If annual performance reviews officially start in Oct, why are ratings apparently being discussed and calibrated well before that? I've heard managers are required to rank employees against each other and fit ratings into predetermined distributions, regardless of how well the team actually performed. If that's true, what's the point of the formal review process? How much say does a manager really have, and can someone with consistently positive feedback and no documented performance issues still end up near the bottom of the ranking? I'm also curious whether these rankings are used for compensation decisions and future layoffs. Would be interesting to hear from managers who've actually participated in calibration meetings.