In the fictional town of Lake Wobegon, “all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.”
As noted in this N&O article, it appears that the North Carolina state government workforce is suffering from the Lake Wobegon effect:
Rest assured taxpayers: State employees, almost to a person, meet or exceed expectations.
A 2008 report and a follow-up audit released Thursday claim that the state’s system of performance reviews is often pointless since ratings are inflated and offer no real incentive to spur improvement.
The 2-year-old report from the Office of State Personnel, presented to the legislature, found that less than 1 percent of some 98,000 workers subject to personnel laws were rated as working below expectations. The report concluded those results were “inflated.” And since the legislature has awarded raises on an across-the-board basis in recent years, the reviews are irrelevant when it comes to pay.
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Wood’s office sampled appraisals and found that among 697 reviews examined in the Department of Correction, none included measurable criteria upon which to judge employees. And in the few cases when employees fell below expectations, reviews included no plans for improvement or consequences for continued substandard performance, auditors found.
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