<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Nattakorn_Maneerat/Shutterstock</span></p><p class="caption">Here are some tips on how to bounce back if you're reeling from a bad review.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>• <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-firings-layoffs-model-3-production-ramp-up-elon-musk-2017-10">Tesla recently fired scores of employees</a> in the wake of performance reviews.</strong></p><p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>• A <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-firings-performance-reviews-2017-10">negative performance review</a> doesn't guarantee you're about to be fired.</strong></p><p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong> • If you want to turn things around, you need to stay calm and take proactive steps to improve.</strong></p><p>Tesla reportedly let around 400 employees go during an intense round of performance reviews last week.</p><p>A company spokesperson told <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-firings-layoffs-model-3-production-ramp-up-elon-musk-2017-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Business Insider's Bryan Logan</a>, "As with any company, especially one of over 33,000 employees, performance reviews also occasionally result in employee departures."</p><p>Don't worry, though. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-firings-performance-reviews-2017-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Business Insider's Shana Lebowitz</a> reported experts agree this is "hardly indicative of a trend in the workplace." Tesla's founder and CEO Elon Musk is said to be an intense boss, having reportedly replaced his longtime assistant after she asked for a raise - although he disputes that characterization, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-make-yourself-indispensable-at-work-2017-8">according to Business Insider</a>.</p><p>In most workplaces, poor performance reviews don't always result in immediate termination. Business Insider spoke with <a href="https://www.monster.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Monster</a> career expert Vicky Salemi about how to bounce back from a negative review - before it's too late.</p><p>First of all, how you behave during the review itself maters. Even if you feel the reviewer's suggestions or criticisms are unreasonable, don't get defensive.</p><p>"Instead of saying something like, 'That's ridiculous and so not possible given my already full workload of 12-hour days' you can pivot the conversation to something like, 'I'd like to tap into your advice and insight considering my 10 clients take up a significant amount of time and volunteering for three group projects in other departments will take me away from my focus,'" Salemi told Business Insider.</p><p>As you listen to the criticism, Salemi said to keep calm, ask thoughtful questions, and take notes.</p><p>"If you're completely caught off guard, many parts of the conversation may not sink in because you're focused on the negative words which can tend to sting, so it's important to listen, remove yourself from the situation, remain calm," Salemi said. Plus, writing your reviewer's thoughts down will "give you something to do rather than feel like you're in a pressure cooker staring at your boss on the other side of the desk."</p><p>Once the review is over - presuming you still are in your role - Salemi said to follow up with your boss. Schedule another meeting down the road, or set up regular check-ins.</p><p>"It shows initiative and that you're willing to do what it takes to improve," she said.</p><p>In order to bounce back from a poor review, you've got to be honest with yourself. If the substandard review was justified based on the quality of your work, then you're going to need to take steps to improve your performance. Salemi recommended discussing training options or other resources with your boss.</p><p>But if the harsh review was completely off base or unwarranted, Salemi said it's time to start documenting discrepancies and reaching out to colleagues and clients for feedback.</p><p>"If the review pointed out you don't work well with clients, hopefully you have a kudos folder in Outlook that you can tap into and print them to show quite the opposite," Salemi said. "Then schedule time on your boss' calendar to objectively, calmly and confidently go over the facts."</p><p>Salemi said while a single bad performance review doesn't always indicate that your job is at risk, you might find yourself facing a performance improvement plan that will require you to up your game or lose your job.</p><p>"One of the best ways to avoid that outcome of getting fired is to make a sincere, determined, focused effort to improve," Salemi said. "Not only that, become your own ambassador and talk it up - let your boss know that you're working hard to change that performance review around."</p><p>Keep your boss in the loop about steps you're taking to improve.</p><p>"It can be as something as simple as sending a quick email like, 'I sat with so-and-so today in accounting to better understand their balance sheets, just wanted to let you know I'm working on a daily basis to improve,'" she said. "It may feel like you're being cheesy but in reality, you're being visible to your boss when he or she may not see what you're doing on a regular basis."</p><p>Don't be afraid to be your own cheerleader. After all, your job might be on the line.</p><p class="tagline">Get the latest Tesla stock price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/TSLA-Quote"> <strong>here.</strong></a></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-tesla-stock-price-george-blankenship-steve-jobs-elon-musk-interview-2017-9">The secret to Steve Jobs' and Elon Musk's success, according to a former Apple and Tesla executive</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Tesla fired scores of employees after annual performance reviews - here's what to do if you get a bad review of your own

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Win McNamee/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf during testimony to the US Senate Banking Committee on September 20, 2016.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf endured <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/wells-fargo-ceo-john-stumpf-senate-baking-committee-hearing-scandal-2016-9">a nearly three-hour questioning from the US Senate Banking Committee</a> on Tuesday.</p><p>Stumpf was constantly took to task by Senators, both Democratic and Republican alike, for the scandal in which Wells Fargo employees <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/it-keeps-getting-worse-for-wells-fargo-2016-9">opened roughly 2 million checking and credit accounts</a> without customers' knowledge.</p><p>During the financial crisis Wells Fargo was generally thought of as the bank that got off looking the cleanest.</p><p>The bank had few bad loans, as it managed to maintain comparatively strong lending standards that kept it out of the worst of the crisis and allowed it to acquire troubled Wachovia.</p><p>In 2016, however, Wells Fargo and CEO John Stumpf find themselves in the middle of the perfect storm of Wall Street scandals. After Tuesday's Senate hearing, it has become clear that with an easy to understand issue, a political firestorm, and missteps by the bank that exemplify American's worst notions of Wall Street, everything that could go wrong for Wells Fargo did.</p><h2>It's an easy to understand scandal</h2><p>Since the financial crisis, which focused America's microscope squarely on Wall Street, there have been a number of scandals, but Wells Fargo's is different. For Wells, the transgressions are simple and its an easy line for Americans to draw directly to their own financial situation.</p><p>For instance, it may be hard for people without a reasonably intimate knowledge of the financial system to understand JPMorgan's so-called <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/london-whale-instant-messages-2013-3">"London Whale" trading scandal</a> in 2012 or the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/libor-rigging-criminal-charges-and-fines-2015-5">Barclays Libor rigging scandal</a> in 2014. Even the most popular explainer of the financial crisis in recent years - <em>The Big Short</em> - had to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-big-short-movie-review-2015-11">employ non sequiturs with celebrities</a> explaining ideas like mortgage-backed securities and credit default swaps to communicate how it happened.</p><p>On the other hand, Wells Fargo's scandal deals with checking accounts and credit cards, financial instruments that nearly every American has.<span>When people understand how the scandal impacts them it makes them more less likely to ignore the problem.</span></p><p>Millions of people in the US have had to get a credit check for a mortgage, so when Senators suggest that Wells Fargo employees opening and closing a credit card without a customers knowledge may impact a credit score and lead to a higher interest rate, it is simple to understand the direct ramification.</p><p>It's a Main Street scandal with a Wall Street face.</p><h2>Caught in the middle of <keyword id="6358883" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Politics">politics</keyword></h2><p>Not only is the Wells Fargo scandal easy to grasp for the average American, but it's a slam dunk issue for politicians as well.</p><p>In an election season marked by increasing partisanship, it was certainly an odd sight to see Senators from both sides of the aisle agreeing with colleagues from the other party and attacking Stumpf relentlessly.</p><p>Democrats like Elizabeth Warren, who called for Stumpf to be criminally investigated, and Republicans like Richard Shelby, who said that the bank has seriously broken the public's trust, both seemed to be in agreement (to varying degrees) that there was significant wrongdoing at Wells.</p><p>Senators also spent significant portions of their time reading letter from constituents about the impact of the scandal on their own lives, which not only looks bad for Stumpf and Wells Fargo, but also allows the politicians an easy opportunity to prove that they are working for the people that elect them.</p><p>So you've got an easy case for politicians from both parties to look tough, bipartisan, and work for their constituents. Given all of these dynamics, it's simple to see why Stumpf was so thoroughly racked through the coals.</p><h2>A tough tightrope</h2><p>Stumpf also has a difficult task laid out before him to show that he is accountable without bearing the brunt of the blame.</p><p>Essentially, Stumpf's argument is that he accepts responsibility for the scandal, but that there was not a culture created by senior executives that encouraged the type of behavior that led to 2 million false accounts being opened.</p><p>Part of Wells Fargo's success over the years has been its ability to get existing customers to sign up for new products, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-banks-focus-more-on-new-accounts-and-the-fees-they-bring-2016-9">a practice called cross selling</a>. Stumpf has long lauded cross selling as a reason that the bank had been so successful (as Warren brutally pointed out by reading transcripts of earnings calls in which Stumpf himself touted the tactic).</p><p>Included in this cross selling, however, were incentives for lower-level employees to sign people up for new products. Throughout the hearings, Senators described a "pressure cooker" environment in which employees were forced to meet sales targets or face discipline. Stumpf has said that the culture was not to blame and employees were not pushed to oversell, but the bank also <a href="https://www.wellsfargo.com/about/press/2016/eliminate-sales-goals_0913.content">suspended these incentives</a> for employees following the $185 million settlement with regulators.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Rick Wilking/ Reuters</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>It's a tough line to walk, especially while testifying for hours at a time, and Stumpf certainly stumbled a few times saying that the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/wells-fargo-ceo-john-stumpf-senate-baking-committee-hearing-scandal-2016-9">actions weren't "random."</a> It also opened up Stumpf to tough lines of attacks from Senators that he was laying the blame on struggling employees who were trying to make aggressive sales targets to get by.</p><p>Thus, Stumpf has to defend the bank's overall culture while explaining how over 5,000 employees violated that culture over a multi-year period.</p><p>By having to accept responsibility while also not implicating himself directly, Stumpf has created a nearly impossible situation for himself.</p><h2>An easy target</h2><p>Finally, Wells and Stumpf have to defend the entire pay structure of Wall Street. Carrie Tolstedt, the head of the community banking division, was the executive directly responsible for overseeing the retail banking sector of the company where the fake accounts were created.</p><p>In July, Tolstedt retired from Wells Fargo, holding <a href="http://www.warren.senate.gov/files/documents/2016-09-19WellsFargoSenateResponseLetter.pdf">roughly $96.6 million in various stock awards.</a> Numerous times during the testimony on Tuesday, Stumpf was asked why Tolstedt wasn't fired and whether or not the bank would use its clawback provision to take back some of that compensation.</p><p>Now to be fair, stock-based compensation isn't new and it's used in industries from banking to tech to media, so it's not as if the way Tolstedt was paid is out of the ordinary. Additionally, the level of compensation is in line with the ordinary for a senior banking executive.</p><p>But in an environment in which <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-chart-shows-us-stands-out-income-inequality-2016-8">income inequality is an increasingly important issue</a>, and when Stumpf talks about the 5,300 employees that were fired from "good paying jobs" were making $37,000 to $60,000 a year, the size of Tolstedt's compensation raises eyebrows.</p><p>It looks terrible for the bank, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/wells-fargo-ceo-john-stumpf-senate-baking-committee-hearing-scandal-2016-9">and as Warren said it appears to her like</a> "a giant bank cheats the little guys and the executives line their own pockets." Even if the stock-based compensation is a standard for many industries, the compensation is a public relations nightmare and another headache for a bank that already has plenty of them.</p><p>So you've got an easy to understand scandal that directly impacted hundred of thousands of Americans, a slam dunk political target in an election season, and a poster child for frustration over Wall Street's pay.</p><p>Well Fargo has one heck of a scandal on its hands.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/argument-doubling-fed-inflation-target-markets-paul-krugman-2016-8">KRUGMAN: There is an argument for doubling the Fed's inflation target</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="UxbW9tNTE64saDqvO9JlMq8cl9cAR0s8" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Wells Fargo has one heck of a scandal on its hands

Yup, you have got it right – there’s no typo here. We are not talking about the traditional Monday morning blues that make people call in sick. Neither are we talking about the just-back-from-vacation crowd who is bound to feel a flutter in the stomach when faced with stomaching the gruelling workplace routine once again. Instead, there is a not-so-recognised but alarmingly growing trend when a perfectly healthy individual walks in smiling in the morning and limps back home pale and unwell after the work hours, often calling <keyword id="343" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="40" keywordseo="Friends">friends</keyword> and family and telling them how ill she is. In one extreme case, a friend called up a neighbourhood drugstore from her office, ordered some pills and asked the shop to deliver the package to a neighbour so that she could swallow some as soon as she was in. Could it be a ‘sudden attack’ of some mysterious flu? Could be, in a few cases, but some therapists and workplace counsellors feel it is nothing more or less than a <keyword id="23666" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="40" keywordseo="stress">stress</keyword> attack at work – mostly triggered by seemingly inconsequential things that stress you out at the end of the day.<br />
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To deal with after-work blues, check out these six things that could be hampering your feeling of well-being.<br />
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<strong>Don’t skip food – it will suck you to the bottom</strong><br />
Energy wise, that is<strong>, </strong>and it can very well affect your work. So get the basics right before it is too late. By basics, we mean basics – healthy food, lots of liquid and a few tea/coffee breaks in-between that should not mar your productivity, but will keep your energy up the whole day. It’s easier said than done, of course. Some crucial meeting may be scheduled during lunch and you could be grabbing some snacks (instead of a proper meal) as and when you get time. Worse still, some people sit hunched up all day – sipping coffee or cola as they work. Well, that’s not helping you exactly.<br />
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Our body craves food when it is fill-in time and you are bound to snap up if you skip lunch regularly. But in case you can’t take a 30-45 minute break for lunch, here’s some sound suggestion. Just split it up, instead of eating in chunks. Try to have a quick and early lunch whenever it fits your schedule and give it another go around 3.30-4 pm. Also, get some nutritious cookies for healthy snacking if you are working late. And drink as much juice/water as you can. Once I came across a particularly busy executive who made it a habit to keep his glass filled and sipped it throughout the day. We can all follow suit without too much hassle.<br />
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<strong>Get comfortable – your desk is your second home, after all</strong><br />
All of us have come across those lost souls (even in big corporations) who spend a precious half hour in the morning looking for their ‘comfy’ chairs which seemed to have been spirited away by some malicious demon during the night. No matter what is offered to such a person, she will shake her head and tell you it’s definitely not her chair. A tussle with a fellow-worker is not unlikely either, both trying to establish their ownership. Or if it’s not the chair, it’s the air-conditioner (always too high or too low for comfort) or a dirty desk or something similar.<br />
<br /> While most of us laugh derisively when we come across such things, it could indicate something more than mere whims. Are you ergonomically fitted out where you spend around eight hours a day, if not more? A well-lit, well-ventilated, not-too-cramped workstation is bound to keep you healthy and <keyword id="17573" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Happy">happy</keyword>. Report blinking lights and broken furniture as and when they occur and let plenty of fresh air in unless you are working in a centrally air-conditioned building. Dust could be another deterrent, especially for those suffering from some kind of allergy or other. Stick to a cleaning routine, take the junk out (right from old papers to useless gifts like a row of oversized mugs that you don’t plan to use) and make sure the place reflects your character and personality. A little green (a bottled plant or two or some fresh flowers), some funky or classic desk essentials and some human touch (can be a great poster or a funny quotation) will light up your day and those who visit you.<br />
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As for me, I got fascinated when I watched a colleague drawing two soaring swans on her glass cabin door with a black marker. Even in a futuristic office, that rough sketch gives me a sense of freedom and space whenever I look at it.<br />
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<strong>Nurture wellness – go walking, playing, gymming</strong><br />
We tend to lose our health and wellness without noticing it at first, especially if we are in a ‘pressure cooker’ situation all the time and feel drained out at the end of the day. To help people out, most offices today come with a recreation room (some even have meditation/nap rooms, an IT professional working in Gurgaon told me), if not a full-blown gym. If you are one of the lucky few with a multi gym in office, congrats! But do make sure you have some expert help before attempting to take down those ungainly pounds and get some advice on the diet and duration of a fitness session. In case you are a first-timer, take it slow. You can’t really do too much, too soon, and need to invest a lot of time and patience to build stamina and strength.<br />
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For those without such onsite facilities, there is always the age-old staircase and some brisk walking to your colleagues’ workstations, instead of chats and phone calls. One set of health-conscious people whom I knew made it a regular practice to walk to the bus stop in the evening which was some distance away. Walking that 1 km not only gave them some much-needed exercise, but helped them unwind as well, by talking things over and discussing several office issues. Start today and you will inevitably feel better after some sweat sessions. Because most of the time the lethargy is in the mind. As soon as you realise that you have come out of the rut and doing something effective about staying well, your body confidence returns and your energy level goes up, boosting your morale and your work, even if you don’t become size zero overnight.<br />
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<strong>Stay productive – disruptions are exceptions, not rules</strong><br /> People often fret how they happen to be behind work schedule and the backlog piles up – much to their horror. I distinctly remember a knowledge worker who went into severe <keyword id="6354802" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="depression">depression</keyword> and fell physically ill because she was asked to churn out five articles a day and was in mortal fear of losing her job. If you are in a similar situation, stop ducking your manager’s salvoes and take control.<br />
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One good strategy to remain focused throughout the day is to cut out on addictive social media, unproductive chats, unnecessary e-mail and time-consuming meetings. A more detailed weekly meeting, followed by a daily preview/review for 15-30 minutes should not only save time but keep things in order and the deadlines in view. Long water cooler side chats, frequent coffee breaks and venting your frustration through chain mail won’t help you either; so try and stay away from those. Once we manage to do away with disruptions, more productive time is bound to be on the cards. Some people even go to the extent of scheduling things out while wrapping up. Review what’s pending at the end of the day – so that you know what your priority is the morning after and start working on those as per your plans.<br />
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But if you still feel you are overloaded or if you overwork yourself, try deputing work or talk to your colleagues, managers and people who matter in your project. Together, it is possible to usher in a collaborative solution and make sure that people can grow in a way they want to.<br />
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<strong>Know what you’ve achieved – EACH day</strong><br />
Some days feel like a total waste of time, mostly because we have had bitter altercations with colleagues or superiors. Or worse still, we have just done some routine work that does not have any relevance any more. A friend of mine had worked as an editorial production manager and the job required her maintaining a production sheet in Excel. She was compelled to accept the job as she had been laid off suddenly and had a family to support, but it was certainly not her cuppa and she rapidly lost interest in the job.<br />
<br /> Thrust into a volatile <keyword id="34412" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="economy">economy</keyword> and faced with fast shrinking job opportunities, many of us try to go on board where they don’t belong and the outcome is a productivity and professional burnout, to say the least. Still, over a period of time, even a relevant career could be offering less value in terms of learning, growth and fulfilment. The reasons can be many – right from a change in the company’s core offerings to limited management vision that fails to offer horizontal growth. Talking to your manager could help, of course, but at times, it could be beyond your boss’s control. Simply put, there is no simple solution in such a case.<br />
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If your work has become routine and doesn’t add much value to the company’s core, try developing some new skills and show your firm how you can reposition your profile along with the regular job. Most firms will be happy to recognise the extra efforts you are putting in. But in case you fail to get that adrenalin kick out of your work at the end of the day, it makes sense to look for a job that’s more of an intellectual, cultural and value fit.<br />
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<strong>Stay hungry, drink deep – life’s fountain won’t ever dry up</strong><br />
Finally, do not let your vision go. Even if you are beginning as an intern or rebuilding your skills from the scratch, it’s not impossible to become a member of Jeff Bezos’ two-pizza team (may not be at Amazon, of course, but every company has a core and creative team where decisions are made). In every organisation, at every level, you will come across a small, tight group who is making a conscious decision at a specific point of time. Feel inspired, get involved and put your expertise into action – you are bound to get noticed and feel valued.<br />
<br /> And here’s one last piece of wisdom I got from a manager when I got laid off for the first time. You will be joining and leaving many more companies from now on – some you will leave on your own and others will let you go. But whatever that might be, learn from every situation (that one quality will be your lifeline) and when you leave, take the learning and leave the emotional baggage behind you. What matters most is your passion for the work and the value that work brings. Just remember that and let <keyword id="818790" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="40" keywordseo="the-rest">the rest</keyword> go, gracefully. As Jerome K. Jerome so sensibly wrote – throw the lumber over, man! At work, live life without angst or regret, and it gets better every day.<br />

You Searched For "Pressure cooker situation" and got 3 results

Tesla fired scores of employees after annual performance reviews - here's what to do if you get a bad review of your own

Áine Cain

Wells Fargo has one heck of a scandal on its hands

Bob Bryan

Help!! End-of-day Blues Driving Me Nuts...

SANGHAMITRA MANDAL