In a blog post by Nick Haggerty, he expresses the “insane mistake” Marissa Mayer, president and CEO of Yahoo is making by placing her employees on a bell curve in attempts of increasing motivation. It may seem ludicrous that anyone would even think it’s a good idea to put employees against each other and threaten them with their jobs, yet this insanity happens more than you think.
Meg Whitman, CEO of HP
HP CEO Meg Whitman has been laying off employees simply to cut cost and “reinvest in research, development and innovation”. The employee’s that are laid off are not chosen based on skill, but at random. The company has fired 27,700 people from its workforce and plans to cut 29,000 more. There is no sense of job security, job satisfaction or organizational culture. But these damages can’t all be blamed on Whitman. HP’s previous CEO, Mark Hurd’s cost cutting measures were making “employees work from home and pay for their own Internet service, office phones, and other equipment.” There are no intrinsic motivators, making it easy for employees to quit and find better jobs, thus explaining a high turnover rate.
Instead of investing in “innovation”, what HP really needs to invest in is some common sense.
“The 7 Biggest Ways Meg Whitman Is Struggling At HP.” Business Insider. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://www.businessinsider.com/the-top-7-ways-meg-whitman-is-failing-at-hp-2012-5?op=1>.
“HP Has Chopped 22,700 Employees From Its Workforce Since Last Year.” Business Insider. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <http://www.businessinsider.com/hp-cut-22700-jobs-2013-9>.
“Nick Haggerty’s Business Blog.” Nick Haggertys Business Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. <https://blogs.ubc.ca/nickhaggerty/2013/11/14/yahoo-for-bell-curves-not/>.