Page 341 - How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times

328B RE-ENGAGE

“20-70-10” tiered-performer model that is based on evidence that top
performers produce disproportionate value and should be rewarded dis-
proportionately. Some disparage this system as “rank and yank,” forcing
managers to cut muscle instead of fat after the initial rounds of elimi-
nating bottom-tier performers, thus risking demoralizing the workforce
and inviting lawsuits. Others argue that too much differentiation can
destroy teamwork by reinforcing “we-they” distinctions and can lead
to overlooking individuals in frontline, customer-facing positions who
may be the real heroes in the organization. Our own view is that better
employers achieve differentiation while still valuing all employees.
Recall our observations in Chapter 2 that Best-Places-to-Work win-
ners were able to maintain significantly higher engagement scores at all
position levels “from the mailroom to the boardroom” than were the
nonwinners. Based on our discussions with representatives of many of
these winning companies and our analysis of survey comments, the
truly elite employers have managed to be successful at targeting and
investing in key high-value talent while also creating a culture that
consistently values every employee.
Another word of caution to senior leaders: in discussions centered
on determining which employees are most critical to the company’s
strategy, not all members of the senior team may agree about which
employees actually bring the most value and are most critical. As we
know, engineering executives may believe engineers that do great
technical work are the key to business success, while those with busi-
ness development responsibilities may see things very differently.

: ENGAGEMENT PLANNING AND YOUR EMPLOYER BRAND

As the job market and recruiting challenges become more competi-
tive, employers naturally become more concerned about how they are
perceived by the outside world in general and by potential recruits in
particular. In past years some employers have tried to address this
concern by simply creating recruitment advertising or Web pages pre-