No one can measure productivity. A wake up call for top managers and HR.

What is the real value of your work? How can you measure it?

There’s something rotten at the core of performance management, and we all can smell it:

  • Why and how do companies often punish their most productive people and reward inefficiency disguised as being very busy?
  • Is the focus on productivity a flawed system? Does it rely on subjective measures or does it accurately reflect individual contributions?
  • How can employees use this system to their advantage? What are the ethical implications of manipulating productivity metrics?
  • Do companies measure and reward the value of work based on proxies that have nothing to do with it (such as the number of hours you spend at the office)?
  • Why are managers unable to define and measure good goals, and manage their people’s performance accordingly? Why do they feel unconfortable if they can’t micromanage their team?
  • Have you thought that we still manage human resources according to the mentality of the XIXth century?

A critical view on performance management and productivity measurement

If you have ever asked yourself such questions, you may like this thought-provoking speech by Rich Gilbert, discussing the concept of productivity in the workplace. He argues that: 

  • Companies are unable to accurately measure individual productivity and instead rely on setting low expectations that employees can easily exceed.
  • This creates a system where employees can (and often do) game the system by meeting minimal requirements without actually contributing significantly.
  • Employees can use this to their advantage by understanding the expectations and delivering just enough to meet them. This allows for more free time and potentially less stress.

Here are other posts that you may like:

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Los incentivos ayudan al desempeño… ¿o no? ¿Qué dice la ciencia?

The Science of Setting & Achieving Goals

¿Trabajo presencial, teletrabajo o modelos híbridos? ¿Qué haría un directivo con visión estratégica?

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Cuando el jefe no se fía de los empleados que teletrabajan

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