>understanding the output of knowledge workers is a famously difficult task
That's why large companies don't look at individual worker output (performance reviews are mostly performative and subjective) and just look at stock prices and profits.
If "line goes up", it means workers as a whole must be doing a good job , even if individually many might not be good at their jobs, but as long as line goes up, nobody cares to look too deep into the hows and whys.
If line stops going up, then they start laying them off more or less randomly or forcing RTO, or such things regardless of individual performance.
That's why large companies don't look at individual worker output (performance reviews are mostly performative and subjective) and just look at stock prices and profits.
If "line goes up", it means workers as a whole must be doing a good job , even if individually many might not be good at their jobs, but as long as line goes up, nobody cares to look too deep into the hows and whys.
If line stops going up, then they start laying them off more or less randomly or forcing RTO, or such things regardless of individual performance.