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I've heard that at companies that did stack ranking, managers of groups with high performers would actually seek out poor performers who didn't care about their
by kaiby 4y ago
I've heard that at companies that did stack ranking, managers of groups with high performers would actually seek out poor performers who didn't care about their ranking from other groups, to add to their group so that they wouldn't have to give a poor mark to their own people. These poor performers became hot commodities. Talk about gaming the system...
- TeMPOraL 4y ago> These poor performers became hot commodities. Talk about gaming the system... Couple iterations of that and you'll have people who are hired and/or paid extra for the purpose of being a "fuse" that protects the high performers during layoffs by being first to get fired.
- shriek 4y agoThat happens already. No big company is running on a skeleton crew. If they are then we have a bigger problem.
- monocasa 4y agoBut is the distribution maintained fractally down to most/all of the big company's teams?
- ryandrake 4y agoNot sure about the “paid extra” part, but this is called Hire To Fire[1] and is evidently in practice at companies that do stack ranking. 1: https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/amazons-controversial-hire-to-fire-practice-reveals-a-brutal-truth-about-management.html https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/amazons-controversial-hire-to...
- urthor 4y agoIt leads to the metagame. For many junior employees, far more likely to be predesignated as H2F, you onboard as a hire to fire employee. Then immediately begin networking for an adjacent team to join. It's never about what you can do. Always about who you know.
- ryandrake 4y agoI wonder how I could signal my willingness to be a H2F candidate. I could see doing this, for example, to make a few bucks in pre-retirement: 1. Get hired as the sacrificial lamb, 2. Do nothing (or the bare minimum) for 11 months, 3. Start interviewing again one month before I know I’ll be stack-rank fired, 4. Get hired as another sacrificial lamb at a different company that does stack ranking, 5. Goto 2. Everybody wins. I get a salary for doing nothing. Hiring manager protects his team from a cruel system. High-and-medium-performing coworkers are secure in their jobs. Recruiters meet their hiring goals.
- thombat 4y agoMy joke (?) proposal for a contracting business was "Scapegoat Solutions". You're a manager somewhere with a project which is of course late, over budget, crappy quality? Your bonus, or even ass, could be on the line? Never fear - just contract us to "work" on your project for a quarter, we'll drink a little coffee, play some Kicker, twiddle some files in your SCM, then you ceremonially fire us while bewailing the outlandish harm we did to your otherwise well-managed project, explain to your Lords & Masters that it will take months to right the ship... Obviously we're blacklisted as "No Hire" for your company - at least until the next time you need our well-remunerated services...
- SenHeng 4y agoI had a roommate that had a real business doing such a thing. If a company/person fucks up and needs to apologise but are unable/unwilling for $REASONS, that's where my roommate would step in and literally apologise for them. He would even be provided with name cards and in some instances, underlings to look like an important person. I tried very hard (google & wiki) to look for an English term but I failed. It's 謝罪代行 in Japanese. Literally Apology as a Service.
- thombat 4y agoFascinating! So the recipient of the apology is generally unaware that it has been outsourced? Or do they still find it soothing, as bereft family do with professional mourners?
- voakbasda 4y agoHow is this not a fraud on the part of the company that hires-to-fire? They have no intention of actually following through on the employment contract.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- TeMPOraL 4y agoI was thinking about specifically asking people, whether already hired or those about to, to become "sacrificial parts"[0]. The difference between this and "hire to fire" would be that in my scenario, these sacrificial employees would enter the deal voluntarily, fully aware of their purpose. Extra compensation would be there to offset both the immediate hassle of searching for a new job and damage to work history on the resume of such sacrificial employee. -- [0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacrificial_part https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacrificial_part
- xyzzy_plugh 4y agoI've seen this happen. The best part is when attrition is bad enough in some cycle that the poor performers stick around... and now the managers are really in trouble! It can be difficult for line managers to fire their entire team.
- scifibestfi 4y agoIt's a bad sign when it sounds like a Dilbert cartoon.
- kyrra 4y agoCirca 2006 I saw a friend who was a manager do exactly this. There wasn't stack ranking. He just kept a low performer on his team to sacrifice to the RIFs when they came through.
- raxxorraxor 4y agoThe bad thing is that this is predictable behavior and management still does it. Should the suggestion get grouped into the 5% of low performers? This is clearly damaging to overall work morale and company goals. And not to an insignificant part. What would you give for that performance? I cannot see anything that would benefit the company. Not even employment costs, because employees certainly price that in.
- npteljes 4y agoI know I would to that, to protect my team, and those who I consider good performers.
- dbg31415 4y agoYup, this happens. Basically just hiring people to take the fall. Seen this happen for teams where the manager loves everyone on their team.