Back when I worked for the Taxman (who is mostly female), performance related pay was introduced. In order to get it, you had to achieve a particular standard in your assessment. Our head of local office sent down a memo stating that no-one on a particular grade or below was capable of achieving that standard.
He hadn't seen the assessments, nor did he interact with us peons. He just knew.
Performance 'bonuses' (in this case, it was a couple of £100 a year): only for the upper echelons even when the system tries to allow otherwise.