How many stars are you worth?
Get ready — soon, we will probably be rating each other the same way we rate Uber drivers or freelancers on Upwork
by Joe Weinlick, SVP at Beyond, The Career Network
In a rush on my way to the airport recently, I hurriedly launched my Uber app and ordered the first available car. I finished packing and waited, painstakingly watching my screen as the driver missed my road, growing more frustrated with each passing second. When he honked his horn to notify me that he had finally arrived, he watched as I struggled to balance my bags, lock the door, and lift my cumbersome suitcase into the back of his cluttered trunk. I sat down in his foul-smelling car and, as he drove at a snail’s pace to the airport, finally felt some control over the situation — I gave him a one-star rating.
Sound familiar? We’ve all been there, whether it is rating a driver, a teacher, or the Best Western we stayed at last weekend (the beds were surprisingly very comfortable). Ratings are now a way of life. We rate pictures of our friends’ kids, our dentist’s office, the cell phone battery we bought on Amazon, and the plumber that charged us $380 to change a leaky faucet. So why not bring ratings into the workforce? If gig economy workers like my Uber driver are judged — and make their livelihood — based on our ratings, why shouldn’t we ALL be reviewed based upon our peer interactions?
Imagine this scenario.
I was grumpy. It was Monday. I was already swamped, and trying to get through the email that I normally answer Sunday night but wasn’t able to because I was on a camping trip with no Internet all weekend. Julie walks into my office and asks if I have the write-up I had promised first thing in the morning. “No,” I snap. “I’ll get to it later.” Bang. She leaves my office, pulling up the “Peer Review” app on her phone as she leaves, and rates me a 1 for that interaction.
Damn. A 1? The company guidelines require a rating of at least a 3 to get a raise! Apologetic, I quickly get to the paper she needed and deliver it before noon, along with a cup of coffee and a doughnut to make up for my surliness. She gives me a 5 — I’m averaging a 3, which I’ll take for a Monday.
If this sounds far-fetched, think again:. 360-degree reviews, where employee performance is evaluated based on reviews from peers, managers, and direct reports, are nothing new. And there are already apps that automate the 360-degree review process, making it easy for people to rate each other. In a world where peer-to-peer evaluations are playing more of a role in our everyday lives, it’s not a far stretch to wonder if star ratings could find their way into the workplace.
If you are the Uber driver mentioned above, an artisan selling your craft on Etsy, a freelancer bidding for a job on Upwork, or even a physician listed on Healthgrades, you are already being judged by a star rating system. So why shouldn’t accountants, programmers, marketers, and project managers be judged in a similar fashion, with employees voted up or down by co-workers based on their performance, with raises and promotions dependent upon an average of these ratings?
It is likely that these peer rating systems will continue to become more commonplace. And, why not? Peer ratings are instantaneous, unlike annual reviews that are often far removed from the actual day-to-day work. And the workforce of the future is likely to resemble the gig economy, with people working remotely and setting their own hours — making it harder for the traditional management and review process to work. I’m also a lot more likely to ditch my normal grumpy attitude and be courteous on Monday mornings if being courteous might earn a good rating that benefits my pocketbook.
But, this is also the potentially dystopian aspect of the flexible work force. We all get more freedom to set our own hours, or work remotely, but we are judged impersonally after each interaction. Of course, like our current review system — and the Uber system or the TripAdvisor system — this will work really well for some people and not so well for others. Today, we complain that someone got a raise by kissing up to the boss. Tomorrow, perhaps the best rating and the raise will go to the person who is best at kissing up to everyone. And that hardworking introvert who does great work but would rather not hear about your kids and tells you in no uncertain terms? Not so much.
So where are we headed? As a Gen X-er, I believe we all have the right to be jerks once in a while. In fact, I’d be kind of scared to work in an office where everyone acted like they were working for The Ritz-Carlton or Chick-fil-A, constantly telling their co-workers that it was “their pleasure” to serve you. I hate the rating systems that exist within many performance review forms today, because it is so hard to cull an employee performance down to a rating from 1–10.
Then again, I also don’t like “chain posts” on Facebook, cat memes, or anything called “viral video,” and yet these three things seem to thrive. So, peer-to-peer workplace rating apps are probably coming. When they do, I’ll be angling for an average rating of 2 or 4, because 5 means you’re a kiss-up, one means you’re a d!@k, and 3 means you’re just average — which is the worst critique of them all.
Beyond recently surveyed its members about using technology — video, virtual reality and artificial intelligence — during the interview and hiring process, and a clear majority (69%) of respondents felt the human factor was still very important. If people don’t want technology replacing humans during the hiring process, they probably won’t want a rating system replacing human judgment during the evaluation process.
At least for now. Tomorrow, who knows? But today, could you please heart my article to validate my sense of self-worth? And let me know: How do you think you would fare if your job performance was judged based upon the average review of everyone you work with?
