>>Does it necessarily follow that because employee A is busting ass, expectations get raised for employee B? Is the set standard really that fragile? Yeah sure

>>Does it necessarily follow that because employee A is busting ass, expectations get raised for employee B? Is the set standard really that fragile? Yeah sure - most metrics in software do not work as expected, so the only thing that we are left is perceived performance. And perceived performance is created only by comparison - You always subconsciously look for the baseline observing people in Your team, so if one ot them is concentrated only on work and is at least a little bit competent while doing it, it makes others look worse in comparison.