
In-person meetings in the office are back. IBM, Google and Intuit are going to replace 10,000 jobs with AI. Competition for jobs is fierce once again.
If you don’t like it, tough. A “PIP” might be coming your way.
Bosses, especially at big banks and technology companies, are increasingly using Performance Improvement Plans to weed out weak links.
“Up to two years ago, performance reviews looked pretty standard: managers just checked one of five boxes for ‘Excellent,’ ‘Good,’ ‘Satisfactory,’ ‘Fair’ or ‘Poor,’” says Mark Kluger, a partner with employment law firm Kluger Healey. “Typically, even if a boss thought someone was the worst employee, they’d check ‘Satisfactory’ to avoid confrontation.”
Today, with employment discrimination cases on the rise, pressure to deliver higher shareholder value, productivity lower and employers more in the driver’s seat — fewer employers are “rubber stamping” reviews, Kluger says.
“A boss once would have given a ‘Satisfactory’ assessment thinking that sounds bad,” Kluger says. “To a jury, that ‘Satisfactory’ score is like a ‘C,’ which in school means meeting standards, and that is not enough to defend an employment discrimination case.”
“In 2021, 2022, employers couldn’t find workers for the life of them,” says Ben Eubanks, a former human resources director and author of “Artificial Intelligence for HR” (Kogen Page, 2022).
“A manager at Boeing told me one of their workers was performing below expectations but they were letting them ride because they were worried that candidates to replace them could be even worse,” Eubanks says.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, when workers were changing jobs at a previously unseen pace, many employers hired employees who may not normally have passed muster, says Ricki Roer, a partner with Wilson Elser and a founding member of the law firm’s National Employment & Labor Practice.
“Sometimes folks were brought on who might not have been the ideal employee checking every box of talents needed,” Roer says. “Employers are now seeing higher-quality applicants, and that is prompting them to reassess workers who were just meeting expectations. They’re replacing them with people with the strengths and ability to fulfill all of their needs rather than just some of them.”
Amanda Augustine, career expert with TopResume, says, “There is a mandate at one major company looking to reduce 6% of its workforce through PIPs in order to slash its budget. Other companies are using them to weed out weaker performers.”
Some companies are using PIPs to avoid the negative publicity that comes with mass layoffs, adds Jennifer Moss, author of “The Burnout Epidemic” (Harvard Business Review Press, 2021) and the upcoming “Why Are We Here?: Creating a Work Culture Everyone Wants” (Harvard Business Review Press, 2025).
“Meta is now conducting performance reviews two times a year and reducing bonuses for lower-performing workers, and we are seeing the same thing across other organizations,” Moss says.
While Performance Improvement Plans have been around for 20 years with “the original concept of helping identify which employees need more help by setting out clearer expectations and getting them up to speed, these days, PIPs are being used as a tool one step before a termination,” Augustine says. “Unfortunately, it is rare that a person who goes on a PIP ends up graduating from it and performing well.”
Eubanks adds: “If you get a PIP, I would not go so far as to say it’s a death knell, but it is a flashing red sign.”
Typically, only 10% survive the scrutiny of a Performance Improvement Plan review. In many cases, employers use these as a way to legally document an employee is not meeting their expectations.
If you are subjected to a harsh PIP or “given a performance review where the feedback is not so great, there are two courses of action you should take — simultaneously,” Augustine says.
The first is to “try to meet those expectations and improve those skills because it could be beneficial for your career,” she says. “Put together an entire presentation” to rebut your employer’s claims,” Augustine says.
Follow through with any phone or face-to-face conversations in which you receive positive feedback with an email restating that, and make sure to bcc the email to a personal account in case the email “magically disappears.”
But at the same time, Augustine adds, “Prepare for the worst. Put your resume and personal branding materials together and reconnect with business associates.”
The best thing to do to avoid a negative performance review, employment attorneys and HR experts concur, is to find out exactly what your boss expects of you, even if it means proactively asking them, with or without a review pending.
“If you don’t know the top three goals expected of you, find out right now,” Eubanks says. “You need to know so that you aren’t caught by surprise.”
Augustine agrees, advising, “It’s really important for employees to realize that they are in charge of managing their careers. Not every manager is a mentor or a guide. Manage your own career and development. Proactively seek out feedback.
“If you haven’t had a one-on-one with your manager, request one. Ask, ‘I’d love to know from your perspective, am I meeting expectations? How can I improve? Is there someone else in our department I can model myself after? Is there a course, webinar, or publication available you think is worth pursuing?’”
The bottom line, Augustine stresses, is, “We are seeing a great er appetite among employers to upscale their workforce.”
Don’t be the one who gets zapped by a PIP.
Lee Barney, Newsmax’s finance editor, has been a financial journalist for 30 years, covering the economy, retirement plan ning, investing and financial technology.
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