Voluntary Redundancy - Selection process seems illogical

Heidiho

Our company is making several people redundant later this year but the good news is that VRs are being accepted and there are more than enough that want to go. Each person applying for VR will have their performance rated over the coming months so that they can be given a score. The company will then award VR to the employees that score the lowest. Is this normal? It seems to be encouraging anyone that wants VR to deliberately perform poorly until their score has been revealed, which seems entirely illogical!

edited for clarity

edited again - could there be any unintended consequences for anyone that deliberately performs poorly for a few months in order to obtain a lower score?

elsien

You have heard on the grapevine, or the company have clearly set out their voluntary redundancy selection procedure?
Because office gossip can be notoriously inaccurate. 

Heidiho

This is what the company have told us. Straight from the horses mouth!

elsien

Yes, it doesn’t seem to be the most sensible way of going on, does it? They might have been better off using information from past appraisals instead. 

mark_cycling00

I guess it's unusual to get more vr applications than are needed as redundancies.

It's probably difficult to use other criteria. 

Age? Illegal
Shortest time at company would reduce costs and be unfair on people who'd been there a long time. Abd visa Versa 
Quickest to reply for vr? Might discriminate again people who needed to discuss with family.

If they immediately awarded the vr to the worst performers then that would be a rough assessment of those people. Now they can always say that they deliberately performed poorly to get the vr. And there's less shame

Dunno just guessing 

Heidiho

elsien said:

Yes, it doesn’t seem to be the most sensible way of going on, does it? They might have been better off using information from past appraisals instead. 

Yes - revealing the selection process ahead of the decision means that it’s open to manipulation. Not necessarily a bad thing but it just feels pretty bizarre and creates a bit of a moral dilemma for those wanting to take VR. Basing the score on past appraisals would indeed seem like a better way to go. 

p00hsticks

Heidiho said:

It seems to be encouraging anyone that wants VR to deliberately perform poorly until their score has been revealed, which seems entirely illogical!

I'm not sure I'd use the words 'entirely illogical'. The method described would result in getting rid of not only the genuinely poor performers but also those who are prepared to deliberately underperform to get what they want to the detriment of the company. 

Some might see the approach as achieving exactly what the company wants.........

Brie

It does all seem completely backward but then so does getting rid of the best performers as if VR is a reward for doing well.  

lincroft1710

mark_cycling00 said:

I guess it's unusual to get more vr applications than are needed as redundancies.

 

It happened when I was in the Civil Service. Some very disappointed people had to work for a few more years

lincroft1710

Heidiho said:

This is what the company have told us. Straight from the horses mouth!

I take it this was in writing/e-mail, rather than verbal.

Andy_L

Heidiho said:

Our company is making several people redundant later this year but the good news is that VRs are being accepted and there are more than enough that want to go. Each person applying for VR will have their performance rated over the coming months so that they can be given a score. The company will then award VR to the employees that score the lowest. Is this normal? It seems to be encouraging anyone that wants VR to deliberately perform poorly until their score has been revealed, which seems entirely illogical!

edited for clarity

edited again - could there be any unintended consequences for anyone that deliberately performs poorly for a few months in order to obtain a lower score?

They could be fired for being carp at their job rather than getting a redundancy package