Letting go the worst workers can improve company performance

New research suggests the common but quiet practice of culling the bottom 5 percent or 10 percent of workers improves company performance.

However, the controversial practice should be reconsidered after three or four years because deadwood can only be removed once, according to a study just published in Personnel Psychology. "After that, new hires are less likely to be any better than workers who are let go."

Workforce magazine estimates that 1 in 5 large companies use some version of forced rankings, also known as "rank and yank." They require managers to go beyond evaluating workers and to rank them from top to bottom. Some middle managers have balked at putting workers in the bottom 10 percent if everyone is doing acceptable work.

It’s a hard-knuckle approach. But it prevents workplace grade inflation "where all children are above average," says Dick Grote, a consultant and author of the book "Forced Rankings" due out in October. "It’s probably the most controversial issue in management today."

By Del Jones
USA Today

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