Are we not medium?
It remains a mystery to me that no matter how much I research this, I can find no evidence anywhere of the positive effects of pay for performance systems. If anyone knows of any, let me know.
It is a bizarre systems that could only work properly if there was a) never a cap on how many people could be ranked in each category and b) everyone had clearly defined signposts as to how they could get better.
Secondly it relies on the premise that we are all motivated in the same way. An understanding of Maslow will show this to be false.
Third, a robust mechanism to deal with those who don’t get rewarded must be in place but companies are loath to dismiss on performance issues where these are not water tight for fear of a) turnover costs and b) legal action
What then happens is we end up with a system that promotes mediocrity (don’t sail too high or too low) for the majority but those in favour at the top of any food chain can get more and more.
We know that the gap between poor and rich is growing, pay for performance delivers the same in the workplace. What is worse for any company there is a high cost of maintaining this system.
