On April 17, I commented on the ongoing feedback/review responsibility managers had if they were going to avoid the scenarios described in a BW cover story.

In the follow-up, (see all the comments) some comments cited the need for employee access to the courts, which I don’t dispute; but many of the comments them were from the colleagues of non/underperformers.

These are the people who really bear the brunt of the difficulties and extra work created when poorly performing employees are retained out of fear [of the legal repercussions of firing them]—a problem fostered by lazy, incompetent, ignorant, insecure, or confrontation-phobic managers, in not providing frequent, honest, accurate feedback and the regularly scheduled, written performance reviews needed for professional growth and, incidentally, that create an accurate work history.

The key word is accurate, since any review, or no review, but continued employment, creates a work history. The difference is whether it supports

• the company’s contention that the person’s performance is unacceptable; or
• the employee’s contention of wrongful termination.

Two other comments that caught my eye keyed on the differences between workers and execs.

“Twenty years ago, an underperformer could be fired—end of story. Today that same underperformer has reason to believe that he, too, is entitled to be rewarded on the way out, just as the worst CEOs are rewarded on their way out.
There is no difference between the underperforming slob at the bottom [and] the underperforming slob at the top except that the guy at the top doesn’t need the legal system. He has already been rewarded handsomely for his shortcomings”.
G. Placencia
Chino Hills, Calif.

“You mention briefly that laws are in place to protect workers from illegal firings. I compare this to our justice system. It’s not perfect, [but] it’s the best we have. For all the underperformers who file frivolous lawsuits, there are those with legitimate grievances and valid lawsuits. I also wonder why I’ve never heard of a CEO filing such lawsuits. Oh, yes—probably because they have protections that pay them tens of millions whether they perform or not”.
James Eustis
Panama City, Fla

How true. Check out the links in How to succeed in business without really performing if you have any doubts.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 9th, 2007 at 11:33 am and is filed under Business info, Communication, Culture, Leadership, Motivation, Retention. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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