The system sucks. It's as simple as that and Cummins is poorly managing it on top of it. I've seen forced rating and ranking systems before, rank and yank kind of deals, all of them are bad but we are especially bad.The whole process requires you to waste time ensuring non-stakeholders are aware of your contributions to projects (OK, tell me what value this brings) if they're voting in ranking sessions. This requires your boss to fight for you and if you get a weak manager to represent you are hosed. So, good luck with that, they do not tell you that when they hire you and if your ranking is not good you will likely be laid off, happened to many at Cummins.
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Cummins forced ranking is horrible. The "coaches" who are your bosses but don't like to be called that will not say if your doing anything wrong or right until the mid year review or year end review and then it's like "if you know I was doing something wrong why didn't you tell me then". There is no skill matrix where you can do this and this and that and be graded a high performer. No, it's all based on your "coach" and his bosses and HR. Some have been talking in the hourly about putting together a class actions suit against Cummins over how this system is s-xist, racists, biased, favortism etc. etc.. I think cummins made a big mistake using this for the hourly employees, big mistake.
Get ready for the lawsuit.
Forced ranking systems do what they were intended to do: control payroll costs. GE started the trend (thanks Jack Welch). Every MBA textbook mentions that it only works for 1-2 years as a way of pruning low performers and rewarding good ones. After that it becomes demotivating as employees figure out that its really about how well your manager argues for you in the consistency ranking meetings and less about the work you did last year. If you have a weak manager you’re screwed... and Cummins has a ton of bad managers because they value diversity over actual performance.
I keep waiting for this company to implode but the stock keeps going up. It’s just a matter of time before they have a major mistake caused by inexperienced and overwhelmed employees.
You will be ranked and you WILL perform!!!
I left because I just could not advance beyond a certain grade, despite plaudits and visibility for the quality of my work. There was no recognition of talent, no shake-ups of executive ranks ever, and ultimately nothing ever changed - the "hurry up and wait" mentality just got old. I witnessed many, many good people leave and a lot of mediocre people stay put and close ranks. Cummins will continue to make money, keep EBIT nice and level and keep the shareholders happy for the foreseeable future - of that I have no doubt. However, they are losing sight of the importance of people as the most important asset for the future. Eventually market share will start to erode as more hungry and more creative competitors start to catch up and push the boundaries.
I see this so much more clearly from the outside looking in, and I am a tad annoyed with myself that I waited too long to move because I am so much more fulfilled and excited by my work now.
Working for Cummins is like sitting in a warm bath - it can be too comfortable and you don't want to get out.
One of the biggest reasons why I left. I work hard, get assigned projects peers can't figure out, put in more hours but get ranked the same as the laziest people in the department at the end of the year. Terrible system.
You need godfathers in Cummins to survive on the job due to frequent layoffs and politics. Most employees have their relatives employed in Cummins as well. Lots of husband/wife cases....or sons and daughters brought into the company with some influence. Diversity support by Cummins is huge. I have seen low education local staff rise to great heights by their own on-the-job learned skills which is great. If you are white, you have an advantage, even with all the diversity around you. Overall, a good company but I still feel the company' values are systematically being eroded from its founders days since last many years in the rush to keep SHARE HOLDERS HAPPY.
Cummins is way behind the times in talent management and a lot of other systems. I had a 1 ranking for 2014 and 2+ for 2015. Approached for promotion in early 2015. Let go after 10 years of service in November, and I know that several in my team, including some direct reports, had 2- and 3 ratings and still have their jobs.
#rankandyank sucks
Cummins' Forced Rating and Ranking System
The system sucks. It's as simple as that and Cummins is poorly managing it on top of it. I've seen forced rating and ranking systems before, rank and yank kind of deals, all of them are bad but we are especially bad.The whole process requires you to waste time ensuring non-stakeholders are aware of your contributions to projects (OK, tell me what value this brings) if they're voting in ranking sessions. This requires your boss to fight for you and if you get a weak manager to represent you are hosed. So, good luck with that, they do not tell you that when they hire you and if your ranking is not good you will likely be laid off, happened to many at Cummins.
If you have somebody to watch for ya, you can do well. There is very little meritt in play
Stupidest, most poorly managed system by far.
Ranked/Stacked performance evaluation: Microsoft discontinued. Deloitte discontinued it. Accenture ditched it.