Introduction

"Faced with the need to reduce staff, how can we identify which employees are contributing the most to our organization?"

In this era of corporate restructuring and downsizing, both the real and imagined fear of legal action has had a profound effect on companies' forced-reduction strategies. Companies that offer incentive-based programs such as early retirement not only face huge costs, but they also may experience the loss of valuable senior employees who may be nearly impossible to replace.

Downsizing based on poorly conceived or poorly administered performance evaluation systems causes great stress and consternation among all employees and deposed senior employees can file charges of age discrimination. In addition to the high cost of ill-conceived downsizing programs and the disruption they cause, the gains realized by staff reductions are frequently offset by decreases in productivity.

What is needed is a staff reduction based on an accurate, objective, comprehensive employee performance measurement system that is legally defensible and that, by being perceived as fair and equitable, encourages the buy-in of all employees. The goal is to produce not only a leaner company, but a more efficient, effective, and productive company to meet the challenges of the future. The OJQ measurement system has a history of meeting these objectives in many of the world's most successful and best-managed companies.