Managers and Directors, out of non transparency, get full freedom to discriminate, dominate employees and use them at their disposal and dump them post use.
They deceive performing employees with flattery, fake appraisal ratings and fake promotions. So, performing employees end up at higher designation but their compensation matches their juniors.
Better appraisal is only given to people working in future relevant work because retention of other employees isn't necessary anyway.
The local management take names of their favorites, masking everybody else, in the meetings with higher management. They ensure their favorites get better quality work and free time to give RD talks to come in limelight of higher management. In other words, even higher management is fooled by these local management.
Employee not showing up at office more then 25% of days for an entire year (pre-covid btw) get rewarded with best appraisal, free time for RD talks, eventually getting moved to a US team!
Employees are forced/asked to take the responsibilities of seniors by exploiting their compassion or naivety, so that they can be discredited of these responsibilities. The credit is then given to the favorites.
Employees are put in delusion (with fake stories, false promises) that performance gets rewarded after 3-4 years. Eventually employees quit after the 3-4 years of continuous disappointment. Managers openly admit to have benefited from such employees.
Some, favorites are bullies and work-place harassers whom the management keeps protecting by hiding complaints against them.
Managers have even made everybody vote for their favorites in "peer recognition awards". They simultaneously convinced higher managementthat employees colluded among themselves because they disapprove these award! The "peer recognition awards" was eventually removed.
Any kind of new initiative (like coding contest) which might highlight the real performers in their team is strongly discouraged by local management in front of the higher management.