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Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Our New Performance Rating System At Work

... is hopelessly complicated. All performance rating systems boil down to this simple task: reward people according to how much you want to keep them. Peyton Manning gets millions. The second-string left guard gets league minimum. That's it. That's all there is to it. Where I work, we're developing a system that uses numerical ratings in several personal development areas which are then averaged to create an overall score which is then used to discover your zone on a graph of score vs. salary which then tells the manager what table to use for calculating raises and bonuses.

Here is a perfect metaphor for our new system.


We're accomplishing incredibly simple things through massively complex means in a language none of us understand.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:12 AM

    You're missing one of the key "features" of this new system and the one it replaces: they're deliberately designed to keep compensation down. It allows your superiors, err, supervisors, to say things like, "you're a great worker and very valuable to us. The Pay Pool Secretariat would like to increase your base pay, but according to the maximum accretion sub-chart in section 97 your terms of service and prior restraint won't allow us. YOKOHAMA!"

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  2. Mousetrap has taken on a Frankenstein-esque life of its own! Where's that blimp?!

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