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October 13, 2003

Topic: Forced Ranking

Forced ranking, an employee evaluation process that measures employees’ performance against their colleagues, is said to be growing among American companies. SHRM conducted a survey during the week of September 10-16, 2003, regarding forced ranking to determine its prevalence

Human resource professionals were asked, “Does your organization utilize forced ranking (e.g., a system whereby a specified percentage of those being evaluated must received the highest and lowest ratings) to evaluate employees?”

Forced Rankings

• 86 percent – No, we do not use forced ranking in our performance evaluations

• 4.4 percent – Yes, but no employees are dismissed based on the results

• 4.1 percent – Yes, and employees may or may not be dismissed based on the results

• 4.1 percent – No, we do not conduct performance evaluations

• 1.5 percent – Yes, and some employees are dismissed based on the results

The survey was based on the responses of 412 randomly selected human resource professionals. The margin of error is +/- 3.4 percent.

For additional information on SHRM visit www.shrm.org.

If you are a member of the media and have questions on this topic or any other human resource-related topic, feel free to contact SHRM Media Affairs: Frank Scanlan at 703-535-6043, Jen Jorgensen at 703-535-6356, or Will Gray at 703-535-6012

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The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is the world’s largest association devoted to human resource management. Representing more than 175,000 individual members, the Society's mission is to serve the needs of HR professionals by providing the most essential and comprehensive resources available. As an influential voice, the Society's mission is also to advance the human resource profession to ensure that HR is recognized as an essential partner in developing and executing organizational strategy. Founded in 1948, SHRM currently has more than 500 affiliated chapters within the United States and members in more than 100 countries. Visit SHRM Online at www.shrm.org.

If you are a member of the media and have questions on this topic or any other human resource-related topic, feel free to contact SHRM Media Affairs Manager, Frank Scanlan, at 703-535-6043.