Can I refuse to go on a PIP if I don’t agree with it?

You should give them lip service whilst you look for another job

So it certainly is something that some organisations take lightly. I worked for a blue chip for many years. No issue with performance whatsoever. Had been given Very Good and Good consistently.

BUT - this company had re organisation after re organisation. Managers would stay for 6 months, maybe a year and then there would be another one.

I was caught in a situation where we had a bell curve with regards to performance. My manager who I barely knew and was hopeless was pushed by her manager who I didn’t even know to put me on a PIP. At first I thought it was a joke. My appraisal had been very late anyway and when I asked what the issues were they made up some very minor things like late in claiming expenses. In our organisation it cost £30 in resources to handle an expense claim. My expenses in a month were barely £40. A previous manager had said not to bother if expenses were under £100!

I was a member of a union though.

I WON and the marking was reversed along with the silly comments in the document but it took nearly a year to resolve and it was an upsetting time.

I was never belligerent though. People working with me couldn’t believe what had happened. Was very calm with no waving my arms around or worse crying. Never made it about what other people were doing or saying it wasn’t fair. I did have three face to face meetings with some really senior people handling the claim. What a waste of their time. My line manager was moved to another role anyway (yet another reorganisation) and although I did stay for a few more years and had nothing like that again in the end I took voluntary redundancy.

This company which is a household name has struggled ever since. Perhaps it was because I left…..

Why would he want you gone if you are a good performer? He probably does want you gone. People rarely want a brilliant performer gone. They often want someone gone who is difficult to manage, can't see their own shortcomings, or doesn't cope well with feedback or react to it.

Sometimes it is not just what you do, it is how you do it. For a PIP its likely they have identified specific things you aren't do or specific behaviours that need changing. What are they? Is there a little truth to it?

@Gamecha As PPs have advised, accept the PIP and try to meet its requirements (assuming the goals are reasonable, measurable and achievable) and/or start looking for another job. You could raise a grievance against your manager if you genuinely think their reasons for wanting to place you on a PIP are disingenuous, however, you haven't said how long you've worked there and if it's been less than two years they could fire you for any reason, so long as it's not discriminatory or for a reason that's "automatically unfair", and if you raise a grievance you may just get fired anyway. Obviously, if you have more than two years continuous service with your employer, you have stronger employment rights, but if the reasons for the PIP are genuine and evidenced by your manager, then you should co-operate with the process and try your best to improve your performance if you want to stay in your job.

One thing I would advise is to get feedback from other people you work with. Ask them to out it in writing (in an email) or even better in the performance management platform if you have one. Gather as much evidence as you can and comments from people not only about your performance but about being great to work with, collaborative, proactive, etc. Bring this to HR. And a PIP can’t happen without HR being involved which means your manager would have brought evidence about whatever the issues are. Do the same for yourself.

If they have put you on a PIP they want you out. Time to start looking for a new role.

Do you have reviews where you work? If yes, what do you reviews look like? If you've gotten great feedback here, it'd be difficult to justify a PIP. But if there were areas of concern, not meeting expectations, any warnings etc. and they are proven, you'll probably just have to go with it. It's like innocent til proven guilty - they need to prove why they're letting you go (if it comes to that). And if they don't, that's where you have a case of constructive dismissal. Have you spoken to HR to get a better idea of why this is happening?

You could raise a grievance against your manager

In my company it isn’t just about performance and meeting targets, it is also about culture and working well with people in a collaborative way. From what I have seen people rarely go on PIP for bad performance but they very often end up like that because they are not fitting with the company or team culture, can’t work with people, are argumentative, sometimes disrespectful and in other words - very difficult to work with. If you are doing your job but nobody wants to work with you and you are being an asshole to people, then that is what will get you on PIP (as a last resort, after your manager would have talked to you and tried to improve the situation). Performance is just the basic expectation and is not always the reason you end up on PIP.

@Wendiej you need to start your own thread.

Disagree, I’d say most mangers don’t take this step likely but it depends on the organisational culture, and the moral integrity and reasonableness of the manager themselves.

For example, it’s clearly going to be easier to manage someone out of tik tok than the civil service.

I’ve been there OP and I didn’t agree with the informal PIP but we still went through the process. The workload was insane, I was doing around 2 hours a day unpaid overtime just to get through the workload.

I was put on an informal PIP and we had weekly meetings. First meeting I was told I hadn’t done ABC, made sure for the next week I nailed ABC, had the next meeting, I wasn’t doing DEF enough, ABC wasn’t mentioned. So for the next week I nailed ABCDEF, the next week meeting I wasn’t doing GHI well enough, no mention of ABCDEF. Killing myself to make sure I covered everything while they piled even more work on me. Even if I did 5 hours a day overtime I couldn’t keep up.

At the final meeting it went like this

them - you are still behind with your workload so we are going on a formal pip
me - don’t bother, here’s my resignation stick your job up your arse then walked out.

i had another job lined up and found out that most staff left or were managed out after 2 years, their staff turnover was horrendous.

start looking for another job, if they want you out they will get you out.

I’d be looking for a new job asap. I always think if an employer liked / wanted to keep an employee, they would have tried to help them rather than just sticking them on a PIP.

Managers can and do use this as a means to getting rid of someone whose face doesn’t fit. It doesn’t necessarily mean the person is a bad employee

Agree re raising a grievance

also get signed off with stress and find a new job

I thought the OP meant Personal Independence Payment. I thought chance would be a fine thing to be forced to go on that!

The thing is, managers don't generally want good staff to go.

Sometimes they have to let them go because there is no money etc. That's a redundancy situation. If that doesn't apply, then there will typically be a reason if they want to get rid. It's usually that someone is underperforming/is unduly negative/lacks the soft skills to get on well with colleagues etc.

Managers don't take people through nightmarish HR procedures for fun.

They want you out and this is how they are going to do it.

I have seen this done numerous times by a manager who was basically a bully

Ime PIPs are mainly used to start the process of getting rid of the employee

Refusing to take part in the PIP will simply give the employer ANOTHER reason to get rid of the employee

Take part in the PIP but also start a grievance procedure using the PIP as part of that procedure

Contact ACAS

You'll need a solicitor at some stage

I'd just leave. I couldn't be doing with the stress

It depends on the workplace as to what the PIP is about.

What they’re supposed to set out is the reasons or behaviours where they feel you’re falling short and the evidence to support their view.

They should have clear goals for you to reach (to come off the PIP) and a realistic timescale to achieve the change.

They should identify any training or resource shortfalls which are causing you to underachieve and establish a plan to retrain / reallocate as necessary.

There should be regular milestone meetings tied to the PIP’s timeline.

What they’re actually used for, in 90% of situations IMO&E, is a way to manage someone out when their face doesn’t fit any longer. Like some PPs, I suspect that’s what’s happening to you, OP.

Time to get job hunting.

If you refuse to engage you will be moved on to the formal PIP process and that is much harder to come back from. It might feel like it has come out of the blue OP but no manager takes this step lightly and will have to have had evidence in place before talking to you about this. Take it from someone who is currently doing this with an employee, it is a bloody nightmare. I am losing sleep over it and the amount of time it all takes is huge. If i could have avoided this i would have. If there is any reason you think your performance is not up to scratch disclose it. I am dealing with someone who is refusing to engage in an informal PIP, claiming that because of the qualifications they have their work must be fine. It isn't, it's so far below the standard we expect it's very worrying. We have repeatedly asked if there is anything else we need to be aware of so we can make reasonable adjustments. They insist there isn't. I can't do anything else other than performance management now. the fact my team member is refusing to engage is actually making my job easier as they will be moved on to formal PIP much quicker which is much more serious and refusal to engage then will result in thier contract being terminated.

And to balance that workplace bullying is very common, and sometimes people just don’t get along.
It’s fairly easy to see how the PIP process can be abused.

The only way to refuse a PIP is to find a new job

I have taken a number of employees through capability processes previously, and overseen the process in many more cases. I don't think I can recall one person who ever agreed that their performance was a problem, even when it was glaringly obvious to everyone else and there was shedloads of evidence to prove it.

Your manager may have another agenda here, but why would they? It's a major hassle to take someone through this process, and I honestly can't think of any reason why a manager would choose to subject themselves to that if they didn't feel that they had to. If someone is actually doing their job well, that is a reason to celebrate because the manager can get on with other things.

The PIP should state specific areas where you need to improve and clear, achievable, measurable success criteria. If you know that you're capable, make sure that you're clear about what's expected and ensure that you deliver it.

If you spend your time arguing the toss about how your performance is fine and your manager is wrong, they will just move towards managing you out. Unfortunately for you, the workplace isn't s democracy and it is your manager that gets to set the standards and expectations for your role, whether you agree with them or not. That said, the expectations do need to be reasonable for your role, the targets need to be transparent and achievable, and you should be offered any support that you might need in order to meet them.