I think it mainly depends on the nature of the work that employees are engaged in. According to their different nature, the criteria for judging their historical contributions are also different.

A skilled worker, his workload may represent his contribution; But a manager can't just look at how many people he manages and what positions he has achieved, but at the profits and value he creates for the company, the influence he plays in the industry and the positive energy he brings to the company.

Any enterprise has its own standards for judging employees, and how the company views the contribution of employees actually represents a company's values.

So there is no standard answer to your question, because the values of any company are different.