I used to work at a company (not Amazon) with a similar "cut x% each year" philosophy. In spite of this on one high-performing team there was one very poorly-pe

I used to work at a company (not Amazon) with a similar "cut x% each year" philosophy. In spite of this on one high-performing team there was one very poorly-performing person and it was completely obvious. One day over drinks the manager told me "He's my designated fire-ee. If I don't have turnover from people leaving naturally then he's there to take the bullet when the cut comes. If someone leaves during the year then he survives until the next cycle". I even know a manager (as here) who specifically hired someone so they wouldn't need to cut any of their productive people. Stack rank and cut produces perverse incentives.