1. Is it actually good to fire the lowest performers? In some cases, yes, if those performers actually add negative value by creating more problems than they so

1. Is it actually good to fire the lowest performers? In some cases, yes, if those performers actually add negative value by creating more problems than they solve. But if the simply are less productive than others, but still add positive value overall, maybe less so. You may lose institutional knowledge, team cohesion, or other intangibles that do not show in metrics. 2. Does your system actually correctly identify the lowest performers? If you believe that, you have more faith in metrics than I do. 3. Does every team have lowest performers that should be fired? I think that is the real toxic component here. I'm sure that all of us have occasionally met an underperformer that the company would have been better off without. But an automatism that every year, a blood tribute of N% shall be paid leads to all sorts of perverse incentives.