"Performance management, a worker assessment system that pits workers against each other and is linked to a massive intensification of work (Risks 624), is also a very bad idea for business, the union Prospect has said. Studies have shown the approach to cause high levels of workplace stress, burnout (Risks 664) and ill-health (Risks 661).
But Prospect says while a long list of blue chip companies have abandoned the “rank and yank” system, the UK civil service is persisting with an approach that is bad for staff and bad for performance (Risks 639). Prospect national safety officer Sarah Page says it is now a year since software giant Microsoft announced to its staff its decision to abandon the performance management system that had been blamed for 10 years of lost creativity, instead creating “a culture of cannibalism”.
Big names that have also dropped performance management include Ford, General Electric and Caterpillar, she says. The Prospect safety specialist adds that in the wake of financial scandals, “when many like Prospect are promoting Good Work – employee voice, a culture based on trust and fairness etc – it is alarming to witness the apparent corrosion of civil service performance management.”
She warns: “The predictable escalating conflict and levels of employee ill-health with their inevitable impact on service delivery will expose this false economy.” Hat tip TUC risks
Ÿ Prospect safety blog, Good Work campaign,
Ÿ The Guardian.
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