By Kavita Mistry 
Recently, American technology conglomerate Microsoft has introduced a new set of strict HR policies which are particularly aimed at boosting workplace performance.
Two-year Rehire Ban For Low-performing Ex-employees
These policies will also take care of the problem of reducing underperformance.
When it comes to these latest changes, the most notable change includes a two-year rehire ban for employees who were fired or left the company after receiving poor performance ratings.
Besides this the tech giant is also using a controversial metric called “good attrition” to treat some employee exits as positive outcomes as mentioned in the company’s Internal documents.
Recently, the technology giant let go of nearly 2,000 employees who were considered underperformers without offering severance as per the media report.
The company said that these terminations are part of their broader effort to reshape the company’s work culture and quickly remove employees who don’t meet the expectations.
Now Microsoft is signalling a major shift toward stricter performance standards as the company has enforced a two-year rehire ban for low-performing ex-employees.
Under these new policies, Microsoft employees are facing challenges as they have only two options – either commit to a formal Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) with clear goals and a deadline to improve or choose to exit the company voluntarily in exchange for a separation package worth 16 weeks of pay.
Banning From Rehire
The employees who receive the lowest Rewards outcomes (zero or 60 per cent) or are under a PIP will not be eligible for internal transfers as per an internal email from Microsoft’s new Chief People Officer, Amy Coleman.
In addition to this, the employees who leave the company under such circumstances will also be barred from being rehired for at least two years from their termination date.
This seems to be a shift that marks a departure from the more employee-friendly “growth mindset” philosophy that CEO Satya Nadella introduced years ago.
Although the technology giant had moved away from rigid performance evaluation methods like stack-ranking.
But, introduction of these new policies suggest a return to stricter standards.
Notably, Microsoft is not the only company who is implementing these changes.
Some other companies such as Amazon and Meta, have adopted similar strategies.
In the case of Amazon, they have used the term “unregretted attrition” to track and encourage certain employee departures, while Meta has internal block lists that prevent rehiring some former staff.