At my workplace, we have various departments: manual production, sales, and administrative roles. The sales department had a mini fridge stocked with company-sponsored snacks and drinks available to all employees. When the sales team moved to a new office, a coordinator offered their mini fridge to any other department.
Unfortunately, an individual who is somewhat unpopular in our smaller production team jumped at the opportunity. Instead of freely providing snacks and drinks, they turned it into an incentive system. Now, you can only access a snack or drink if you meet your daily production targets, referred to as “numbers.”
While using performance metrics is common for assessing efficiency, this approach has raised concerns. Many employees feel it's demoralizing and toxic. It places undue stress on workers, seems unfair, and can lead to divisiveness. It also discourages teamwork and shifts the focus to short-term targets rather than overall quality and employee satisfaction.