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On the other hand: Many former employees blamed [Facebook's] cult-like atmosphere partly on Facebook’s performance review system, which requires employees to g
by achow 7y ago
On the other hand:
Many former employees blamed [Facebook's] cult-like atmosphere partly on Facebook’s performance review system, which requires employees to get reviews from approximately five of their peers twice a year. This peer review system pressures employees to forge friendships with colleagues at every possible opportunity, whether it be going to lunch together each day or hanging out after work.
“It’s a little bit of a popularity contest,” said one manager who left the company in 2017. “You can cherry-pick the people who like you — maybe throw in one bad apple to equalize it.”
Inside Facebook’s ‘cult-like’ workplace, where dissent is discouraged and employees pretend to be happy all the time
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/08/facebook-culture-cult-performance-review-process-blamed.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/08/facebook-culture-cult-perfor...
- hnhg 7y agoThis is quite a common approach in consulting companies too. It's not unique to FB.
- notahacker 7y agotbf in many consulting companies, the ability to network with people over lunch is at a work task least as important as actual proficiency at producing deliverables, which may be Powerpoints presented live to clients you've cultivated via networking. Not sure being an extrovert is quite so important to fixing bugs in the Facebook stack. (Maybe more so for the key account managers selling ads.)
- m0zg 7y agoThe opposite side of this particular spectrum is Microsoft in 00's, where it was very clear to everyone that fixed sized pie is being divvided up, and people would wait for the smallest missteps by their peers, and CC their manager, and their manager's manager to make sure they know someone fucked up and their rating is lower at review time. Since there was a curve, one's own rating could then be higher, assuming they don't screw up likewise. Whether you're helping others didn't matter one iota. Personally, I prefer peer reviews, even though they do often lead to likeable no-ops being promoted, and introverts being passed over for a promotion. At least in "peer review" companies I never felt like my peers are trying to stab me in the back all the time.
- arethuza 7y agoI knew people who had worked at a company where it was pretty standard for people to leave their "360 reviews" in tears as extreme levels of self-criticism were expected. Their company culture apparently encouraged this level save "radical honesty".