what are rank and yank performance systems?

✅ Ask Us: "What are rank and yank performance appraisal plans?" sent in by an HR ER director, Gainesville, Florida.

Thornton: "A horror show.

Mostly attributed to past Chair and CEO of GE Jack Welch, this type of appraisal system ranks the performance of employees against each other. It requires grouping and then listing employees in order of performance results from top to bottom. The rank,

Welch’s plan further demanded that every group dismiss the lowest 10%, thus "strengthening the bench." The yank.

The time commitment for this type of appraisal system by operations, HR, and attorneys is overwhelming. Managers have to rally in defense of their teams to avoid firing good workers. HR has to manage numbers (discrimination risks are very high) and morale, and revamp disciplinary procedures. Attorneys have to look out for endless potential legal actions. And inter-office politics soars as employees redirect their attention away from tasks and towards being sure others fail - in an effort to make themselves appear as the better performer.

Welch offered no workable guardrails. And he unfortunately was successful in selling this idea to many CEO colleagues, my own previous boss included.

Within two years some executives had been fired by their Boards for instituting rank and yank styled systems. (Welch made millions of $.)