Employee helped his boss's boss, ends up getting his appraisal rating destroyed for this reason. Jealousy or office politics?

Workplace appraisals often become a talking point when employees feel their performance ratings are influenced by factors beyond the work they deliver. While stepping in to help during a colleague's absence is generally seen as a positive contribution, one employee's experience has sparked debate online after he claimed that doing exactly that ended up hurting his appraisal.

The discussion began after the employee shared his experience on Reddit, claiming that helping his skip-level manager while his direct manager was on leave resulted in a lower performance rating. The post has since triggered a wider conversation about workplace politics, managerial insecurity and whether employees should always route work through their immediate supervisor, even when senior leadership reaches out directly.

Employee says helping senior manager backfired during appraisal

In his Reddit post, the employee explained that his manager was on leave for two weeks. During that period, his manager's boss reached out to him directly on a few occasions for work-related tasks. Since the requests came from a senior leader, he decided to help without hesitation.


Describing the situation, he wrote, "My manager went on leave for two weeks. During that time, his manager (my skip-level) reached out to me directly a couple of times for some tasks. Obviously I wasn't going to say no to a skip-level or ignore his messages, so I just helped out and got the work done."

According to the employee, the issue surfaced only during the appraisal process.

"Fast forward to appraisal time, my manager finds out about this and gave me less rating for that, and he has mentioned that as a cause. Like, actually marked me down because I helped his boss with something while he was unavailable," he wrote.

Surprised by the decision, the employee said it was the first time in his career that he had been penalised for work that benefited the business.

He also questioned whether the incident reflected workplace ego rather than professional conduct, asking, "Is this some kind of 'you overstepped/went around me' ego thing? Or is this actually becoming normal in Indian corporate culture now — where helping the wrong person at the wrong time can hurt you more than not helping at all?"

Employee says manager wanted him to wait despite being on leave

The Reddit thread drew several questions from users who wanted to know whether the employee had asked his manager why the incident affected his rating.

Responding to one such comment, the employee shared his manager's explanation. "His Reply - you should inform me and wait for my reply."

That response surprised many users, especially because the manager was on leave at the time. Another Redditor jokingly replied, "Maybe you should take permission to use the washroom too."

The employee later added another detail about his manager's working style, writing, "He calls on WhatsApp any time he feels fit."

Reddit users call it insecurity and advise escalation

Many people commenting on the post felt the appraisal decision reflected insecurity rather than a genuine concern over process.

One Reddit user suggested escalating the matter, saying, "If your manager has documented that as a cause, why not reach out to your skip level and highlight this, saying you won't be able to help out in the future because you are not supposed to do it as per your manager!"

The employee replied that he had already done so. "I did that and also informed HR. But nothing fruitful."

Another user responded with a warning about relying on the HR department, writing, "HR is not your friend! Double-check with your skip-level manager ASAP!"

Later, the employee revealed that the skip-level manager acknowledged the issue but did not intervene. "He said he would speak to him and get back. I was expecting an answer for a week, and finally he said, I cannot do anything. Then I escalated to HR and still waiting for a call since 4 weeks."