TDIL that my company only allows 2 people per team to exceed expectations on their yearly reviews. The rest just meet expectations. To me that means there is zero incentive to work hard as the manager can just arbitrarily pick who they want. Because if 5 of 10 are exceding and all deserving equally, management gets to pick just 2. The rest get stiffed and a lower raise. Which is generally 1.5 to 3%.
Edit: mind you this is on the heels of being told mandatory OT from now til end of april. And if you have vacation during that time your expected to make up the missed OT that week.