Being put on PIP

[Rose38]

Yesterday I had a performance review with my manager and it went really badly. She was going on and on about mistakes I had made which were true. She is saying she wants to put me on PIP end of June and it will last 3 months and if I don't improve they can let me go.

Although I don't disagree with the issues she has mentioned, I have not been told anything in my monthly one to ones with her. Nor has she at any point let me know I need to focus on this particular area or anything.

She said yesterday that I don't seem to have grasped the basics of my job which I feel is not fair to say since only in March she signed me off as permanent. Had this been the case then surely you would at least extend someone's probation?

Just for background towards the end of April I had a really bad miscarriage. I didn't go off sick but took a day & a half holiday (to see the hospital). Physically and mentally the whole thing was draining and I guess I dropped the ball slightly at work. My manager is aware of this but when I was back at work, she didn't even ask me how I was and if everything was ok. I've basically had to update her myself when we had monthly meetings (as some ongoing issues from that miscarriage happened).

I feel like the way my performance review has been done seems a little unfair. I agree with where they have placed me and also that they won't be giving me a pay increase due to this but I feel like being put on PIP is a bit much considering the circumstances. And they didn't even give me any indication that anything was wrong or give me a chance in the lead up to rectify things.

Just really wanted a second opinion on how things work in other companies around this sort of thing. Thanks for reading.

Op, the thing you need to remember is it’s all a game a bell curve. Say you have a team of 10, 1/2 are allowed a higher performer, 6-8 the performing as expected and 1 performing below expected. Someone is normally picked to be the below expected and discussions around a PIP.

In our team we have 3 managers and they take it in turn to have turns to have the PIP.

So guess what I’m saying is you might have been the worse performing in your team but it might not have been actually, just fitting the bell curve.

Right now you have two options:

1. don’t pay attention to the pip, disengage and look for another job
2. work on your PIP and performance, work with your manager on your perceived performance.

Perceived performance - sometimes it not about how hard you actually work it’s about how other people know you have done. I coached a pip person, they did less work, more focused on certain tasks and their perceived performance increased. It’s all a bloody massive game!

OP, some companies use Personal Improvement Plans to guide people to improve. That's what they were originally intended for, and it sounds like they are not rare in your workplace.

So rather than taking offence, just accept their help in improving. Focus on your work during work hours and you should be fine.

I don't know...I mean anything is possible. I told them it was an unexpected miscarriage which is the truth...I was going on holiday a few weeks later so it wouldn't make sense to actively try and get pregnant prior to that.

I feel like they might be doing this PIP thing to avoid salary increase which is in a few months time for everyone. As my review scored poorly, I can no longer get the raise. I don't really care about this though.

There is one person in the team who actively keeps picking on me and flagging any mistake I make in front of everyone. It seems to only be me that the person mentions. And my manager really likes that colleague. I'm scared that that colleague was the one who compiled the list of mistakes my manager had at my review yesterday.

And I actually come from a HR background (not in this company though) so just as you said when someone is not performing, managers usually let them know the issues and try to support them. Going straight into PIP is unusual. I've never seen this before.
I worked for two big companies which were mich bigger than this one.

I do work really fast as I hate to see the team struggling. But I've been told now to slow down. Possibly a few mistakes could be avoided by this...but I do feel all the recent events played a part in my errors.
So now I will take my time and not rush through tasks. Obviously all the things said yesterday I will try my best to turn around.

I just felt it could have been done without doing a PIP. Maybe the better way would have been to monitor a bit longer and also give a little training...but who knows why it's gone a different way...

What tosh. Yes you always have better and worse performers and you are continually coaching all staff but you don’t always have someone who is bad enough to go on a pip. Pips when managed properly take hours of a managers time, you want to avoid them.

so if manager a has the pip person as its their turn and manager b has an awful performer then manager b can’t put that person on a pip as it’s not their turn?

Right but it seems they do regularly put people on PIPs and it's not a path to being managed out as they do encourage people to turn it round.
Yes ideally they'd have communicate more clearly earlier but you are where you are. You agree with rhe substance of the review so accept the PIP and just turn this around. Sounds like you are very capable

I would put you on review for no other reason that you’ve made a load of mistakes and your priority is getting away with it rather than addressing it.

I’ve had all of this recently and I find it buzzard I passed my probation and was put on a pip a week later. That makes no sense to me i just keep going into work while applying. I don’t particularly enjoy this job and the travel is too far but I don’t particularly enjoy like the people. My argument yesterday was that I have not had any training and no 1 to 1 so I had no idea where I was going wrong. I think PIPs are old fashioned it did upset me because nobody like to be under scrutiny but I’m just going in doing my job and going to interviews.

I mean I do enjoy working with the people. Rushing to getting ready

I in no way said I don't agree that I made mistakes. I have every intention of sorting this out.
My issue is the way it was dealt with. I've had monthly one to ones and no mention of anything about this. Why let things get worse and put someone on a PIP when you could have just pointed out the issues earlier and saved yourself the hassle?

Because the issues are serious enough to warrant a PIP. They’re getting their ducks in a row to ensure that if they do have to terminate there’s no discrimination claim. I suspect if you hadn’t had a miscarriage you would have been let go rather than put on a PIP.

This is interesting OP as you've said your performance is similar to others in the team with regard to mistakes /stuff you don't know. But others have also been on PIP's recently so it may be the manager thinks a lot of the team are under performing, so it may not be a good idea to assume you are OK if performing to a similar standard to the rest.
Its not that uncommon for a team to have become complacent and there to be quite a bit of underperforming.

Make sure it’s in writing that they told you to decrease the volume of output.

You don’t want to produce less but more accurate work and then be pulled up for doing less or being less productive.

Doesn’t seem like your manager is the best if they are putting people on PIPS without addressing the issues first, however as others have been on one and still have a job, it also doesn’t seem like they use it to manage people out.
You say you have been working too fast, so I would address everything listed in it and make sure you document how you have improved against any of the points.

I would start documenting everything from now. Every conversation about performance and everything you can remember from previous ones and communication around the misscarriage. Keep a paper trail.
Otherwise, focus on using the pip to improve, show willing and try your best.

The line that well i made mistakes but others are worse than me should remain at school take their advice and learn from it you are not a child

Geniune question:
Do you want to be right or do you want to keep your job?

Your manager is just not going to be open to criticism about how poorly she is handling this, especially from you, even if its valid.

I would lean in and work to improve first and foremost but what you can do is talk about "what would help you improve" and ask her to change her behaviour that way

"It would help me if in our 1:1s we could take time to review any performance issues that arose in the previous week"
"It would help me if you raise issues immediately"
"It would help me if you got my perspective rather than take Rachel in accounts word for it that the numbers were off and it was my fault. What happened was the client team gave me incorrect annual spends"

Op rather than fight it
just see it as an opportunity to do as your colleagues have done and “turn things around”

it seem like a waste of energy for you to be fighting this when you could just get on with addressing the issues you agree with

Oh it really stings to get feedback like this, especially when you are going through a tough time. However I think it’s important to not get defensive about this - it will just be viewed negatively, no matter how valid your points are. Instead I’d just take it on the chin and use it as an opportunity to show initiative. Have a think about what your pip would show - for instance you’ve already mentioned slowing down to allow you to check your work. That’s sounds great - think about other things you can do, maybe some training? Document it today and email it to your manager asking them if they think it will address the under performance. But say you will need more regular feedback - a month is far too long. Weekly 1:1’s - which may only be 30mins would be ideal to give both of you a chance to evaluate how things are going. Again document everything via email so if the worst does happen and you don’t get a raise you have evidence of the effort you have put in and hopefully timely feedback from your manager saying it’s paid off. Good luck.

Please read it again...I did not say others are worse than me. I said they made similiar mistakes but mine have been a higher number of mistakes. Totally different from what you said. I'm not sugar coating things.

Seriously I would not waste my time. I have worked closely with HR and all the plans are used for is to manage people out in my experience. Ive seen people jump through every single hoop and fail. Not worth the stress I am on one myself at the moment and I am not going to sweat it.

Op despite repeated suggestions to not fight it but actually do as your colleagues have done and embrace it and “turn things around” - you continue to just be pissed off.

So what is your plan?

It sounds like they are justified in the PIP, you agree with the mistakes, some companies do just go straight for PIP as it allows for a formal process which can be easily tracked, measured & followed up, training can be put in place (if the company is using it properly, to aid improvement)- a PIP isn’t or shouldn’t be a bad thing if done properly.

I am on one and I am getting ready to jump ship, I know these are used to manage people out without any come back i don’t think any amount of trying works. Maybe in some cases but not what I have seen in the past with others on them.