Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) can be really helpful for getting employees back on track when they’re struggling at work. But if they’re not used the right way, they can cause more harm than good. In this guide, we’ll give you ten straightforward tips for making sure PIPs work well and help everyone improve without any unnecessary stress.
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- Know Why You’re Doing It: Make sure the employee understands why the plan is in place and what it aims to achieve. The best way to do this is to include the employee when you’re putting the plan together so it includes shared expectations.
- Set Clear Expectations: Be clear about what happens if the performance doesn’t get better as expected and make sure you document your conversations and save somewhere easily accessible, so nothing is lost, forgotten or misunderstood.
- Focus on Improvement, Not Punishment: Use PIPs to help people improve, not as a way to push them out. However, you have to be clear about potential positive and negative outcomes so the employee is aware what will happen if their performance improves or doesn’t improve.
- Follow up regularly: Managers should be having regular conversations with their team, but this is even more important where performance issues have been identified. We suggest checking in every other week to see what is and isn’t working.
- Be Fair and Supportive: Give struggling employees a fair chance to improve and support them along the way.
- Follow the Rules: Understand and follow the legal steps for managing performance issues.
- Pinpoint the Problem: Identify exactly what’s causing the performance issue rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach. We suggest providing examples of what ‘good’ performance looks like in their role, so it can be clearly defined in their mind.
- Offer Custom Solutions: Tailor your help to each person’s needs, whether it’s coaching, training, or something else.
- Try Coaching First: Consider coaching as a simpler and more effective way to help someone improve.
- Know the Difference: Understand when you’re dealing with a performance problem that can be fixed and when it’s a behaviour issue that requires a different approach.
By keeping these tips in mind, you can use Performance Improvement Plans more effectively to help your team grow and succeed.
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