5 ms·

This has to be a joke.

sethg 16y ago
You need to think like a large-company HR director. Every employee must have an appropriate rank to justify his or her salary, and a list of qualifications to justify the rank, so that nobody can say “hey, this guy across the hall is doing exactly the same work as me, but I’m paid less, that’s not fair”. All other things being equal, wouldn’t you rather have a manager or co-worker with a good sense of humor than one without? Therefore, don’t employees with good senses of humor deserve to be paid more than the humorless ones? If Microsoft doesn’t recognize and reward how employee-led humor adds value to their stakeholders, then all the employees with good senses of humor will bolt the company, attracted by the free clown suits that Google offers.
justinweiss 16y ago
Nope, these are actual guidelines Microsoft uses to make hiring, promotion, and compensation decisions. city41's comment is 100% accurate about how these things are used. The entire list of 'competencies' is here: http://www.microsoft.com/education/competencies/allcompetencies.mspx http://www.microsoft.com/education/competencies/allcompetenc... It probably started as your typical big-company CYA in case someone tries to sue them for HR-related stuff and grew into this monster as some middle manager began empire-building. There's even a wheel, in case you felt like making a poster: (pdf) http://download.microsoft.com/download/3/4/7/3477e49d-315d-4ee7-a8ca-ff653a4455d6/Competency_Wheel.pdf http://download.microsoft.com/download/3/4/7/3477e49d-315d-4...
- tragiclos 16y ago
  For some reason, humor and compassion are the only competencies that don't appear on the wheel. Also, does anyone else find it troubling that "results" make up such a thin sliver of the wheel o' competency?
- chbarts 16y ago
  > Nope, these are actual guidelines Microsoft uses to make hiring, promotion, and compensation decisions. city41's comment is 100% accurate about how these things are used. So... it's edgy humor in the form of a terrifying practical joke? Maybe Andy Kaufman didn't die after all.
- larsberg 16y ago
  These linked ones are the education ones. They are completely different in content from the ones used in in the product team roles.
- Groxx 16y ago
  It's terrifying, but I agree. This has to be real... I want it to be a joke, because it'd be pretty frickin' funny if it were, but it can't be. I was about to post the same discovery, but you beat me to it. Bah! And +1!
sz 16y ago
That's what she said.

sethg 16y ago

You need to think like a large-company HR director. Every employee must have an appropriate rank to justify his or her salary, and a list of qualifications to justify the rank, so that nobody can say “hey, this guy across the hall is doing exactly the same work as me, but I’m paid less, that’s not fair”. All other things being equal, wouldn’t you rather have a manager or co-worker with a good sense of humor than one without? Therefore, don’t employees with good senses of humor deserve to be paid more than the humorless ones? If Microsoft doesn’t recognize and reward how employee-led humor adds value to their stakeholders, then all the employees with good senses of humor will bolt the company, attracted by the free clown suits that Google offers.

justinweiss 16y ago

Nope, these are actual guidelines Microsoft uses to make hiring, promotion, and compensation decisions. city41's comment is 100% accurate about how these things are used. The entire list of 'competencies' is here: http://www.microsoft.com/education/competencies/allcompetencies.mspx http://www.microsoft.com/education/competencies/allcompetenc... It probably started as your typical big-company CYA in case someone tries to sue them for HR-related stuff and grew into this monster as some middle manager began empire-building. There's even a wheel, in case you felt like making a poster: (pdf) http://download.microsoft.com/download/3/4/7/3477e49d-315d-4ee7-a8ca-ff653a4455d6/Competency_Wheel.pdf http://download.microsoft.com/download/3/4/7/3477e49d-315d-4...

tragiclos 16y ago
For some reason, humor and compassion are the only competencies that don't appear on the wheel. Also, does anyone else find it troubling that "results" make up such a thin sliver of the wheel o' competency?
chbarts 16y ago
> Nope, these are actual guidelines Microsoft uses to make hiring, promotion, and compensation decisions. city41's comment is 100% accurate about how these things are used. So... it's edgy humor in the form of a terrifying practical joke? Maybe Andy Kaufman didn't die after all.
larsberg 16y ago
These linked ones are the education ones. They are completely different in content from the ones used in in the product team roles.
Groxx 16y ago
It's terrifying, but I agree. This has to be real... I want it to be a joke, because it'd be pretty frickin' funny if it were, but it can't be. I was about to post the same discovery, but you beat me to it. Bah! And +1!

sz 16y ago

That's what she said.