Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Metrics Overruled ..

When time comes to do a org wide equity adjustment after more than 2 yrs of wait, the anxiety hits the roof. The HR types swing in to action to figure out ways to be very fair in terms of distributing the new booty !

And hence invented a nice new formula that takes many things in to consideration -

1. Total industry experience and relevant experience
2. TIme in current grade / role
3. Performance for last couple of years
4. Current salary with respect to grade mid point

Plug in all these and life is easy. You know how much of the dollar go to who.
But here is a catch ! When we go one after another name as suggested by this so called "formula" we start finding exceptions !

1. The people who performance has been great in last cycles have been taken care of even during recession - and hence the gap to market is low

2. People who have max industry experience and max time in grade are there for a reason. They are not the high growing ones. And more money should not go in there.

etc. and the money finally falls on the plate of the usual successful gang, be them young, be them above market already etc. True capitalism shows up :)

Metrics overruled ! 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is the org wide equity adjustment really happening ? This post really created a buzz among the employees who read your bog and now suddenly hearing stuff like its mostly selective and the percentage is going to be very small ... What are your plans for employee retention given the current circumtance and the widening gap between the laterals and people who have stayed here for long !!!

Betaal said...

Mr. Anonymous !
My blog refers to a process and not exactly what happens in a company. It was a comment on a process. Just like you infer assumptions from such posts, there are many readers who wait for it to get some true management, human lessons and not just "pertinent" information.

I ve never named the company I work for or take examples from, in my blogs from the beginning.

Nor I would like to comment on it to anyone asking about it "anonymously".

Just swing by me and ask and I ll be more that happy to answer. I believe in being 100% transparent even when truth is not palatable.

Take care.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Betaal my question also never mentions any company , i just wanted to as i Manager how i could help retain my employees given the current circumstances.

Betaal said...

Mr. Anonymous,
This certainly is a new level of challenge presented to me as a manager in many years of my experience.

One way is to focus on my own feelings and actions as an "impacted" party "myself". Do I ve same level of motivation to continue ? If yes, what is keeping me motivated at same level, irrespective of change in my material incentives ? Taking some of that to work and customizing it would be the key.

If people only worked for money, then this is not the right job. If people someone is frustrated and does not take action, then its not good for both the person and the organization. If the frustration is temporary and goes away in a few days, it is natural.

Bottom-line, is I think this can be dealt with - by proper work rotations, keeping team excited, communicating clearly, openly, and honestly, by being respectful to other people's need.

On the business side, few measures like hiring extremely carefully to back fill the attrition - getting good talent at market price is possible. By looking at all alternative ways of getting money (we ve certainly seen success in many cases getting budget outside of the equity ones allocated), by cleaning up complacent, anemic senior leaders and managers and creating hope and growth for the younger, hardworking, motivated ones etc.

This is a good challenge to face because it is MACRO and this is where the reality of the IT industry is heading to. All have to accept it in a few years. We will be the first to manage this change.