The Echo | From A Reader (Part 2 of 2)
Case Analysis • Organizational Culture
Written by Don, Decades-Long IT Management & Recruiting Professional
Published: Sept 15, 2026 • 2 min read
Editor’s Note: Picking up from our last newsletter, our highly respectful reader dives deeper into the reality of corporate Performance Improvement Plans...
Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) have been around for decades; it's not a new concept. But around the time the author was experiencing a PIP firsthand, its usage was growing and becoming the center of much controversy. Coincidentally, I was running across others going through the PIP barrel, coming out the other end bruised and battered.
PIPs can be a useful tool for a manager with retention in mind. Sometimes life happens and presents issues so severe that work suffers. If this person is a highly respected performer, it's a win all around to retain them. A well-formed and managed PIP can be very useful to buy time for the person to get their act together, providing a means for their boss and an HR partner to have their back while they do. It keeps the company's barking dogs of knee-jerk, policy-driven, off-with-their-heads number crunchers at bay. In my experience, it works best if a PIP is optional. And yes, I've successfully used a PIP.
Its value goes off the rails when a company deems it a mandatory step when termination is already in the works. Then it becomes a rather useless, time-consuming check-off that transforms a person into just an employee, a number. Anyone can easily see in the tea leaves the message: “We're cutting you loose.” The objective is termination, and as such, it is designed for failure. It becomes a CYA (Cover Your A) tunnel with no light at the end.
In the mandatory PIP world, the employees are expected to “get it.” That is how the game is played. You enter the game by signing off on the plan, which gives you a few more paychecks than if you were simply walked out, and you get a heads-up to look for your next job.
Perhaps “amusing” isn’t the kindest word, considering how it trashed the author’s world and self-esteem. But the author is a high-performing engineer and had never come near a PIP, and hence didn't “get it” at first. So initially, the PIP wasn’t working to plan because the author kept sending the company back to the drawing board by getting their ridiculous and seemingly undoable tasks done before or on due dates. Ha! Until, under the warm and fuzzy intentions of giving her more time, they updated the plan with proper, impossible targets.
On reflection, I can make a case that a properly structured PIP is an empathy tool. When sincerely adopted by a company, it improves its processes to really express and engage empathy by offering a chance for people to get back on track. What seemingly is happening in the business world is that the PIP per se is being trashed, weaponized to solely exist for legal protections.
It would be an interesting goal for this site and newsletter to champion the much-maligned PIP and help flip the negative trend. So let’s not hear just the many negative stories; let’s also hear from managers who found them a means to help their teams, and from those people who have truly been helped by a PIP.
It really is a good managerial tool.