Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) are a great tool to use when an employee’s work is not meeting required standards. It is particularly useful with exempt or management staff, when deficiencies are sometimes subjective and hard to define. The goal of a PIP is to lay out the performance problems, and give the employee some specific timeline to fix those problems – making clear that if not fixed, termination may follow. The employee should clearly understand their performance problems and have a meaningful stake in resolving them.

A well-written PIP should serve to both increase the transparency of your disciplinary process, as well as to minimize legal claims. I recently authored a Law360 article, “Counseling Employers About Performance Improvement Plans,” regarding the proper use and implementation of PIPs and discuss recommended elements of a plan, considerations in evaluating a plan, and how employers should deliver the plan to employees.

The full article can be found here.