2/25    During bad economic times, do companies start to give out more
        performance issue related warnings to employees? I'm asking because
        it happened to my previous company in 2000-2001 where they let
        go a large number of underperformers (20%) without having to
        pay them severance. During normal times it was only 1-5%. The
        same thing is happening to my new company, and I'm just wondering
        if this is a common practice?
        \_ Yes, and they also tend to use the opportunity to remind people
           how "lucky" they are to have a job and how everyone is going to
           have to really work harder now, which is especially galling if
           you've been busting your ass from Day One.
           \_ I'm the op, I got such a notice even though I've been busting
              my ass for a while. I've never been on the receiving end
              of this. Is this done as an insurance for having to do
              mass layoffs in the future but not have to report to
              media as such?
        \_ similar experience @ Sun in 2001: all the managers started getting
           really bitchy, and factions developed.  The engineers had to "take
           sides."  Reviews in general got a lot worse.  I went from a "great
           job!" rating to a "needs improvement" rating within a month.  It
           was a good time to leave.  On the plus side, it was a fun time to
           be unemployed, since I was in good company!  (I went to contracting
           in that case)
           \_ Interesting. I work at a 20K company and I got a notice.   -op
        \_ I have not seen this, though I mostly have worked at startups
           until recently. The Big Company I work at now is definitely not
           doing this right now. We laid off 10% in December and then did
           performance evals, which came out with a normal distribution.
        \_ Pretty typical. They are hoping you leave on your own or that,
           if they need to fire you, they have all their ducks lined up.
           This is in case the employee tries to sue for age/gender/racial
           discrimination then they can point to your "poor employment
           record". My mom was a manager for years and when she decided
           someone was going to go she started a file on them. That's not
           the same situation as in a layoff, but same rules apply. Managers
           will hype the employees they wish to keep and start chopping
           the dead wood. They are probably doing you a favor by letting
           you know you are possibly on the block by giving you a bad review
           even if they don't always intend it that way (sometimes they do).
           If they fire you then they won't give you severance either, not
           that they necessarily *have* to and it hoses your chances to
           collect unemployment. Once management starts this BS it means
           something is going to go down.
           \_ Thank you. My gutsy feeling is exactly the same. Thanks for
              reaffirming my suspicions. BTW how long have you been in the
              industry to see this type of stuff happening?