> If you have an organization with forced bucketing where X% of your team need to be given a subpar rating, how do you decide which one? If you don't have an obvious low performer you'd better have metrics.

If you’re a manager in this type of system, your job is to reach out constantly and find folks who are low performers and get them into your department. They will fill the bottom of your team rating chart. At that point, they can be managed out (ideally in a humane way) or just held onto to fill that cellar dweller role while not slowing others down (some people are ok with this as long as they get paid).

I would never choose to work in an environment like that, but some people find themselves there without better options (e.g., being location-bound due to family, etc.).