Yes, but it’s not documented, so it’s not actionable, and the people not in management who end up getting the bonuses or raises in any given year often actively work to undermine any efforts to speak out or organize against these practices.

They pick enough people to actually get the pat on the head to keep the workers collectively destabilized and worried about what each other are saying.

I once had a manager – who was new to being in charge of reports – just outright admit in my annual review that he had to find negatives to ding me with when I asked him why no one had ever mentioned any of the issues he was bringing up to me at any time before the review. But when my closest co-workers (who were in other departments) were the ones who got the 5-star ratings and the raises, it would have just come across as sour grapes if I had said something.

It’s not that hard to socially engineer an environment where it looks like individual efforts are encouraged and rewarded while simultaneously discouraging those efforts and refusing to reward them when they pay dividends.