Nope.
I've received enough of these and written enough of these to know that the underlying rule is:
1. Make them positive enough to give the employee a motivational "feel-good" where they (1) don't quit and (2) maybe give you some extra productivity for free.
2. Make them negative enough where you either (1) can justify not paying them any more $$$ or (2) justify paying them as little extra as possible in terms of salary adjustments.
- - - - -
Ultimately these things are almost ALWAYS B.S. and about money. I have yet to either give or receive one that wasn't, to some extent.
FWIW the ones I've had to give/write in the past always were linked to what I was told by "higher ups" I had in terms of payroll expansion (if any) to allocate. That drove it, not necessarily me being a jerk (although I've been accused of that at times too...)
