How to design and implement PIP-Performance Improvement Plan policy?

As mentioned in my previous post “Various actions HR should take post performance evaluation of employees”,  it is equally important for HR to take action on employees who are not performing well with help of their line manager and help such employees by all means, so that they start performing well. 

Please note that objective of PIP is not to show out door to employee but to ensure that employee understand seriousness of situation and give his best to come out of it.

Objective is not to show employee out door

Employee should know that organization has identified non performance and would like to help him to get out of non performance. Everyone should know that the objective of PIP is not to show employee out door but to ensure all kind of help is provided to employee by manager and HR. Employee should be given fair chance to talk about concerns / hurdle in executing his responsibility. Manager and HR should answer his concerns and ensure correction if required.

Actions before putting employee in PIP

In ideal situation, employee should be counselled by HR and manager at very first time when he does not meet company expectation, before putting him under PIP. Download Employee Counselling form.

Also ensure that performance management system is matured i.e. based on data point and not on manager perception else it will be difficult and ill logical for both HR and manager to make employee agree on his non performance.

Communication during PIP should be clear

Communication between employee, HR and manager should be very clear. It is responsibility of HR to ensure communication during PIP should be clear and to the point. 

Once both HR and manager come to conclusion that an employee should be put under PIP due to non performance then there should be a round table discussion with employee.

After discussion, HR should send a mail to employee cc to manager stating about what went wrong with employee’s  performance, what do organization expect from employee and assuring all possible help from organization side. You can download draft of such mail from link “Mail draft-Communicating employee about PIP-Performance Improvement Plan”

Manager should submit week wise progress report of such employees with HR and Head of Department so that everyone is aware. You can download format of such format from link “ Evaluation sheet-Post PIP-Performance Improvement Plan”.

PIP tenure should be relevant

Employee should be aware about tenure of PIP. PIP tenure should be sufficient for employee to achieve target given during PIP otherwise employee will not take it as an opportunity but a step before asking to leave. In such situations, employee will spend his time finding new job rather than achieving target.

Actions at end of PIP tenure

HR and manager should keep note of last date of PIP and have a meeting with employee on outcome of PIP at end of PIP tenure.  There could be three possibilities:

(1) Employee comes out of PIP

Employee meets his targets given during PIP and successfully come out of it. Congratulate the employee and manager. Send mail to employee about the same and keep the copy of such email in employee’s personnel file.

(2) Employee partially achieve target

There could be a case where employee is not able to meet 100% target given during PIP but achieve substantial portion of target. In such cases, both line manager and HR can take a decision to extend PIP tenure of employee so that employee should be given another chance to prove himself.

Employee should be communicated about same along with reason and an email should be sent cc to manager and a copy of such email should be kept in employee’s personnel file for future reference.

(3) Employee do not meet target

In case where employee do not meet target then organization should take hard decision, meaning asking such employees to leave.

WHAT SHOULD BE PIP POLICY?

Below is the draft of PIP policy. You can modify it as per your need.

Performance Improvement Plan ( PIP ) Policy

For all confirmed employee, your manager will initiate corrective action if your performance is unsatisfactory. He/she will discuss the specifics of the problem, recommend changes that you must make to correct the problem, and establish a time frame within which the changes must be made.  If the problem is not corrected within the agreed-upon time frame, your manager may initiate a formal Performance Improvement Plan (PIP), which outlines steps for correcting the areas of deficiency.

Performance Improvement Plan Summary

This is intended to be a brief overview of our PIP Plan. The entire process, including the expectations and potential consequences, will be described in much greater detail to any employee who is put on a PIP.

A PIP is effective immediately when it is presented to an employee. The PIP document describes the areas in need of improvement; including specific, measurable goals and the deadlines for meeting them. The PIP is written to last no more than 12 weeks, with checkpoints at six weeks and at 12 weeks. Basic goal of PIP is to bring improvement in the employee’s performance. The PIP document becomes a permanent entry in the employee's personnel file unless he/she successfully completes the PIP at the six-week checkpoint and requests (via e-mail to his/her manager) to have it removed.

The PIP guideline is provided as a tool for improving performance, but it does not provide a contractual right to be placed on a PIP.

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