[anotherblue]

If you have a problem with a person, either with their results or with their behavior, fire them.

Whole review process is designed to help managers avoid making tough decisions like firing bad apples.

In Microsoft, I got one year underachieving mark, and that made huge dent on my career. It took open-minded manager (who was recent external hire) to offer me a spot in new group. After that, I did really great, got promotion and enjoy the work.

Now, tell me, how giving me bad mark helped Microsoft? It kept me in miserable state for a year and half, forced me to work with people who already said that I am failure, and I surely didn't produce much at that time.

However, next year, I (same person, working same job), got middle-of-the-road review, and was officially allowed to look for a position elsewhere... But no hiring manager will talk to me. Whenever you apply for a position inside Microsoft, first question hiring manager asks is: What are your last three/four/five review scores? As soon as any of those is 4 (in today's system), they will stop talking to you. You cannot get even informationals... Some jerks don't even want to answer your emails anymore...

Dolphin, I know you are all smart and shiny, but axe is waiting for you too... Yank-and-rank...

[spaghetti]

"Now, tell me, how giving me bad mark helped Microsoft?"

The bad mark kept you at the company where you're currently happy and productive. If the company had just fired you they would have lost a soon-to-be happy and productive employee.

The overhead of hiring/firing people in a huge company is non-trivial. Even taking your less productive 1.5 years into account your employment is probably still a net gain for the company.

[Daniel_Newby]

"Whenever you apply for a position inside Microsoft, first question hiring manager asks is: What are your last three/four/five review scores?"

Does anyone know the rationale for blocking internal transfers? If somebody is unhirable by all teams but one, why are they not fired? If a manager might need a sacrificial goat, why would he not hire a proven low performer?

[twoodfin]

I can imagine at least three rationales:

- Avoid "manager shopping", wherein a low performing employee transfers from group to group until he finds one that doesn't recognize his lack of competence. Similarly, communicate to the low-ranked employee that his only path to redemption is with his current group.

- Encourage effort from employees who are dissatisfied with their current group. Continue to perform or you won't be able to switch.

- Discourage managers from handing out worse reviews to team members whom they'd just like to see leave the group, as opposed to genuinely poor performers.

But I'd love to hear the real reasons.

[anotherblue]

Typically, even if hiring manager would like you one way or another (either he genuinely believe that you can perform, or he wants sacrificial lamp), usually he is under orders from VP level which forbid interviewing anybody with bad mark in last three years.

However, those who call out VP orders are weak managers anyway, so you do not want to go work for them. A manager who hired me actually was impressed by me enough to go to director and bat for me to give me a chance to interview...