One of the first things I did at Netflix was to decouple our pay system from the feedback process. I appreciate that it’s difficult to accept that this is possible, let alone advisable. The systems have become seemingly inextricably intertwined. Indeed, the tight bond between the performance review process and salary increase and bonus calculations is one of the main factors holding companies back from doing away with the review process. Which is one of the good reasons for decoupling the systems.
