Corporate leaders love bold new metrics, especially when they look good on paper.

So when company executives rolled out a rigid new policy for meeting quotas, one boss pointed out that implementing it would result in firing 80% of his team.

After that, HR was forced to confront their own hubris and go back to the drawing board.

Keep reading for the full story.

These are the new metrics? Ok! Everyone is fired!

So I work at a large company. Fortune 50 company. But, like everywhere, management comes up with one-size-fits-none metrics.

The latest was revealed to us by our manager, who surprisingly is the hero of this story.

This particular company had a very strict policy on meeting quotas.

It has always been the metric that if you fell below 70% of your quota on a quota-eligible role, you risk being put on a Performance Review Plan. It is also well known that anyone getting on a PRP is pretty much toast.

Either you get fired for failing the PRP, or you are first on the next layoff list.

And usually, they replace you with a newbie fresh out of college, in one of the lower two bands.

This begins to make employees feel like there’s a target on their back.

My particular team is made up of all senior people. Every one of us is in one of the top two skill grades.

So we know we are a target… which is insane, as all of us engage the C-suite at other very large Fortune 500 companies and act as trusted advisors. We cannot be replaced by a new grad with intern-level performance.

So our intrepid hero, my boss, is pulled into a two-day seminar about two months ago that goes all the way to the General Manager of Sales, Americas. Several senior HR managers are there too.

Tensions are high from the start.

It is a rare in-person meeting, so people are cautious, but at least they know it is not a mass layoff kind of deal, as the first day is about the path forward and how important our division is to the company strategy.

They go on about how our division is the front line of expanding sales in our Partner Program, to take it from 60% of revenue to 85% of revenue, with 75% of new growth expected to come from the Partner Channels.

The company absolutely is relying on our division and our skilled staff to deliver on that goal.

Management begins to roll out some changes for the company.

The second day is different, however. In the afternoon, they lay out the new plan for technical sellers: 80% attainment per year, and backdating two years.

It is a rare in-person meeting, so people are cautious, but

My manager goes into “I am just asking questions mode.”

So that’s exactly what this manager does.

“So let me understand, if last year they hit 100% attainment (and 75% of the team did) but the previous year they hit 79%, then they are on a PRP?”

HR hems and haws… well yes, that is how it would work.

“I see. And there is no exceptions?”

The GM speaks up. “That’s correct. Everyone must be a top performer. No exceptions.”

My manager starts gathering his things up. “Would you mind if I skipped the rest of the day? I have a lot of work to do, apparently.”

The GM looks at him. “Well, no, we have more to cover. What is so urgent?”

That’s when the malicious compliance comes in.

He looks at the GM, and maliciously complies with the stated metrics. “Based on the metrics and the No Exceptions Rule, I have to prepare PRPs for my entire team. No exceptions. I will need to start the open headcount to hire replacements for everyone too.”

The GM looks confused, attempting to digest this new information.

Most of the rest of the managers stick their hands up. “We need to go too, we need to write up PRPs for all our people too, and submit open headcounts.”

This has some troubling implications.

A quick count shows that 80% of our division would be on a PRP.

Given the failure rate, that means about 70% of the team will be fired, 10% will be laid off, and 20% will remain.

For the growth strategy of the company… the tip of the spear in Partner sales.

My boss points out that retention of personnel and reduced turnover is part of the Roll Up Objectives, as well as attainment of his reports.

That means he will be PRPed, as will his manager, and her manager… all the way up the chain. NO EXCEPTIONS.

The change wouldn’t take place right away.

The meeting wraps up after the discussion dies down and the GM says they are not implementing this now, but in a few months…

In those two months there are more online meetings, questions asked, more data pulled from the HR systems, meetings with HR and Legal, who is now very interested in this plan of theirs… culminating in a meeting this last Monday, where the revised plan is revealed.

It seems it’s not near as rigid this time.

A new “Exceptions” plan has been put in place, at the insistence of the Legal Department.

Gone is the informal “Put together a package to be evaluated for an optional Exception for your employee.”

Now, there is a set of formal exceptions that cover a number of categories: legal ones like taking Family Leave or Medical Short Term Disability in the last three, and functional ones like having been moved between departments or job titles or having a non-quota designation in the last two years.

If the quota plan changed significantly or had a metric with no previous history to set the target.

There are 10 or 12 categories, depending if you count the overlaps.

An exception resets the timer to the next calendar year. So if someone qualifies in January, they are off the hook until NEXT January.

Turns out everyone in the division now qualifies for one or more of those exceptions… Imagine that!

Sometimes there is such a thing as aiming too high.

What did Reddit think?

There’s pretty much nothing a company won’t do to save a quick buck.

Management’s “bright ideas” often result in a massive headache for everyone else.

Good bosses go to bat for their employees.

It’s possible this company had even darker motives behind this policy.

If a policy can’t stand up to basic scrutiny, it shouldn’t be implemented.

If management wanted no exceptions, they would end up with no employees.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.