Is a Performance Improvement Plan Really a Plan to Improve?
By [Author name] · [Month 2026]
Is a Performance Improvement Plan Really a Plan to Improve?
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You're reading the key passages · 3 min
These are the author's own words, unchanged. Mimansa editors picked the passages, and · · · marks where parts are left out. The full article adds where PIPs came from, why companies value the paperwork, Netflix's keeper test, and how to read PIP outcome numbers.
You're reading the full article · 4 min
Parts that are not in the key passages have a line beside them, like this one.
Kyun · your host
Today's question: is a performance improvement plan really a plan to help someone improve? Over to the author.
Fig. 1 · Two messages in one file
I have worked in HR for years, and I have seen hardly any employees come out of a performance improvement plan with their job intact. In my experience, roughly nine out of ten either resigned or were eventually asked to leave.
So I keep coming back to one question: Are PIPs really designed to improve performance, or have they become a polite way to manage an exit?
Kyun
This one is about PIPs, and the jobs that hang on them. Let's read it slowly.
· · ·
The problem is when the PIP begins.
A manager notices that someone’s performance is slipping. They may not know whether the issue is skill, intent, unclear expectations or something happening outside work. So they wait and watch. They try a few conversations themselves. Sometimes they avoid giving feedback as directly as they should.
Managing performance is the manager’s responsibility, so it is reasonable for them to handle those early conversations. But why is the HR business partner often absent throughout this period?
· · ·
By then, the manager may have tried everything they are willing to try. They may no longer believe the employee can turn things around. The employee may already sense that confidence has been lost. Most of the bridges are burned before the first PIP meeting takes place.
· · ·
But HR has been brought in to manage the risk of a decision that may already have been made. It is too late for HR to help the manager understand the problem or change their approach. HR becomes part of a tick-box exercise.
Kyun
The next part is about the person who is handed the plan. Take it gently.
The employee is handed a plan that says “improve,” while receiving a very different message: start looking for another job. Many resign before the process ends. The company gets a documented process and avoids a contested termination. The PIP has served a purpose, but it is not the purpose in its name.
· · ·
So what should change?
Bring the HR business partner into the conversation when the manager first sees a pattern of underperformance, while the manager is still trying to work out what is happening. HR can ask questions the manager may have missed: What specifically has changed? Has the employee heard clear feedback? Is this a capability problem, an expectations problem or a problem with how the work is being managed?
This does not make HR responsible for improving the employee’s performance. The manager owns that. HR can coach the manager and ensure a fair process. And coaching will only help if the manager is willing to be coached.
Organisations should also look honestly at their PIP outcomes. How many employees improve and remain in the role? How many resign? How many are terminated? More importantly, when did the manager first notice the problem, when did the employee receive clear feedback, and when did HR become involved?
· · ·
I am not saying every PIP is a sham. I am saying that most PIPs I have seen functioned as exit processes. If that is what an organisation’s outcomes show, it should stop congratulating itself on having a well-documented improvement policy.
Where the author lands
The real opportunity to improve performance usually comes earlier, before the manager has given up and before the employee has stopped believing they have a chance.
Kyun
One last story from the author, from the Mahabharata.
शिशुपालThe parallel · Mahabharata
In the Mahabharata, Krishna promises Shishupala’s mother that he will forgive a hundred offences.When that allowance is exhausted, he kills Shishupala.Managers often let mistakes accumulate until they lose patience and initiate a PIP.They should give clear feedback after each mistake and help the employee correct it.Waiting until the “hundredth offence” denies the employee the chance to improve along the way.
I have worked in HR for years, and I have seen hardly any employees come out of a performance improvement plan with their job intact. In my experience, roughly nine out of ten either resigned or were eventually asked to leave.
So I keep coming back to one question: Are PIPs really designed to improve performance, or have they become a polite way to manage an exit?
Kyun
This one is about PIPs, and the jobs that hang on them. Let's read it slowly.
People were managing poor performance long before the term PIP existed. Managers gave feedback, set expectations and decided whether someone could continue in a role. The formal PIP added written targets, a fixed duration, regular check-ins and documented feedback.
There is a reason companies value that documentation. Dismissing an employee can create legal and reputational risk. A written process helps the organisation show what it communicated and what opportunity the employee had to improve. Multinationals brought formal performance policies to India, and Indian companies adopted similar processes.
None of this makes a PIP inherently bad. On paper, the process is transparent. The employee knows what must change and by when. The manager has to provide feedback. HR ensures the rules are followed.
Kyun
Now the author turns to timing. Notice when HR first hears about the case.
The problem is when the PIP begins.
A manager notices that someone’s performance is slipping. They may not know whether the issue is skill, intent, unclear expectations or something happening outside work. So they wait and watch. They try a few conversations themselves. Sometimes they avoid giving feedback as directly as they should.
Managing performance is the manager’s responsibility, so it is reasonable for them to handle those early conversations. But why is the HR business partner often absent throughout this period?
Perhaps the manager does not trust the local HR team’s ability to help. Perhaps they think involving HR will make an uncertain problem too formal too soon. Whatever the reason, HR often hears about the case only when the manager says, “I want to put this person on a PIP.”
By then, the manager may have tried everything they are willing to try. They may no longer believe the employee can turn things around. The employee may already sense that confidence has been lost. Most of the bridges are burned before the first PIP meeting takes place.
Fig. 2 · Burned before the first meeting
HR is then brought into the room to explain the policy, record what was said and make sure the organisation follows its process. Those things matter. Termination is an organisational decision, with consequences beyond the manager’s team.
But HR has been brought in to manage the risk of a decision that may already have been made. It is too late for HR to help the manager understand the problem or change their approach. HR becomes part of a tick-box exercise.
Kyun
The next part is about the person who is handed the plan. Take it gently.
The employee is handed a plan that says “improve,” while receiving a very different message: start looking for another job. Many resign before the process ends. The company gets a documented process and avoids a contested termination. The PIP has served a purpose, but it is not the purpose in its name.
The PIP has served a purpose, but it is not the purpose in its name.
Netflix’s keeper test offers an interesting contrast. It asks managers to confront whether they would fight to keep someone on their team. That forces a more direct judgment. But the test does not tell you why someone’s performance fell or whether they can recover. Most companies also cannot resolve every such decision through a quick exit and severance. But hardly any actually spend any amount on say even the training of the individual when they are put on a PIP.
So what should change?
Bring the HR business partner into the conversation when the manager first sees a pattern of underperformance, while the manager is still trying to work out what is happening. HR can ask questions the manager may have missed: What specifically has changed? Has the employee heard clear feedback? Is this a capability problem, an expectations problem or a problem with how the work is being managed?
This does not make HR responsible for improving the employee’s performance. The manager owns that. HR can coach the manager and ensure a fair process. And coaching will only help if the manager is willing to be coached.
Kyun
If HR joins early, keep a short note of every feedback talk as it happens.
Organisations should also look honestly at their PIP outcomes. How many employees improve and remain in the role? How many resign? How many are terminated? More importantly, when did the manager first notice the problem, when did the employee receive clear feedback, and when did HR become involved?
These numbers should help the organisation examine its process. They should not become targets used to judge individual managers. If managers are penalised for starting PIPs or for unsuccessful outcomes, they will have another reason to hide problems.
I am not saying every PIP is a sham. I am saying that most PIPs I have seen functioned as exit processes. If that is what an organisation’s outcomes show, it should stop congratulating itself on having a well-documented improvement policy.
Where the author lands
The real opportunity to improve performance usually comes earlier, before the manager has given up and before the employee has stopped believing they have a chance.
Kyun
One last story from the author, from the Mahabharata.
शिशुपालThe parallel · Mahabharata
In the Mahabharata, Krishna promises Shishupala’s mother that he will forgive a hundred offences.When that allowance is exhausted, he kills Shishupala.Managers often let mistakes accumulate until they lose patience and initiate a PIP.They should give clear feedback after each mistake and help the employee correct it.Waiting until the “hundredth offence” denies the employee the chance to improve along the way.
Fig. 3 · The hundredth mark
Kyun
Now you. Where do you land?
Tap one to see how other readers answered.
Kyun
Those were the key passages. The full article looks at where PIPs came from, why HR joins so late, and what the numbers can show.
Use this at work · Playbook
From First Slip to Fair Decision
Catch slipping performance early, find the cause, and keep the process fair to both sides.
