Performance improvement plans (PIPs, Pivots) almost always end in you being fired or quitting. There are psychological reasons this is inevitable. Here is why, and how to avoid them as an employee and to be a better manager.
First, I know a few managers will argue with me in the comments and claim that they "do everything they can" to help employees improve. I welcome your stories and claims - please post them!
Despite these honest claims, the psychology of the situation sets you up for being fired:
- If the manager knew how to help you, they would have done so before writing an official plan
- If you knew how to succeed at your work place, you would have done so already. Other than a few "quiet quitters," no one sits around saying "I want to do a bad job, so bad I get fired."
- By the time your manager decides you need to be put on a formal performance plan, they have burned up all their optimism for you. Managers avoid this HR process and paperwork as long as they can...
...By the time they reach the point where they feel they must act, they have crossed a mental line of thinking "I may have made a hiring mistake" and / or "this person may need to be fired."
- The HR process is set up at least in part to avoid employee lawsuits. As such, it is a machine designed to make sure that the right documentation and paperwork is created...
...This machine will force the manager to write down all the things that may indicate that you are a poor employee who can be fired for "non-performance."
The reason I say that most performance plans inevitably lead to termination is thus:
- The manager's mental state shifts to "managing a problem" where that problem is you...
...Once they decide they are "documenting your poor performance," they tend to see, notice, and write down more things than they would have before.
- The HR machinery grinds away. This is particularly true at companies like Amazon that have a goal of "unregretted attrition" where they want to actively move poor performers out.
To avoid getting fired...
You really must avoid ever getting on one of these plans to begin with!
Once the plan starts, the best course of action is to start looking for your next job fast, while you still have a paycheck.
Now for all the managers who claim that they really want their employees to succeed and they write the plans to try to help them:
- I believe your intent and your good heart
- All the subconscious bias I describe above still impacts you. Even if you want to help your employee, you are usually out of ideas (or you would have used them) and frustrated, plus now HR is involved and you have to think about the paperwork if it doesn't work out.
So: If you really want to help your employees, you have to do it before the performance plan comes out. By all means, be as fair and supportive as you can during the plan, but understand that at this point your best help to them may be giving them time to find a new job.