A Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) is a formal method used to address employee performance shortcomings including those pertaining to behavior-related issues or particular work goals not meeting. Does one of your employees lately have underperformance that meets neither your expectations? Have they resulted in a series of performance breakdowns including missing deadlines, bad client comments, or changed team dynamics? If so, you may be thinking about helping the individual achieve via a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP).
Describe a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP). A PIP is a formal method used to address performance gaps including those pertaining to particular work objectives or behavior-related issues. The strategy lists the current problems and specifies the new outputs and actions required by when. But given your circumstances, is a PIP the best option? Will it be effective? Is the work justified? These pointers help you decide whether a PIP is the correct route and, if so, how best to apply one.
Why Would You Want a PIP? It appears reasonable to give a failing employee an opportunity to course-correct instead than punishing or dismissing with minimal notice. Having said that, PIPs have a bad image among staff members as well as among certain executives and HR experts who see them as hostile, punitive, and dictatorial. Moreover, PIP critics contend that since you have no intention of altering your decision, asking an employee to go through a demanding set of criteria is unreasonable and that termination is the natural finish to the performance improvement process.
The method and when a performance improvement plan is used will determine whether it is a compassionate, helpful road forward or a forceful, punishing one devoid of return.
When Should You Apply PIP? Think about the following prerequisites for a PIP to succeed: One may clearly see a road towards better performance. Although being this clear seems ridiculous, a performance improvement plan should only be applied when you have one in mind to help the individual perform better. Using a PIP approach is cruel (not to mention a waste of time and work) if you are not ready to embrace changes or acknowledge improvements as they occur. Skipping the PIP is especially crucial if the employee has broken laws, principles, or rules that would make continuing employment undesirable for you.
You have already routinely managed performance and set up check-ins. Make sure you have previously engaged in normal day-to–day performance management where you have set clear expectations on performance objectives and targets, done skill development coaching, given constructive feedback, and explored the ramifications of failing to meet goals before going to a PIP. Start there if you haven’t already gone through at least many rounds of highly explicit communication-based regular performance management. Through regular assistance and monitoring, your staff member may still have great room to grow without causing the same negative emotions as you would with a formal PIP.
You have presented the correct tools and guidelines for success. Make sure you have looked at elements outside of the employee’s control that could have caused their performance problems. Were there unclear expectations, too much work, training gaps, or inadequate tools for the individual to succeed? If so, blaming a PIP on the worker is not legal. First, deal with the supporting elements.
You have previously covered any extenuating conditions. Have you considered personal or health issues? When you gave them bad comments on their job, did they mention any extensive events that would help to explain their lack of performance up to par? If so, instead of starting a PIP procedure, you could choose to concentrate on what support your team, company, or you might offer to assist the employee needs. In the end, you might decide to follow the official path should the individual fail to do their assigned tasks.
You have included some outside views. What might seem to be a performance issue could be more related to conflict between your style and your employee’s style than to a real output difference. Recall that performance comes first here, not personality. To evaluate the frequency of the problem and determine whether the concerns fit for a PIP, be sure to consult others including HR.
Here are some methods to raise the possibility of the process being successful if, after giving these questions considerable thought, you think that performance gaps are a result of elements under the employee’s control and that a formal improvement process is the best approach to help.
How may a PIP be made more successful? A PIP should be a team effort to enable your success together, not only a blueprint.
One should deal with fundamental causes. A PIP should be particular to the person and the causes of their poor performance; it should not be general. An individual having strong talents but poor motivation will require a different strategy than one with more will than skill.
Keep it future-oriented. Past occurrences call for a PIP; yet, the PIP template’s emphasis should be on the future if you are to develop a sensible strategy. If you load the PIP with previous errors, it will seem punishing, as if you would rather linger on what went wrong than concentrate on what comes ahead.
Clearly state expectations. Define the performance goals where you can using agreed-upon measurements and quantifiable objectives. Where your expectations are more qualitative, be clear and exact about acceptable job quality and steer clear of ambiguous and subjective language, which will just add additional confusion. Replace adjectives like “precise” with nouns and verbs targeted to certain activities like “edited to remove spelling and grammatical errors and to translate technical jargon into language our clients can readily understand.”
Offer continual comments. Once the strategy is in place, follow up often to make sure the staff member is headed in the correct direction. Celebrate achievements and offer frequent comments, continuous instruction, and course modifications. Ignoring this will just help to support the story that PIPs are a one-way ticket out the door.
Keep to a decided upon length. A PIP should set the staff member in a position to make in short order real progress. Based on the degree and complexity of the desired change, set a PIP time of one to three months. Should you find clear improvement in that period, you may formally acknowledge their performance and resume regular performance management, therefore concluding the PIP. A six- or twelve-month follow-up period is part of several PIP procedures to guarantee ongoing development.
Decide where to work. Should you not have enough development in line with the plan commitments, you have to decide whether to assign the individual to a different position where they are qualified for success or proceed with termination of their employment. One last recommendation is to interact with HR all through these six phases. They may offer details on corporate policy, give case studies of successful strategies, assist you to obtain appropriate staff training or assistance, and offer an impartial third-party assessment on how you could better aid the employee. From the employee’s point of view, having another person to discuss the matter who is familiar with it but not as committed as your manager would be also beneficial.
What Exactly Does a Successful Performance Improvement Plan Look Like? Assume at the end of the PIP term that the employee’s behaviour or job quality has not changed enough to support keeping them on staff. Does that imply the PIP procedure came short? Not so sure. Whether or if a PIP procedure addresses employee performance concerns, finishing a PIP process has many benefits if you really want to see the person succeed. You first underline the need of justice and your commitment in due procedure. Second, you demonstrate that you give both actions and results great thought. Third, even if the PIP process should be private, witnessing very quick results—either improvement or elimination from role—will reassure your team members, who have probably paid the price for underperformance of their colleagues. Fourth, you can use next time to gain understanding of unclear performance standards, inadequate resources, or bad recruiting practices.
Applied carefully and wisely, the PIP method may improve performance, culture, drive, and team relations.
