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The reason I was told about the elimination of a yearly written report card, and replacing by regular conversation, is that employees have no trail of documents
by mturmon 11y ago
The reason I was told about the elimination of a yearly written report card, and replacing by regular conversation, is that employees have no trail of documents saying their performance is good.
This gives greater freedom to lay people off, in the sense that there is no documentary basis for a lawsuit of wrongful termination.
- exacube 11y agoI would actually think otherwise -- with no formal documentation of poor performance, they'll have a much harder time justifying a layoff/firing if they are sued for discrimination or something.
- mturmon 11y agoI see where you're going, but the constraints don't work out that way. In an at-will state like California, you can be laid off for any business reason, such as "the work in this area is closing up." So, justifying a layoff (to the satisfaction of a court) is not a major constraint. But if there is documentation stating that the employee's work is great, that future opportunities abound, etc., then that justification begins to look suspect. On the other hand, in the absence of documentation, the at-will rules give great freedom to the employer.
- onion2k 11y agoWere you told that by someone who was laid off?
- mturmon 11y agoI'd rather not say, but: they were not laid off. They were in a position to know, at my 5K person workplace. I don't want to seem like a conspiracy theorist. There was probably no one over-riding reason for ditching the written report. But I think the above was a big factor.