reviews and raises

Sorry you are feeling so bummed about the process. The process you seem to be describing is not an unusual one. Organizations must stay within their budget when dealing with merit increases. So, they have to have a scheme to divide the available $ in a way that is equitable.... so the people with "5" ratings get more than the ones with "3's". Unfortunately, there is no way to know exactly how many "5's" there are until all the ratings are completed.

If the performance evaluation process is not automated, it can take quite a while to tabulate all the data. If the process involves multiple raters (peer evaluation) it takes even more time. Some organizations have even more complicated schemes, with annual increases based upon multiple factors - individual performance, group performance, dept/division performance . . . and so on.

There's nothing you can do about it. Just have to be patient. But your manager should certainly have provided more information about what is going on.

I think it was 2009 when my facility cut raises and they've gone down more and more every year. The first year it was 2% for everyone and then it changed to 0-2% and our manager basically can arbitrarily say that someone will not get a raise.

i can name that tune in three notes. sorry. it's another good reason why every nurse should either have a private contract with the hospital (yes, of course you can, and they can, if they agree to it) or a good solid union.