re: #543 Pianobuff

Ditto here. In my workplace, there is a large and growing attitude among the younger employees that ‘everyone gets a trophy”. When it’s time for annual reviews, they all feel they should got the top evaluation since they “did their jobs”. If one gets promoted and the rest don’t it’s 6 months of complaining.

When I try to explain that the extra rewards and recognition are for the top performers only while at the same time trying to express general appreciation for everyone who fulfills their basic job duties I get these glassy-eyed looks… a 5 second pause… and then the typical “But I still don’t get it. You just said I’m performing my job ok. Why no special bonus for me?

You have to experience it to know how unsettling (and increasingly systemic) this is.

I saw the same thing happen.
People thought a “satisfactory” job rating was a bad thing.
Everybody wanted “outstanding”. Not everyone performs “outstanding”. And it’s OK to be “satisfactory”.