Pass-Fail

I have to wonder why we do performance reviews in Cube City. What do they really accomplish?

Last weekend, I was telling a friend about how I'd busted my tail to prepare reviews for my boss to approve by a specified date, only to have them sit in a queue. My friend asked about the measures we use for reviews, and I told her we basically have an overcomplicated Likert scale by which to judge our employees:

• 1 = you are so gone in the next round of layoffs, if not sooner
• 2 = you suck almost as bad as a 1, but at least you're a warm body if we need you
• 3 = you are doing what's expected of someone in your position, even though our expectations are ambiguous
• 4 = rarely seen on a review, to be used sparingly for people who are too good to be in their current position
• 5 = unachievable but dangling there like an elusive carrot

My friend said that they receive grades in her Cube City and, much like our 5, an A is unattainable. Everybody doing a kick-ass job will be labeled a B and should be very happy with their above-average grade.

Back in the day, when I taught freshman English at a university (THAT was fun), I was told by my boss that I could give out an A to a maximum of 2 of my 23 students but would probably have to defend those As like a dissertation. It was a horrible evaluation system, and I hated giving Bs to people who did the work of A students.

It's much that way everywhere, I guess. All I can do is fight for what's right and let the politics be damned. I give a 4 or 5 when I feel it is warranted, but I get really tired of being evaluated for my evaluation scores. The numbers don't even mean anything to anyone at the end of the day. They're just numbers. You're either good at your job or you're not. Let's not complicate things. I think we should give credit where credit is due and consider a pass-fail system.