There is a common myth that data is inherently objective.

But the reality is that data is only as valid as the method used to collect it and if the sample size represents what it is supposed to represent.

The employee in this story understands this and used his statistics skills to understand the survey bias and get rewarded for working less hard.

Performance review metrics in retail fail to consider that an entry-level employee might possess basic math skills

We have a survey for customers to fill out, but they’re not given to everyone.

Plus, the sample size of this survey was far too small to produce anything resembling an accurate representation of our true customer service performance.

So I did some calculations and determined that even if I stopped trying to impress my managers and just showed up on time for all my shifts, I’d end up with all 2’s and 3’s on my next review.

However, the store’s survey score would rise and actually help my score enough to still qualify for a 3% raise.

So that’s exactly what I did.

A year later, the comments on my review were a lot more critical than they’d ever been, and yet I once again had a 3% raise.

That raise was much more rewarding than any of the previous ones had been, even though I had fewer positive comments on my surveys and more negative ones.

Here’s what people are saying.

I think part of the problem is that surveying is not necessarily done to actually improve the business. It may just to be able to brag internally and externally.

Some people stay in retail because they haven’t improved their skills in other areas. And some stay because they don’t see how skilled they are or quitting seems too risky.

Haha! I saw a job ad just like that. It was all about how many forms you could get filled out.

I think you’d risk getting caught trying to circumvent the system.

Definitely! As I read this I was thinking he’d be a great growth manager for a software startup.

Sounds boring.

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.