How have I fared professionally in the past year? For many employees, this is a topic in the annual appraisal. But is everyone entitled to feedback from their manager?
At the turn of the year, we also like to take stock of our professional lives: What successes can we look back on, what was good, what was bad? Direct feedback from managers is also helpful. But are employees actually entitled to an appraisal interview with their superiors?
Basically, there is no entitlement to such a conversation. “It is not an unwritten secondary obligation from the employment contract that, for example, a feedback meeting takes place with the manager every three months,” says Peter Meyer, a specialist lawyer for labor law in Berlin.
However, there are cases in which the right to feedback from the manager can arise from a company agreement, for example. “If there are target agreements between the employer and employee, in which the degree of target achievement is stored with bonus payments, then the feedback discussion is regulated in the company agreement,” says the specialist lawyer.
Meyer also points out: “If there is no feedback at all, this can sometimes become a problem for the employer.” If an employee never receives feedback from the employer about his potentially poor performance or breaches of duty, a court may decide in the event of a dispute that it was too early for a warning or dismissal for this reason. “If an employer is well advised, he will speak to the employees regularly,” says Meyer.
Last but not least, there is a scenario in which there is a right to regular feedback discussions based on the principles of equal treatment. “This is conceivable if nine out of ten employees in the team are routinely invited to a feedback discussion with the manager,” says Meyer. The person who does not receive this offer can then, under certain circumstances, insist on the same routine appointments for reasons of equal treatment.
About the person: Peter Meyer is a specialist lawyer for labor law and a member of the executive committee of the labor law working group in the German Bar Association (DAV).