done.
My tongue was firmly in my cheek about the end of year party. Thanks for the info on PDPs. They are no use at all if you don’t have one.
Haaa, I hoped you were kidding. If I’m honest I think PDPs are a waste of time. What is the sense in wasting the appraiser’s time and the appraisee’s time if they are only going to be a paper exercise.
When I was in the Army our 6 PDP lead to training (mostly internal since who best to train than someone doing the job), we could also discuss job roles, promotion, postings and detachments to other units, even if we wanted any sports or fitness development.
They were really helpful in finding out how well we were doing and how we could get better.
If PDP is just done to tick a box or fill in paperwork then they’re just 10 or 15 minutes of life waisted that we will never get back.