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Amazon tells bosses to conceal when employees are on aperformance management plan Amazon instructs managers not to telloffice employees that they are on a formal performance-managementplan that puts their job in jeopardy unless the employee explicitlyasks, according to guidance from an Amazon intranet page formanagers. The policy, a copy of which was viewed by The SeattleTimes, helps explain why some Amazon employees have described theexperience of being on the performance-management plan, calledFocus, as baffling and demoralizing. Some managers, too, questionwhy they are asked to conceal that their employees are on a pathwaythat often leads out of the company. The secrecy surroundingperformance management is one more reason why some Amazon officeemployees say the company is not living up to its April pledge tobecome “Earth’s Best Employer.” Amazon tracks the number ofemployees in Focus in the context of meeting its goal for“unregretted attrition,” the roughly 6% of office employees Amazonhopes to pressure out of the company each year, according tointernal Amazon human resources documents. The company expects morethan one-third of employees in Focus to fail the program and leaveAmazon. Business Insider detailed employees’ Focus frustrations inMay. In interviews with The Seattle Times, Amazon employees andmanagers also shared concerns about the transparency and utility ofthe Focus program. As it’s described by the company, Focus is a wayto help underperforming employees get back on track. Managers aresupposed to deliver documented coaching to employees on Focus overa period of weeks or months. But some workers who have been onFocus say they were never told what their performance deficiencieswere, or how they could improve. Four current and former Amazonemployees said they found out they were in Focus by accident — forinstance, when they attempted to transfer to another team and weretold they would need additional approvals. They described theexperience of not knowing whether they were on Focus, or how to getoff, as emotionally draining. Meanwhile, three current and formermanagers said they believed it was counterproductive to keepemployees guessing about whether they were on theperformance-management plan. The internal guidance, which iscurrent as of July, is in the form of an FAQ on an intranet pagefor managers describing the Focus program. “Should I tell anemployee that I entered them into Focus?” the question reads. Theresponse: “Do not discuss Focus with employees. Instead, tell theemployee that their performance is not meeting expectations, thespecific areas where they need to improve, and offer feedback andsupport to help them improve.” “If the employee directly asks, ‘AmI in Focus?’ you should answer honestly,” the response continues.“However, remind the employee that the use of a specific productshould not be their take-away from the conversation, as there areimportant performance gaps they must address.” In a statement, anAmazon spokesperson said that Focus is primarily oriented towardkeeping managers accountable for dealing with underperformance ontheir teams. “Like most employers, we provide managers with toolsto help employees improve their performance and grow in theircareers at Amazon,” Amazon spokesperson Jaci Anderson said in astatement. “This includes resources for employees who are notmeeting expectations and may require additional coaching.”Employees have access to “multiple channels” to discuss theirperformance assessment, “including our employee resource center,their direct HR business partner, and our anonymous hotline,”Anderson said. Focus replaced an earlier performance-managementtool, called the “development list,” by 2019. Under that earliertool, the guidance to managers was the same: Do not tell employeeswhen they are placed on the list, according to one former seniorAmazon manager who said he reluctantly complied with the rule.“Openness is one of the key things I liked about Amazon when I wasworking there,” he said. “Someone has got formal action takenagainst them by the company and they don’t know about it? It justdidn’t smell right to me.” One Amazon engineer, who joined thecompany in late 2016, said he found out that he had been on thedevelopment list for nearly 18 months only after his managerchanged. His new manager, he said, inquired about hisperformance-management plan. “My response was, ‘Are you sure youdon’t have your wires crossed?'” he said. The shock of learning hewas on a performanceimprovement plan, he said, was rapidly replacedby bewilderment as he tried without success to get off the plan forsix more months. “No one would tell me what my status was,” hesaid. “I ended up in this weird, nebulous performance hell for afew years.” An Amazon Web Services employee, a foreign citizen ofcolour working on a team of mostly American citizens, said shelearned she had been placed into Focus in early 2020 only after herapplication for an internal transfer was flagged for furtherreview. The employee, who is still on Focus, said she suspectsdisparate treatment because of her nationality and ethnicbackground. In her previous role at Amazon, based outside the U.S.,her performance had been rated so highly that her current teampetitioned for her transfer and sponsored her visa. “I’m notagainst performance management, if the idea behind it is to provide[employees] with coaching and guidance to become a betteremployee,” she said. That’s not been her experience on Focus. Theprogram “is all hush-hush. It’s a hidden way of weeding out peoplewho are not part of the clique,” she said. Not every employee is inthe dark. Some managers flout the rules and reveal to theirsubordinates that they are on Focus, according to two managers anddocumentation of one employee’s Focus plan seen by The SeattleTimes. “I always broke the rule,” said one senior Amazon manager.“If I cannot share that an employee is on a coaching plan, how canI give him a fair evaluation?”
QUESTION 2 (20 Marks) Ideally, a performance management systemshould fulfil various strategic purposes. Analyse the purposes ofthe Amazon performance management, and apply relevant theory toadvise the HR practitioners at Amazon on THREE fundamental purposesof a performance management system in an organisations.
Please provide at least 600 words.