Reports of Sun Microsystems’ terminations greatly exaggerated (Letter)

In today’s challenging times, employees remain an organization’s greatest assets. Improving and developing employee performance should be a core competency of any organization. It is a core competency of Sun Microsystems’ managers. Not for this reason alone, the recent article, “Getting Tough with Poor Performers” (See CHRR Nov. 19, 2001), is disturbing for several erroneous references to Sun and a program it is reported to have introduced.

Sun Microsystems did not introduce a program that “each year identifies 10 per cent of its workforce as poor performers.”

In fact, Sun Microsystems, Inc. introduced a Performance Management Process (PMP) worldwide initiative in March 2001 to create a uniform process for the development and improvement of relative under-performers at Sun.

“Under-performers” are defined as those employees whose performance on the job, relative to other employees in the workgroup, is determined to be below the workgroup norm.

Under performers are not merely “given 90 days to improve and if they don’t they are given a severance package and told to leave,” as reported. Actually, as part of the Sun’s PMP, a Performance Improvement Plan is prepared which outlines improvement needed, clear objectives and management commitment to correct performance shortcomings. It also sets forth the consequences of failing to succeed. The PMP is a multi-stage process in which managers have a responsibility to actively manage and monitor the performance of their reports so that performance issues are communicated and dealt with promptly. Managers also have a responsibility to be able to identify the lower performers in their organizations and take steps to develop those employees.

I am pleased to say that in Canada, Sun Microsystems has an enviable employee retention rate of 95 per cent, well-above the industry average.

The HR professionals contacted by Canadian HR Reporter clearly demonstrated with their remarks that they did not have sufficient knowledge of Sun Microsystems’ Performance Management Process initiative. I encourage them and fellow HR practitioners to contact me to discuss Sun’s performance improvement practices further.

I regret that attempts to schedule an interview with Sun Microsystems and Canadian HR Reporter were not successful.

Andy Kroen
Executive Vice-President, Human Resources
Sun Microsystems of Canada Inc.
Markham, Ont.


Editor’s note: Information on Sun Microsystems program was gathered from a number of U.S. media reports. CHRR’s repeated requests for an interview were unanswered.

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