My Employer Gave Me a Performance Improvement Plan. Is this an Uphill Battle That I Can Achieve or am I Going to be Fired Anyway?

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Performance Improvement Plans, also known as a P.I.P or an action plan, are sometimes used to help employees improve their performance but are often used by employers as a means to terminate employees. They are a written record of the employee’s alleged deficiencies.

A performance improvement plan requires that the employee meet certain expectations within a 30, 60 or 90 day period. The expectations are ones that usually cannot be achieved in this short period of time and ones that come as a surprise to the employee receiving the plan.

A performance improvement plan generally comes after a performance review. The employee is left with a sense of confusion of how can I make the situation better, if at all. The employee struggles with what their options are and how to proceed.

A lowered performance review and/or receipt of a performance improvement plan is done to force the employee to make a decision. Fight to keep their job and achieve the seemingly unachievable goals, or resign from their job and lose out on benefits, unemployment and/or vesting. Employees often wonder whether they should quit or work through the performance plan.

Employees should take action upon receipt of the performance improvement plan and should respond to the plan, in writing. The performance plan should be reviewed to see if it violates any contracts, policies or company practices. The plan should be compared to the employee’s job description to see if the plan requirements are outside the parameters of the job. It should be determined whether the employee received any prior warnings. Whether there was a change in management that sparked the lower performance rating or performance plan. Or, among others, whether the employee is being placed on the plan for an improper or illegal reason.

If you have received a performance improvement plan or a poor performance review, you have options and you should take action to determine how to proceed.

EMPLOYEES CAN TAKE ACTION WHILE THEY ARE STILL EMPLOYED AND DO NOT HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL THEY ARE FIRED OR FORCED TO RESIGN!

For more information about your options contact Sheree Donath to schedule a consultation.

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