PIPs and References - how does it work please? (UK Based)

[WhiteBBQ]

I’m a hard worker with good work ethics and (I believe) a good reputation, but I find myself in a position where there is a chance I’m about to be put on a Performance Improvement Plan.

This is as a result of a restructure that dumped a load more work on me, some medical issues reducing my capacity, and a manager who just tells me to keep doing my best when I tell him I don’t have the capacity to do my job well (not written down unfortunately). I’ve been thinking of leaving for a while as the stress and my perimenopause are not helping each other. My manager has realised a few things recently that he is really unhappy about and while I think he will want to be supportive where he can I want to be prepared for the worst.

I’ve never thought I’d ever be put on a PIP as I take a lot of pride in my work, and I’ve always thought if it happened I’d rather just quit on the spot. Now I may be looking down the barrel of that gun. If it DOES happen and I quit on the spot, will the PIP still be registered and have to be declared on any future requests for references? How does the world of Improvement Plans and references work please?

I need to stick with it until April in order to get my bonus but if resigning on the spot is the only way of stopping future references listing a PIP it may be better in the long run. Whatever happens I need to start job hunting. I've put up with this for too long.

Most employers wouldn’t reference it. If you’re in an industry that uses any sort of enhanced recruitment (teaching, healthcare etc) they might if asked.

Hi this happened to me when a new boss joined and I think they were trying to get me to quit to save on redundancy as they were restructuring. I never ever thought I’d be on a PIP. I ended up negotiating it for about 2 months and even in the end it wasn’t smart. To begin with it will be an informal one and then they’ll go to formal if you fail the first one. I did and was even invited to stage 1 capability but I challenged them on a few things and I didn’t get a warning just told it would go to formal. By this point I’d had enough. I told my boss in no uncertain terms they’d been the worse manager I’d ever had due to believing everyone else , ignoring the fabulous feedback I’d received and not investigating issues properly. We never got to the formal one as I was then told at risk of redundancy so here I am - on garden leave for a couple of months and redundant. I’d wanted to put in a grievance as i was being bullied, undermined and receiving unfair treatment. If I were you I’d see if you do get put on one first. If so negotiate it a bit. If there’s any whiff of foul play put on a grievance and they may give you a settlement. If you can’t face that you can have a without prejudice conversation to see if they’d give you a settlement deal (after you have your bonus of course). I never got one as my boss gave me the lowest ranking which I’ve never had. I wouldn’t even call my boss a leader they were so bad. All that took about 9 months so it’s not a quick process. I’m glad I didn’t get the warning and will get a standard reference