Career Expert Explains How Performance Reviews Are Rigged Against Employees
"Millennials and Gen Z get flack for quiet quitting when there is no incentive for hard work."
SDI Productions from Getty Images Signature via Canva Pro A Tampa-based career expert and coach revealed that performance reviews are set up in a way that employees rarely reap any benefits from being praised for working hard and efficiently.
In a TikTok video, Danielle Roberts, a self-proclaimed "anti-career coach," explained that corporate America rarely wants to see working adults succeed and that this mindset is the reason why so many people are leaving their jobs and quitting without a second thought.
The career expert claimed that performance reviews are rigged against employees.
"I have proof that corporate America wants you to fail," Roberts started her video. "Performance review season for two of my clients — one is a manager who has multiple people reporting to him, and one is an independent contributor who reports to a manager."
She explained that both companies used a rating system of 1-5 for their performance reviews to measure how their employees were doing. The lower end of the spectrum meant the employee was terrible, while the upper half of the scale meant an employee was exceeding expectations, and three meant an employee was meeting expectations.
Roberts' client, who was a manager, submitted fours and fives for everyone on his team, and the independent contributor also got a majority of fives on their performance review.
"You know what the corporate offices came back to them and said? You are not allowed to put people and fours and fives," she revealed.
Roberts claimed that the corporate offices said that only one or two employees were allowed to have high-ranking performance review numbers. Even if all employees were going above and beyond in the workplace, they could not be ranked highly.
"Even when you have proof that you have exceeded expectations, corporate America is still like, 'No, you didn't.' And yet millennials and Gen Z get flack for quiet quitting when there is no incentive for hard work," she pointed out.
While Gen Z has been criticized for quiet quitting in the past, their refusal to not suffer in the workplace is admirable.
The misconception around Gen Z is that they quit jobs at the first sign of adversity because they're "lazy," "entitled," or just plain idiotic. However, their desire to move on from a job that's no longer serving them comes from witnessing millennials and boomers stay at subpar jobs for a plethora of years, accepting the unhappiness and bitterness that comes from them.
According to the Deloitte Global 2022 Gen Z and Millennial survey, which was published in May 2022 and polled more than 14,000 Gen Zers and over 7,400 millennials, Gen Zers and millennials are “particularly eager” to leave some public-facing industries, including healthcare, retail, and education.
Younger generations are the most likely to aspire to be their own boss, with 76% of Gen Z and millennials saying that this is a goal, compared to 63% of those who are Gen X and older, per a 2022 Microsoft report.
Because of how chaotic the job force is, many young people almost prepare themselves for the worst possible outcomes and therefore have built confidence in themselves and the eventuality that they will find a job that respects and values them as employees.
It's part of why many Gen Z and millennials have no interest in climbing the corporate ladder. Those younger employees who want to gain promotions aren't able to make upward movement because the people at the top aren't transitioning into retirement.
If employers want to lower the number of workers who participate in quiet-quitting, particularly those in younger generations, there needs to be more incentives for hard work. You can't expect employees to work relentlessly and exceed expectations when there is no reward, or even acknowledgment, waiting for them once they've finished. No raise, no promotion, and not even a high score on their performance reviews.
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.