Last week, Wells Fargo put out a press release acknowledging that they had uncovered more than 1,000,000 additional possibly fraudulent accounts. A million! Say it with me: one… MILLION more fraudulent accounts.

Here are a couple comments from the twitterverse, complete with a branded hashtag #wellsfargoscandal:

What’s at the root of the issue? An environment that generated a “bonus” for performance targets and fired people who did not hit them. Read more about the “incentive” program in the NY Times article.

But it’s not just Wells Fargo!

A group called Patriot Majority USA was incented its workers to register voters. I’m sure they mean well. They want to get people to the polls, and to do that, they want to get more folks register. So some genius decided to set a quota of 10 registrations a day. Register 10 people each day, or you risk losing your job. That sounds brilliant!

Guess what… they got 10 registrations per day from their employees.

Now, Patriot Majority USA and some of its employees have been charged with registering fake voters! (No, this is not #fakenews.) The article states:

“A search warrant unsealed on Nov. 14 says some workers admitted to falsifying registrations, saying they faced the possibility of losing their temporary job if they didn’t register at least 10 new voters a day.”

There are tons of other instances, I assure you.

But here’s the point

It’s time to do away with the MBA stupidity of “you get what you measure.” Yes, sure. And, you get a whole bunch of shit you didn’t intend.

People are smart.

If you rig the system, they will exploit the weakness in the game.

Stop the bullshit manipulation with performance-based targets.

If you’re in charge, focus on creating an environment where people feel valued, they know their purpose, and give them the tools to do the job well.

 

What do you think? Leave a comment.