In sales, sharing employee performance data can be a great way to recognize hard work and achievements. Used as a motivating tactic, sharing raw numbers on how much work is getting done by each employee can be used in the review process, but does it go too far when an employer is sharing weekly metrics with the entire team, especially for the under-performers?
One field investigator is concerned that their employer is sending emails to teammates that show each employee’s performance data in a graph format. The graph shows everyone’s work performance, breaking it down for all to see for each teammate, including hours worked, timeliness, efficiency, completed interviews, RZ rate. Lastly the graph shows the percentage of where you are ranked in your team.
“Personally, I am offended,” this subscriber writes. “I feel it publicly shames people and it’s a form of bullying.”
This thread had many investigators, both on the contract and federal side, jump in the chatter agreeing that it is a regular practice among investigation teams. One particular investigator notes that it could put pressure on investigators to close as many cases as possible, potentially leading to cutting some corners to do so.
UNLAWFUL SHARING AND WORKPLACE CONFIDENTIALITY
There are many aspects of human resources policy and employment that are considered confidential, and medical information is one arena with specific areas of protection grounded in law. Specifically for medical related information, discussions are prohibited by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA. While organizations generally maintain privacy surrounding employee status and compensation, sharing information on performance efficiency isn’t against any law, and is seen in other industries outside of personnel security.
Your company has an HR department for a reason. If you feel these emails are violating basic workplace ethics, or creating vulnerabilities in terms of cutting corners in order to create efficiencies, you can try working with your supervisor, or even filing a formal complaint with HR.
