Misconception about Performance Improvement Plan

In the corporate ecosystem, we all are well aware of the concept of PIP, i.e. Performance Improvement Plan/Program. What we also know is that most people, especially those in junior and mid levels, perceive this as an 'exit' plan. A lot of them lose motivation to work and their performance drops further than how they fared before PIP was initiated for them. Quite a few start job hunting actively and often we see cases where such employees tender their resignation even before the PIP period is completed. There are also some employees who don't fall in either of the last two categories but find time to (abusively) criticize their managers for putting them on the verge of losing their jobs!

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It is an unfortunate but hard truth that the real concept and objective of initiating PIP will perhaps continue to be misinterpreted in the coming years as well. The larger idea is to help the concerned employees improve on their weak areas and become better performers at their work. To ensure this, operations managers need to create a structured training program for such employees, make them go through the training, and conduct regular evaluations to gauge their improvement. But in reality, often what we see is the pressure of daily tasks and targets of billable work limiting the time for such training programs and evaluations, which makes the PIP practically redundant. The underperforming employee continues with the work-related gaps, the managers continue to get upset with the quality/quantity issues of the employee, and eventually at the end of the PIP period the employee ends up exiting. As a result, the misconception about PIP remains unchanged.

While some organizations take steps towards ensuring that PIP is executed as per its objective and keep aside non-billable hours both for the employee and the manager for the same, unfortunately the number of such companies on this list is small. One can only hope that with time all organizations embrace this culture and make PIP more acceptable to employees at all levels.