First they came for the office perks. Next they came for remote flexibility. Now Fortune 500 CEOs are exerting their upper hand by issuing employees new ultimatums: Show us your results—or else.
In early January, in the wake of massive layoffs, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy asked corporate workers to submit three to five accomplishments that “show the impact of your work,” as part of a revamped performance review system that helps determine future pay. It’s reportedly a departure from previous review processes that posed softball questions about employees’ strengths and interests and included prompts such as, “When you’re at your best, how do you contribute?”
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is putting more emphasis on rewarding outstanding performers too as part of a tightened review system that’s intended to slot employees into bonus bands and provide “more frequent feedback and recognition in a more efficient way,” a spokesperson told Fortune.
And finally, Citi CEO Jane Fraser warned employees that they are “not graded on effort” but “judged on our results” and urged them to adopt a more commercial mindset as the bank cut about 1,000 positions.
To be sure, corporate America does not run on goodwill and how hard workers try. Employers have always expected their workers to produce results. But as AI floods the workplace with productivity metrics, the strongly worded memos signal a reset that fully strips out the touchy-feely, more accommodating management style of the COVID era to focus on requiring workers to get stuff done.
