Part of the new program is an explicit focus on frequent feedback. If anything, there ought to be fewer surprises than the current once (twice-ish with midyear discussions) a year feedback.
The risk going forward is that without being forced to a distribution, wishy-washy managers will trend towards the middle. High achievers will be under-compensated, and under-achievers will be overcompensated. The budget hasn't changed, so the same pool of money has to be divided among the same set of people, managers now have more freedom as to how.
- Difficulty knowing who the best employees are.
- Employees surprised by layoffs. "I thought I was doing well."
- Managers slacking on giving constructive feedback.
Performance management is such a tough subject. Both extremes (ruthless stacking, and no-curve) have issues and I don't know a better solution.