It's a pretty damn sad thing having to do it if you're a fair and honest person, but that's just how the world works.
(There are a few managers out there whom you can be honest towards without them taking away your reward for being efficient of going the extra mile, but in my personal experience those are pretty rare).
I've pretty consistently seen the 1st level of management able to understand when you worked hard, and that it is not repeatable. Those problems tend to appear only when they report up what is happening.
What is to say that often (not always), you can be honest with your manager if both of you can keep a secret.
That's why you always give 80% at work - so when shit hits the fan you can do 120%, impressing everyone while keeping a chill level of tasks for day to day stuff
Nah when shit hits the fan you do 81% never show your full potential until you reach the highest pay grade in the company. And the reality is you will never reach that pay grade, you will more likely switch jobs and go back to 80% input and cash bigger checks.
Oh fuck did the US come full circle and go full Stakhanovite? Back under communism in Eastern Europe, you'd do 105% of the target so you'd hit the bonus but not the target readjustment.
Our annual evaluation is a scale of 1 to 4 for a variety of categories. We're supposed to show growth on the scales each year.
For 15 years, I've started each year at 3 and grown to a 4 so the boss can tell their boss that they're helping us grow. I could just start at a 4, but I wouldhave to provide justification for each 4 and that's not a good use of my time. Which I guess I could use to justify getting a 4 on time management.
Yep new boss comes along and has to find some things "wrong" with you so the next review after shows growth under their management which makes them look good. Not great for you because every other place asks for your last 3 reviews so now you have to justify some middle management bullshit in order to go anywhere else. Very fun.