OP-ED: Merit and Accountability in the American Workplace · 10:32pm Mar 31st, 2022
This post has been a while in coming, and I mean that to a degree most of you likely won’t expect. This, right here, these words you see before you, account for the third time I have written out my thoughts on this subject, the prior postings either being too disorganized or too negative and downbeat to ultimately find their way to the site.
Yet the topic kept circling back. Whether it was because of the constant barrage of, to put it kindly, angry or entitled posts I would see on social media from a particular group, or because I was in the opposing group those type of posts regularly attacked while also knowing (and seeing) firsthand what things were actually like, the topic kept coming back in my head. Though arguably, it also likely has much to do with firsthand experience I’ve had working at various jobs, seeing directly for myself how abysmal things have gotten … as well as how doggedly those who benefit from the current status quo fight to defend it.
Which I think is perhaps where things went wrong. Both the prior attempts to write out this post contained example after example, all first-hand, of how working in the US has become, well … awful. The problem was is that the post didn’t do anything constructive. It aired a litany of sins, pointed fingers … and then that was it. Not exactly great content. So after the second post had been a dud (which was last night), I stepped back and analyzed this latest attempt, and decided to come at things from a very different angle. Yes, I could throw stones, and there’s more than enough ammo to go around. But that won’t fix anything, because those who understand already know what’s gone wrong, while those who should understand have already insulated themselves from the issue and are often living a lifestyle dependent on never admitting the issue in the first place.
Ultimately then, there’s little reason to writing yet another post that airs the problems that are already there, whether or not they’re acknowledged. But a post that’s about the constructive, a post that is to those who will, slowly but surely, taking those same positions encouraging them to not dive into the same self-serving behavior and discussing how the US economy is harmed by such self-centered mindsets? Well … maybe that can do something. Just maybe.
So let’s talk about the idea of merit, the concept of accountability, and how both are vital to the US economy … despite being something that’s been largely ejected from the modern job market.
And look, I know there will be plenty of those that have, as noted above, insulated themselves from the reality of what’s going on out there. They’ll come at this post with torches and pitchforks, ignore most of it or attempt to leave a comment that’s effectively a giant strawman, or something else.
To all those posters: Tough. You’re welcome to go shout at your personal echo chambers about why “merit doesn’t matter” or “merit matters, but everyone else is just inferior” or whatever other cockamamie excuse you feel works. Knock yourself out. But don’t expect to be taken seriously here, or given a soap box to shout. Fair warning.
For the rest of you, let’s talk about merit.
This reminds me of the latest nonsense policy my company started focusing on in the last two years: limited employee ratings. We had our annual employee reviews last month. My boss, as always, praised me in ways that are almost embarrassing and tried to give me the highest possible rating. But no, the company now has a rule: across the entire business only a specific percentage of employees may make the highest rating. They then decided that I would not get that highest rating so that the percentage this year would meet this arbitrary requirement. Of course, if we get raises this year (always a big if), how much our raise ends up being is based on those employee reviews. Although they never said so, I imagine this is the entire reason the new rule exists: so they don't have some perceived obligation to pay higher raises to more people.
So. Looks like I'm going to stay stuck with a 3% raise in a world of 8% inflation rates. Joy.
I asked my retired father about this, and he said his company had been doing the same things for years. So it's not a new phenomenon, it was just new for my company.
5647568
I've seen stories of a few people who immediately adjusted their work to compensate, basically playing chicken with their employers, some winning and some getting new jobs but ... There's no denying that a lot of companies adopt this system with the aim of not giving raises.
It definitely is a crock, and I'm sorry you got hit by it.
5647576
Heh, I had a co-worker who did that. He'd been employed for a good five years at the company before I arrived. I liked to call him our Wally: that guy who has become an expert at doing absolutely nothing while making it look like he's working all the time. Everyone was on to him, but everyone was so used to him that they just accepted it and said nothing. My boss regularly noted how he'd have been fired ages ago if there was a paper trail, but somehow there never was.
They finally canned him last year, and then only because of layoffs.
As for me, I'm too... honest, I guess? I like the job, I like the atmosphere and the people, and I can't not do my best on a project; it just feels wrong. The one and only thing I don't like is the pay, but I've been willing to tolerate it thanks to all the other perks. That might change if this inflation rate continues over the next few years.