Shopify's Zero Sum Mastery Program

In this segment , Nolan and Kelli discuss new information about Shopify's Mastery Program. Employees are assigned a mastery score, and if their score does not increase, they do not receive a raise. They cover the implications of this new approach, comparing it to previous systems used by other companies which also relied on ratings and algorithms to determine merit increases, and discuss the concept of creating a zero-sum game in the workplace. While not exactly new, internal competition is front and center in Shopify’s transparent new approach.

HR Heretics is a podcast from Turpentine.

SPONSOR:

Attio is the next generation of CRM. It’s powerful, flexible and easily configures to the unique way your startup runs, whatever your go-to-market motion. The next era deserves a better CRM. Join Replicate, ElevenLabs, Modal and more at https://bit.ly/AttioHRHeretics

LINKS:

Shopify Mastery: https://www.shopify.com/news/mastery

Information article: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/shopify-employees-go-head-to-head-for-raises-in-new-ranking-system

KEEP UP WITH NOLAN, + KELLI ON LINKEDIN

Nolan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-church/

Kelli: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellidragovich/

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) Shopify's Mastery Program

(04:34) Exploring the Broader Implications of Performance Review Systems

(08:59) A New Era of Performance Management and Employee Evaluation

(09:04) Sponsor: Attio CRM

(09:57) Nolan’s Time at Carta

(11:55) Commending More Experimentation

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hrheretics.substack.com