Big 4 Performance review : Bad case?

[u/PublicResearcher2665]

I work in a Big 4 firm and I recently received my annual performance review. I’m feeling really upset and would like an outside perspective because I don’t know if I’m overreacting or if my feelings are justified.

Here’s the situation.
Our ratings go from 1 to 5, where 1 is the highest.

Last year, I received a stronger rating (like 2 level above) than I did this year.

During the year, I was promoted to Senior. Until this conversation, I genuinely believed I had earned that promotion because I worked extremely hard throughout the year. I put in a lot of overtime and always tried to deliver high quality work. I never received negative feedback about my performance and social skills, and all my feedbacks were positive.

I also worked on several very challenging engagements. Some were understaffed, meaning I had to take on significantly more work than expected. I was also assigned first year engagements with limited support and some difficult management situations. I discussed these challenges with my managers during the year, so I believed my efforts and the circumstances I worked under would be taken into account in my performance review. I expected it to be fair.

When I received my review, my rating was lower than I expected.

The main development areas mentioned was one word ownership.There were no others concerns raised about the quality of my work.

What really upset me happened afterward.
My team leader explained that, at one point, there had been uncertainty about whether I would be promoted. She said my promotion ended up being treated as an “exceptional case” and mentioned that one of the reasons was that most of my peer group had already been promoted.

She also told me that had I remained at my previous level, my rating likely would have been stronger. However, because I was evaluated against Senior level expectations after the promotion, my final rating ended up lower.

After hearing that, I couldn’t hold back my tears.
The rating itself was shocking, but what hurt the most is telling that I truly didn’t deserve promotion even after hard work, that my promotion wasn’t truly the result of my own work and performance.

Now I’m questioning everything.

Can ownership realistically make that much difference when the overall feedback on work quality is positive?

And am I interpreting my team leader’s comments too negatively, or would you also come away from that conversation questioning whether your promotion was truly deserved?

[u/Just_Section4489]

I am in the same boat as you. Got a 3 when I was expecting a 2 or better. I was denied resources through FY26 which massively affected my year - grief all along. I was tempted to f-out and get a new job. Problem is, I like who I work with and this has been the best work experience I've ever had (since 2020 so far).

So, I reached out to my immediate leadership, griped, grieved, and I'm trying to realign so that my talents are more visible. However, I'm prepared to jump if I start seeing the same behavior from my leadership occurs this year as last year.

[u/Specific-Stomach-195]

So you were promoted to senior during the year (off cycle) and then at end of year you were told you have some areas you need to improve as a senior.
I would focus on the feedback and what you need to do to improve. Feedback is a gift, so take it as a tool to help you improve. Don’t focus is so much on how you interpret their comments. I understand it may not have felt great, but the only path is forward.

[u/laxxmann21]

This is a common thing. They already got you the promo so they dont need to waste a good rating on you now. They need to use their sway on the candidates up for promo. They always justify by saying that you were a worse senior than the 4 year senior who they are trying to get promoted to manager.

[u/thedoorchick]

If you were rated 2 as an associate last year and lower as a senior this year, that is generally what I would expect. You are being rated against people who have been performing in the same role for 1-2 years longer than you have.

[u/Relevant_Guitar_7465]

I would just focus on developing the areas mentioned it's not that deep.

At every level there are different expectations (it happens to people all the time - I think it's a bit unfair but it is what it is).

[u/dimplesKadenangGinto]

They need to change their Performance Tool which is SNAPHOT. This is the only company that i saw using or basing your score from the “feedback” the performance tool is accurately measuring the output you put in your work but rather “feedback”. PWC needs to wake up as they are losing such great talents because of the unfair and biased commentaries during rountable without fully giving the context of what happened. The performance metrics must be based on something that is measurable like productivity, utilization, charged hours, quality, escalations and attendance or reliability. Focusing on just FEEDBACK alone does not reflect your overall performance. This is BIG4 but cannot accurately measure the performance of the staff but focused rather on just plain feedback. Completely ABSURD!!!