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> remote work diminishes "social capital" Stack ranking forcing a number of your employees into "low performance" and putting them on PIP is awesome for social

> remote work diminishes "social capital" Stack ranking forcing a number of your employees into "low performance" and putting them on PIP is awesome for social capital however. As are layoffs. "it's all bullshit, and it's bad for you"

13of40 4y ago
I think you're misunderstanding the point. "Social capital" isn't another way to say "happy workers". There's probably a ton of it in a gulag, for example. It's better for a prisoner to know who can patch a shoe versus having to walk their toes off in the snow, and it's better for the guards because they won't be short a log hauler. Social capital manifest, without a smile in sight. A layoff is going to sever some of those connections in the short term, but the number and quality of connections isn't a function of how people feel about their job. Stack ranking and PIPs are tools that the company uses to mitigate the impact of letting people go. In other words, they're there to protect social capital (for the good of the company, don't get me wrong) versus doing something like picking a random 20% of people to eliminate.
- alright_scowl 4y ago
  I understand full well what "social capital" is supposed to mean. My point is that fostering a culture of mistrust and competitiveness among the employees is antithetical to protecting social capital. I won't effectively collaborate with you if it helps you being the low performer that will be laid off instead of me.
  - 13of40 4y ago
    That's a fair point, but based on my experience I don't think most people are as deliberate as that. I've survived more layoffs than I care to count over the years, and it's always seemed like there were plenty of people on the far left of the bell curve without anyone needing to actively sabotage them.
    - alright_scowl 4y ago
      That has been my observation as well. And curiously enough, I normally don't care about being PIP'd or layoff, as I engage in healthy job hopping so that I was never actually laid off over my relatively long career. Typically I'm one to see the early signs of trouble ahead and line up a new job in the next month or so. But it wouldn't surprise me if it was found out that the culture of PIP and Stack Ranking helped to select for the ones that are best at navigating the corporate culture in the way I described above.
      - 13of40 4y ago
        > But it wouldn't surprise me if it was found out that the culture of PIP and Stack Ranking helped to select for the ones that are best at navigating the corporate culture in the way I described above. Well, when you get down to it, if you find yourself back-stabbing a coworker to keep yourself out of the bottom 10% during a RIF, that's not a huge badge of honor either.
        alright_scowl 4y ago
        I don't expect people to be after badges of honor, generally speaking.
    - 8ytecoder 4y ago
      You’re only looking at those that are far to the left. There are plenty of the people in the right and middle that get dragged down all the same. Because 360 at Amazon didn’t just decide whether you stay or leave but also your raise and most importantly the RSUs that are issued 4 years out. Amazon issues RSUs based on your growth trajectory. And promotions. None of the reviewers ever have to lie remember. They just have to cherry pick the right examples. (To be clear, it’s not just Amazon. It’s all companies that have a peer review system that couples with a stack ranking system. If it’s simply feedback to help you grow or established goals and your performance against it, the system will be fine)

13of40 4y ago

I think you're misunderstanding the point. "Social capital" isn't another way to say "happy workers". There's probably a ton of it in a gulag, for example. It's better for a prisoner to know who can patch a shoe versus having to walk their toes off in the snow, and it's better for the guards because they won't be short a log hauler. Social capital manifest, without a smile in sight. A layoff is going to sever some of those connections in the short term, but the number and quality of connections isn't a function of how people feel about their job. Stack ranking and PIPs are tools that the company uses to mitigate the impact of letting people go. In other words, they're there to protect social capital (for the good of the company, don't get me wrong) versus doing something like picking a random 20% of people to eliminate.

alright_scowl 4y ago
I understand full well what "social capital" is supposed to mean. My point is that fostering a culture of mistrust and competitiveness among the employees is antithetical to protecting social capital. I won't effectively collaborate with you if it helps you being the low performer that will be laid off instead of me.
- 13of40 4y ago
  That's a fair point, but based on my experience I don't think most people are as deliberate as that. I've survived more layoffs than I care to count over the years, and it's always seemed like there were plenty of people on the far left of the bell curve without anyone needing to actively sabotage them.
  - alright_scowl 4y ago
    That has been my observation as well. And curiously enough, I normally don't care about being PIP'd or layoff, as I engage in healthy job hopping so that I was never actually laid off over my relatively long career. Typically I'm one to see the early signs of trouble ahead and line up a new job in the next month or so. But it wouldn't surprise me if it was found out that the culture of PIP and Stack Ranking helped to select for the ones that are best at navigating the corporate culture in the way I described above.
    - 13of40 4y ago
      > But it wouldn't surprise me if it was found out that the culture of PIP and Stack Ranking helped to select for the ones that are best at navigating the corporate culture in the way I described above. Well, when you get down to it, if you find yourself back-stabbing a coworker to keep yourself out of the bottom 10% during a RIF, that's not a huge badge of honor either.
      - alright_scowl 4y ago
        I don't expect people to be after badges of honor, generally speaking.
  - 8ytecoder 4y ago
    You’re only looking at those that are far to the left. There are plenty of the people in the right and middle that get dragged down all the same. Because 360 at Amazon didn’t just decide whether you stay or leave but also your raise and most importantly the RSUs that are issued 4 years out. Amazon issues RSUs based on your growth trajectory. And promotions. None of the reviewers ever have to lie remember. They just have to cherry pick the right examples. (To be clear, it’s not just Amazon. It’s all companies that have a peer review system that couples with a stack ranking system. If it’s simply feedback to help you grow or established goals and your performance against it, the system will be fine)