Every year, in October, we "get" to sit down with our boss(es) for a yearly performance review. How you are rated determines your raise. Some people get 0% raises.
Anyway, in March, a mid-year review is scheduled as well. Mine is in 20 minutes, and I feel like I'm going to throw up. I've only had one year where my performance was deemed only "adequate to do the job." That was the year I got burned, thinking I was doing a good job, but my managers were not happy for some reason, yet never bothered to speak to me during the year to correct whatever problem they had with me. Ever since then, I worry myself sick over these.
Reviews like this generally stink. Our company tries to help with this by having a "talk to your boss's boss" opportunity once a year. This seems to keep situations like yours from getting out of hand. I was able to get my immediate supervisor to loosen the reins on me just by telling her boss that micromanagement has a negative affect on my job performance. So many things enter into the equation - the quality of your boss, their boss, whether your boss tries to understand his/her workers or just spends the rest of the year hiding from them.
Anyway, you have my sympathy. I've actually told immediate supervisors before that when I get good input I produce good output (GIGO). You have to be able to read your boss pretty well to know if this is going to be taken well.
Well, I should not have worried. Everyone seems happy with my work. My boss and the six managers who report to him are really a good guys, and all of them have kids ranging from toddlers to teen-agers, so they understand family issues well. I don't think I have ever heard my boss raise his voice or get angry, but he is very good at getting his point across, when necessary.
He has a dog, and once owned a doxie, so he enjoys seeing pictures of Ozzy.
At any rate, unless something really BAAAD happens, I won't be one of those getting a 0% raise. Whew!
Glad to hear things worked out well. I come from a long line of worriers and have found that things rarely turn out as badly as I anticipate in my imagination. Seems you may have a little of that in you as well.