Reply #125: my experience with "merit" or "performance" pay

[radfringe]

I've worked for several companies which offered raises or bonuses based on "merit" or "performance"

To determine the $$ amount, a review would be conducted. Some parts of the review were based on quantifiable parts of job duties and therefore objective. Other parts were solely SUBJECTIVE.

adding up the "numbers" and coming to a performance "mark" determined your bonus or raise.

There's one problem - more often than not - the raise or bonus amount was determined ahead of time, and the "review" was then tailored to match, using the "subjective" portion of the review to down-tick or up-tick the final "mark".

You could object to the final "mark" - however, your objection would be noted and the fact you objected would count against you as being "uncooperative" or "does not play well with others"

the end result is incentives to perform better didn't encourage you to perform better at all because the system was rigged for the get-go