Performance improvement plan

A performance improvement plan (PIP), also known as a performance action plan, is a means to give an employee with performance shortages the opportunity to succeed. It may be used to address failures to meet defined job goals or to improve behavior-related concerns.

Responsibilities of HR Facilitator

  • Checking whether a PIP is the appropriate action for the situation.
  • Facilitating all PIPs in line with the manager to prevent bias.
  • Providing ongoing guidance to both the manager and employee throughout the plan.

Significance of PIP Plan
PIP is used when there is an intention of a manager to give employee a chance to improve rather than finding ways of terminating an employee.
It is necessary to check if there is an actual performance or behavioral issue that can be improved? Ask the manager to create a list of the performance lacks, including dates, specific data or detailed explanations, and any previous guidance given to the employee. Review the most recent performance appraisal to see if the issue is new or ongoing. Has the manager met expectations to prevent the need for a PIP?

Procedure:

Once the need for a PIP has been established, ask the manager to create a draft of the plan for HR to review.
An improvement plan should include:

  • Information on what acceptable performance levels are and how the employee's current performance is deficient. Specifics regarding the unacceptable performance should be given, including dates, data and detailed explanations. Attach the job description and any relevant employer policies to further clarify expectations.
  • Specific and measurable objectives that are achievable, relevant and time-bound (otherwise known as SMART goals). PIPs usually last 30, 60 or 90 days, depending on how long it would reasonably take to improve the specific issue.
  • Employees once identified as non-performer will be initially guided, coached and mentored by their leaders.
  • During this they will be put under “Performance Action Plan”, where they are given a chance to improve upon their performance.
  • Feedback can be shared monthly or every 15 days but PIP plan cannot exceed 3 months.
  • When you’re putting an employee on a performance improvement plan, the goal should be to help the employee succeed. So, get input from the employee as well to make sure the goals in the PIP are realistic and achievable.
  • While implementing the PIP, you might discover that the employee is a good fit for your company, but not for the job they’re currently performing. If that turns out to be the case, can put an employee in internal job transfer which will help an employee to succeed.
  • Once an employee gives positive result by meeting the objectives and we terminate the PIP plan and employee is back to routine employment. It is equally important to keep progress check on regular interval.

Case Study:

I came across an event where I had to handle the situation of an employee recently not doing well in performance. I had a performance record check and a detail discussion with the manager and analysed that due to some event in his life, employee is not able to focus on his work and as he was in customer dealing profile, there were complaints from customers regarding the behaviour but his track record was good. In such cases as an employer, it is our responsibility to help employee back with performance.

We draft Performance action plan and shared with the employee and manager to keep track of the training, development and progress check of the performance. Within 45 days of this plan, an employee started improving and getting back to track. At the end of PIP it was derived that employee is good to go, however there were still areas for improvement but he can start working on routine projects as the confidence level was improved a lot as well the performance. In this case, if we didn’t give him chance and terminated him, we would have lost the chance to improve an employee who was struggling at a time due to his personal problem. Giving PIP improves lots of retention issues too. Employees would stick with the organization for a longer period as they develop the trust factor too.

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