Worker Says She Was Blindsided During Performance Review

In a viral TikTok, a manager urged fellow managers not to blindside workers during performance reviews.

TikTok user Delanie Leggett (@delanieleggett) posted the video on Feb. 28. By March 2, the video racked up over 218,000 views. Legget kicked off the video with a piece of advice to other managers.

“Your direct reports and the people under you, during performance review, should never be shocked or surprised by the things that you’re telling them, by the things that they’ve done in the last six months, maybe even a year,” she said.

Legget explained that this is because managers have “every day to give feedback, constructive feedback, prepare people for things.”

“You have every day to talk about developmental plans, what are they doing with their career, how do they make more money, how are they going to the next step,” she said. “Performance review is not the time to talk about all that and shock somebody.”

The TikToker then cut to a clip of herself from the day prior preparing for her performance review. Legget was excited for the review, but she revealed in the following clip that it didn’t go as well as expected, leaving her feeling “sucker punched.”

Leggett concluded the video by urging managers to “never surprise your people” during performance reviews.

“They should never be shocked on performance review day,” she said. “You have failed as a manager if that’s what you’re doing.”

@delanieleggett Getting my feels out. #manager #performancereview #shocking #corporatelife #dobetterbebetter ♬ original sound – Delanie Leggett

The video resonated with viewers, who took to the comments section to share their negative experiences with performance reviews.  

“How my boss gave my performance review destroyed my morale and my belief in my boss,” one viewer shared.

“I was fired once after having a good 1-on-1 performance review, literally came out of nowhere,” a second wrote.

“I got hit with a [performance improvement plan] out of nowhere, citing issues from 5 months prior & was eventually let go. I was FLOORED. I had no idea there was a problem,” a third stated.

The Daily Dot reached out to Leggett via TikTok comment for more information.