Same is true in the OKR world, but your most productive are leaving because they don't want to play the game or perform theater. You still end up with demoralizing situations as people who don't want to play the review game are going to lose.
I'm not saying OKRs are perfect, I'm saying "just don't measure performance at all" is a 100%-losing play for a manager, whereas if you try to manage performance, you have a chance of doing at least an adequate job at it.
Why pretend that there needs to be an objective way of doing this? A company is fundamentally a private club and they keep who they want and fire who they don't. Arguing that they should see your objective worth is like arguing that you are objectively a good friend and therefore should be invited to more parties.
Yes, there are meant to be protections so you don't just fire all the minorities and women but "competent engineer" and "masterful bullshit artist" are not protected categories.
If we don't like this (I certainly don't), then we need to stop letting private companies control so much of our lives and the economy.
