#pip

All, don’t be so quick to sign a separation package. You waive all of your rights. Is it worth 2 months base pay and 2 months cobra? Consider the PIP, you will get one month of both and use this time to look for another job. In my sales area, they are placing solid sellers with a solid performance on a PEP or PIP choice. Why? They may offer a PEP at the end of the PIP, but be cautious, you sign away all of your rights. Believe nothing verbal, if you need something from them for you to sign and leave, get it in writing. And don’t be so quick to work through your manager, wait for HR. Do not trust any Manager or HR for that matter, they are there to protect Benioff.

Check out this case.

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/salesforce-worker-allegedly-laid-off-for-taking-care-of-father

I understand everyone is different but there appears to be a lot of getting rid of people for bs reasons.

When you and your manager have an obviously broken working dynamic, when some people who dislike you influence your manager, when you’re deliberately given assignments designed to rank you , PIP communication itself is firm from day one and their body language shows zero positivity, when they hand you a long list of vague expectations, monitor every move, invade your privacy, and openly discuss your situation with others, and when they assign “coaches” to you just to build a case ... you’re being set up to fail.

But when a manager tells you it’s okay that you were ranked in a new CL and that you can work through it together, when expectations are clear, when documentation is minimal or none, when they protect your privacy, put you on visible projects, give you meaningful roles, and advocate for you .... they’re preparing to pass you.

How is IBM able to maintain such a consistent track record - This would also mean for every 4 people who get assigned a PIP, only 1 would fail and be terminated. With the increase in number of PIPs that are being assigned to avoid WARN notice and save on the severance packages, the number of employees who continue to grow at IBM should also increase. Is that happening?

If you work in the call center.. do not use AI call summarization. These tools flag your calls for review. They are trying to push people out on PIPs, leaving you without severance in this terrible job market. Don't believe the corporate lies. They do not give you AI tools to make your job easier, they give you AI tools to serve their agenda. Their Agenda: Outsource and Automate. We in the USA are all probably out of job soon, don't let it be without severance.

The only reason for promotion these days, outside of sponsored HiPos, is to replenish the PIP fodder at the bottom of the next CL rank group.

They need new non sponsored persons to focus downward pressure onto.

Everyone will be notified of their PIP/PIL options by Friday, August 14. Age protected individuals >40 y/o have 21 (business?) days to make their decision, essentially September 15th if you include the labor day Holiday. They want everyone off the payroll by December 15th due to the year end Holiday closing of the financials. For anyone that is > 40 y/o and given the choice of PIP or PIL, what should they do? Without hesitation, anyone that is not NRE should seriously take the message that they will not ever get to their career goals or retirement. You will never be sponsored or in the clique/club. Anyone that is RE should take the package immediately to take one for the team per se. Anyone not yet RE should realize they have no chance next cycle so maybe take the PIP or not, depending on their own situation, but what does that mean if you have 1-3 years left to be fully retirement eligible? It all depends on your supervisor. Yes, your supervisor controls your destiny. Obviously, if you are NSI, you don't have a good relationship with your supervisor, so chances are, you will not pass your PIP. There is a cap this year on how many people pass their PIP. So, if you are 1 year away from retirement, and they have not met their PIP pass %, you might have a chance to make it since it takes 2 NSI's, but they still need to make their cap on PIP success%. If you are more than 1 year away from retirement, you will have to get under your supervisor's desk to survive and they still have to meet their PIP success %. Personally, I think I would just move on. Life in that stage is not worth your dignity. Don't hate, just put it in your back pocket and watch how all the worker bees start dying off while the company just manages contractors. You will still reap the benefits of the stock.

We all know what IBM managers are planning with some people not needes anymore in projects... PIPs and layoffs.

A TL just transferred to my store - dude has been with the company for 13 years and has been in 12 different stores. If that's not a red flag, I don't know what is. In his last store he went out on "stress leave" for three months because he said he couldn't "handle the job". If he couldn't handle it there then what makes store leadership think he can handle it here? He's currently on a PIP. He sits in the office on his phone all day. Pals around with his ATL, who also sits in the office with him and they watch Tiktoks together. Why do they keep these kind of people and oust the hard workers by changing their schedules and putting the teams entire work on those people that actually work instead of holding failed leadership accountable?

Saw someone commented this on reddit, for real?

Prepare for pip. I heard many got BS so they can be fired

I was terminated after failing PIP on July 1.

Getting paid for another 30 days. When do I file for unemployment?

After paycheck stops or immediately?

Enhanced severance for legacy DFS ends at the end of Q2 2027. From what I have read, the legacy severance plan pays the same regardless if reason is restructuring or poor performance. Regular COF severance for poor performance is only 12 weeks. So do we all try to get low ratings/put on PIPs during annual review cycle? I’m trying to hold onto hope I will be laid off because I also happen to be remote, but every day I hate my job and this company more and more 🫩

Well, it finally happened. Got called into a “quick sync” with my manager Monday morning. HR was already in the room, which tells you everything. They slid the PIP paperwork across the table, and before I could even read the “performance expectations” section, they informed me that because this was my second PIP in a five-year window, company policy allowed them to skip the improvement period entirely. Effective immediately. I was walked back to my desk by security to grab my jacket and my kid’s drawing off the monitor. Badge deactivated before I hit the parking garage. Eleven years, and I was out of the building in under 40 minutes. Some context for anyone who hasn’t been through the Exxon performance machine: the forced ranking system means somebody is always in the bottom bucket. Doesn’t matter how the team performs. My first PIP in 2022 came after a reorg where my entire project got shelved so nothing to show for the year because there was nothing left to show. I survived it, “closed it out successfully,” and naively thought that was behind me.

Just got my PDS review and told that I was going to be terminated immediately as I had already been on a PIP within the last 5 years under the MLRP scheme

Was told that I would not be getting my retrenchment package initally promised for 4Q26

Company using PIP/PIL program to rob employees of their retrenchment packages. Watch out

Rumors are flying that on August 3 there is going to be some kind of announcement of the finishing touches of the organizational change but with resulting layoffs. Hopefully just the PIPs will be let go?

Anyone else feel like management has been trying to build a case against them after a reorg?

My org has gotten really toxic. I’ve been hearing PIP talk, but I honestly don’t think they have enough to put me on one yet. My past mid-year and year-end reviews have been strong, my attendance has been good except for a few system issues, and I know my job well. It just feels like leadership decided they don’t want me around anymore.

If you’re in this situation, is it more likely they’ll eventually fire you for performance, or would you end up getting surplused first? Or maybe a PIP is a way to set the ground for a surplus (as a way to tell HR “Look, he is on a PIP because he doesn’t work very well, so he is our chosen duck to target for the layoff).
Curious if anyone has gone through something similar. Is it possible to fight it?

I expect to get PIP’d in a couple of weeks. Are there any disadvantages of taking PIL and retiring vs simply retiring?

Does taking PIL affect retirement status or any retirement benefits?

I was just given my first BE on Midyear review, after 29 years in the bank and never having anything below meet. I was given BS reason for it, stating I wasn't involved in AI - related tasks, as it was required. Noone ever assigned AI related tasks to me and my current job responsibilities do not involve it. I rejected the rating and commented in the form.
Additionally, I emailed my objections to the Managers. But it is my understanding, it is useless and I will be cut after year end. This is also an attempt to avoid severance payment. I do not have any illusions. I just want to hear your opinions about my possible strategy to go with the severance. Thank you.

I’ve read some PIP experiences where people mentioned scorecards, weekly or biweekly check‑ins, PIP goals, and coaching.... Can someone explain the PIP process in detail? What are these terms ?

There's actually a PIP week here? It's not a year-round thing? Haven't been here long enough to know, but if it's true, I like it.

Now that PIP week is over, I'm curious about one thing:
Did anyone between the ages of 52 and 55 get placed on a PIP or terminated?

Got the PIP and was walked out. Have a garage full of Juniper hardware, mainly Mist APs and switches. Some routers, small SRXs. $$,$$$ at least! Didn't ask / didn't tell, so how do i sell this junk?

Don’t normally attend these monthly calls but decided to tune in today. Well that was an hour wasted. Mainly insufferable people droning on in corporate speak about absolute BS. Main takeaway was hearing that 400 UK staff are on a PIP? Is this bell curve requirements, something for middle managers to do, a tick box exercise or all 3? Oh and not a word about pay review.

Or is it done throughout the year and is person-based? We had a PIP season in my last company, and it was seldom related to performance. I'm just wondering if it's the same here.

Is anybody safe when they start giving out PIPs like candy, more than obviously not based on performance?

With the shifts happening in R2B there will be far less impacts from B2B in the mid market space. Lots of the B2B accounts fall in the 10-35 space that the new R2B teams will own, and lots of cold calling from that team into the same space. Seems there is a lot of overlap in the territories, and lots of new folks with much lower comp than the holdouts with high seniority. They have been trying to weed out many in the B2B team via quotas, new PIP process, and just plain making their lives he-l at work until they quit. Seems like there will be some consolidation, especially in the outer markets and with the folks with higher seniority that have been too stubborn to leave. Anyone hearing anything?

I've seen multiple people placed on PIPs in the last six months. It's making me nervous. Is this just how things work here? Or is it a strategy to document people out the door so they don't get severance? I'd really like to know if I'm being paranoid or if this is a legitimate concern.

Is IBM using PIPs to exclusively get rid of employees who are US citizens?

Do you know of any H1B employees have been been put on PIP and fired for not being able to successfully complete the PIP.

Back to the subject of this site, what is the current landscape of RAs and pips everyone is currently seeing out there? Including business unit and organization would be helpful in response.

Liberty has been offshoring and getting rid of entire departments quietly since they announced the “don’t go make a 10 year career plan here” back in Oct of 2023. They have cut the inbound subrogation department in half over the last 7-8 months using PIP plans and forcing a small handful of employees to make lateral moves to other depts. They’ve offshored all jobs cut to India. The company has been trying to keep things quiet with secrets everywhere. The Team Managers have been traveling all over the country for “quality training”. Constantly talking about focusing on quality which is just a smoke screen for putting people on PIPs for weak reasons to get out of paying severance and unemployment. They will cut the inbound subrogation department down to about 25-30 people state side and then might do an outright layoff of them because this whole department is being offshored to India while they try to continue to innovate with their AI. There are constant organizational changes being announced. This company’s “record profits” are coming from the selling off of foreign assets and not because of their premiums. There have been talks about customers being charged in full for policy period premiums and then having their policies cancelled a week or two later with no refunds given. The company is current being sued for undervaluing auto total loss and home owners claims (which they have been). They made changes to metrics at the start of the year to make them harder to meet when inventory is low, because they’re setting everyone up for failure. This company is going to lose insane amounts of money on those total loss and home owners laws suits. Why those running the company would risk PIP’ing so many employees, when they’re already involved in all these other lawsuits and can’t take the blow back or bad PR from those, let alone from the mess they’re making out of downsizing/offshoring jobs is definitely a unique choice to make. Will anyone really be surprised if there is another lawsuit soon from all the Swiss Cheese PIP layoffs? This company is a sinking ship and anyone working there should look for something else.

How sc--wed am I?

If a person goes on a Professional Improvement Plan (or PIP in the rest of the world) they are eligible for a buyout. However there doesnt seem to be any details on what that includes.

My old company used PIPs when it wanted to get rid of people without paying them severance. It's always possible to find something, anything to justify it. The way things have been going here, I'm starting to worry the same thing will happen. Am I wrong?

Many large companies still use some version of forced ranking, stack ranking, or quota-based performance management where a certain percentage of employees end up in the bottom bucket regardless of overall team performance.

Supporters say it drives accountability and prevents complacency.

Critics argue it creates:

• Internal competition instead of collaboration
• Risk aversion and politics
• Managers spending time managing rankings instead of developing people
• Employees focusing on visibility rather than impact
• Anxiety that reduces long-term engagement

If an organization is profitable, meeting business objectives, and retaining strong talent, what would actually convince leadership to eliminate forced ranking and PIPs as a routine management tool?

Would it take:

• Better performance metrics?
• Evidence of lower turnover?
• A major labor shortage?
• Executive leadership that came up through different systems?
• Or is forced ranking simply too useful for managing headcount and compensation budgets?

For those who have worked at companies that abandoned stack ranking, what replaced it and did it work better?

Interested in hearing experiences from both managers and individual contributors.

I was promoted to SM after completing the “high potential” program.

The reality of being a store manager is you get blamed for everything. You are the scapegoat.

A year into it, I began questioning if my paces were being manipulated, almost like a dangling carrot that I could never reach.

I was placed on an action plan. Taken off the action plan, then placed on an action plan again.

My store team was dismantled by budget cuts

Managers quit, associates quit, manager layoffs, restructuring, titles and duties changed

My hours were drastically cut

Deferred maintenance began happening

I said my happiness is worth more than stress and misery. I have notice, and obtained a job which actually has a work life balance.

With all the discussion lately about the “low-hire, low-fire” labor market, I’m curious whether PIPs are effectively being used as a low-fire tool at Exxon.

Hypothetical example:

John Smith is in his mid-30s, has been with the company 5+ years, has consistently been above NI throughout his career (not OWD, but not NI either).

A few questions for those familiar with how things work in practice:

• What are his chances of making it to retirement age (say, 55+) if he continues performing at roughly the same level?
• If he ends up on a PIP, is a single PIP typically enough to result in termination, or are there usually multiple opportunities to improve?
• If someone successfully completes a first PIP, what happens if they are placed on a second PIP later in their career? Is termination effectively inevitable at that point, or can people recover and continue progressing?

Not asking about any specific individual—just trying to better understand how the process works in reality versus on paper.

And dfs employees are being thrown under the bus and calibrating to below strong.

This is to fill up the pip quota in order to save Cof employees.

Managers in dfs are new to this process so they can’t adequately defend their employees.

Anyone else having a different experience?

In my experience, not many.

My site is pushing hard on metrics for client facing phone roles in brokerage. They are putting any below the national average on key metrics like CPH on an “unofficial” PIP. So, lots of people getting put on a PIP.

I’m hearing from other site leaders this is a strategy to push reps up or out, documenting everything and focusing more on tenured reps.

Anyone else affected by this or seen this play out before?