employee rankings

here via a recent post by Seth Godin. What interested me was not the concept that it is harder to hire good people in a downturn (it is always hard to hire good people – just because hiring is a difficult process; often done wrong!), although that was intriguing in itself. No, what truly interested me was what seemed to be the blind acceptance of the employee ranking concept. (A players – the ones you absolutely want or need to keep; B players – the ones you think you can advance to be A players; and C players – your first choice to lay-off if the time comes.) I have two issues with that concept:
1. It requires acceptance that management has designed the best procedures to get things done.
2. It ignores the fact that someone who is a C player within the current framework of processes and procedures could very well be an A player in a different framework. In a previous post, I argued that current processes should be reviewed and changed to fit new circumstances on a regular basis. What better time to evaluate the processes than in a downturn? The way things are being done should be reviewed first, and possibly changed. Then, evaluate personnel. Some of the A players may no longer fit, and some of the C players may suddenly look a whole lot better. ]]>