In this post, we explore the contents of a typical PIP and find out why companies use this step in their employee discipline process. To get you started, we offer a free, 100% editable template you can use to cheer on your employees to become the best version of themselves!
What’s a PIP?
PIPs are targeted action plans used by companies to give weak performers a chance to get back on track. Unlike an informal word with your line manager at lunch, a PIP is a formal, documented step in a broader disciplinary process.
What you need as an HR manager is a standardized way to collect information for both performance management and legal purposes. A pre-built template like ours can save you hours in research, design, and formatting work!
When Do I Need One?
There are many reasons why people underperform at work, from a lack of necessary training and skill gaps to a toxic team culture or troubles in their personal lives. As managers, the first thing you need to do is have an open & honest discussion about what’s bothering the employee.
Remember, a PIP (or, for that matter, a written warning) is only issued once it’s evident that an informal warning has not worked! An informal warning is an off-the-record chat with the employee discussing how & why the employee’s actions are harming work environment & productivity.
The Managerial Dilemma
For managers, the right decision is a balanced decision. Objectively assess the nature and intensity of the performance issue. Now, balance your findings against the impact of this gap or issue on the vested interests of the company or project you are managing.
When dealing with an underperformer, you can either…
Decide to put your foot down and issue a formal written warning to the employee. Once a certain number of formal warnings are issued, e.g., 1, 2, or 3 – depending on company policy- an employee is usually terminated.
Or,
Take the softer route by giving your employee one last chance to prove themselves. That is, if they are still willing to undergo a timed test of their professional mettle (in the form of a PIP).
As a performance management tool, the creation and implementation of a PIP is at the manager’s discretion, who is also responsible for providing any help or support needed to rectify enduring patterns of subpar performance or bad behaviour at work.
You can use this step in performance management to help employees understand their skills, identify training gaps, and set clear improvement goals to work towards!
Here’s a section-wise breakdown of our PIP Template:
General Information
Flesh out basic details about the employee and the work hierarchy they’re a part of:
- Employee name & ID
- Position
- Department
- Department Head
- Supervisor
As an internal record of the disciplinary process, this information is crucial for properly documenting each PIP goal and that way, ensuring accountability & clarity at the departmental level.
Set a Timeline
No plan works without a deadline! Use this space to set a final target date to push your employees to achieve desired performance levels fast.
Use placeholders to pin down specific dates when your PIP starts & ends.
A timed approach makes it easier for managers to see how well an employee is catching up with the goals & tasks laid out in the plan!
Now, specify if this has happened before
Use a checkmark to quickly identify if a PIP has been initiated or implemented before for the same issue or concern in the past. This builds context and aids the HR in assessing an employee’s performance record & future potential for improvement.
Purpose
Use this section to talk about your reason for initiating the PIP process.
While a PIP is not a tool for punishment, it is still a powerful acknowledgement of the fact that something is wrong. The overarching purpose of PIPs is to rectify that ‘wrong’.
Statements you add in this section should cover the ground truth of an employee’s work conduct, as well as the broader, strategic interests of your company.
Fill in this section with a focus on the interests of the company. Specify how employee actions are tied to a specific area or point of company policy, say, customer care, productivity, or work environment.
Areas of Concern
In this section, come up with a list of areas where the employee is falling short of company expectations.
Ask yourself:
Are they not meeting critical deadlines or missing weekly work goals? Do they disturb, harass, or assault other people at work? Did they behave unprofessionally with a staff member, customer, or client?
If possible, add specific examples or evidence here (such as CCTV footage, attendance records, and witness testimonies) to make your point.
This section is the best place to cite measurable data showing how serious things are. One way to do this is by looking at KPIs or key performance metrics and comparing them to the employee’s work. For example, how many guest blogs is a content writer supposed to write in a month? If the writer is falling short of that number, say by 5 blogs, you have a legitimate area of concern and a solid case for a PIP.
Expectations
This section describes what the company expects of an employee in terms of performance or behavior. You can use performance metrics and industry standards to define expectations of a specific role or position.
Not sure what to add here? Skim through the employee’s JD, employment contract, or a relevant company policy for a written expression of your expectations as managers or HR.
Improvement Goals
Use this space to create a list of personalized goals for the employee. Clear objectives ensure higher productivity, so avoid using elusive or vague statements, and clarify which issue each improvement goal seeks to resolve.
Don’t forget to add a target date here, say “Improve client satisfaction rating to at least 85% within 60 days.”
To make the most of your PIP, this section should include input from your direct supervisor. As the person assigning and reviewing the employee’s work, managers will (presumably) know best what’s realistic for each employee.
Use S.M.A.R.T goals
Having trouble formulating goals? Why not use our SMART goal framework to create goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant & Time-bound!
Action Plan
This section should be used to break down your broad goals into more manageable chunks of work.
Here’s an example…
- Goal: Enhancing Joe’s Communication Skills’
- Action Plan: ‘Enrol in an online course’ (Task A) or ‘Attend weekly coaching sessions with a supervisor’ (Task B).
Use this section to clearly state the duration for completing these tasks, say, by 30, 60, or 90 days. This way, employees are less likely to slack or procrastinate.
Pro Tips for Managers
- A timed activity schedule can help you assess the outcomes of a PIP as an HR tool. You can read its contents to decide the fate of the employee discipline process, especially when faced with the ultimate dilemma of keeping an employee or letting them go.
- When creating action plans, don’t be the only one calling shots. If you want a realistic and fair PIP, your plan should be co-created. Where possible, give employees a chance to set milestones & deadlines for themselves to create a greater sense of task ownership & self-accountability!
Resources and Support
Imagine yelling at an employee for something going awry in front of everyone, only to find out it wasn’t their fault at all. But due to a lack of training or access to the right resources, gadgets, or tools? Embarrassing, right?!
Use this section to identify the tangible resources you will provide during the PIP process and how each resource will help employees meet their goals.
Remember, it’s the company’s job to provide employees with coaching support or any additional resources & special equipment they need to get work done.
Support from the management can come in the form of:
- Mentorship or coaching
- Online courses or workshops
- Time to shadow other team members
- Words of encouragement
- Consultation with an external professional
If it’s a relatively new hire, ask yourself, were they adequately trained during the onboarding process? Use our New Hire Checklist to make your onboarding process smoother & successful!
Follow Up
This is probably the most actionable part of our template. By creating a timeline for follow-ups, you are able to track employee performance and open up the floor for important conversations & feedback sessions.
For most companies in the US, a performance improvement plan is monitored every 30 days. This can stretch up to a 90-day period. If there is no sign of improvement or progress, the final step is to terminate the employee.
Fixing up a schedule for regular check-ins is usually done at the supervisor’s discretion. If you are one, use this time to offer words of encouragement and see if the employee needs additional support or if they have any queries or require clarification.
In this section, specify:
- A follow-up date for each improvement goal
- The final target date of each goal or task
- Type of follow-up (call, e-mail, or in person etc.)
- Who is responsible for conducting the follow-up?
- The Progress Status for each task/goal in your PIP
These quick status updates help you make guided adjustments and track your employees’ progress toward their PIP goals.
Next Steps & Consequences
Use this section to warn employees of what will happen if they fail to meet their goals or show no interest in getting better.
When PIP targets are missed, this section provides guides as to the potential consequences for the employee, such as:
- Demoting
- Suspending
- Or reassigning them to a different department or role.
- As a last resort, termination.
You can use the phrase ‘further disciplinary action’ if you are not, at the time, sure what next steps will be taken by the management or Review Committees as part of the overall disciplinary process.
Signatures
As with every official document, you need signatures to verify the status of the document as valid.
Our template lets you add dated signatures of the employee and the supervisor who is monitoring the plan.
What’s Next?
After a formal discussion with the employee, the manager may modify the plan based on the employee’s feedback. Once HR has reviewed any changes, the manager and employee should sign the final plan, and forward to HR for approval.
Let’s Exemplify!
Now, to piece it all together with an example. At the end of which, you should have a better idea of how to formulate your areas of concern, improvement goals & possible consequences.
Let’s say, one of your employees is frequently late submitting reports. A PIP for this specific issue will include statements like:
- Concern: “Employee submitted 4 out of 5 monthly reports late over the last quarter.”
- Goal: “Submit all monthly reports by the 3rd business day of each month.”
- Support: “Time management training and weekly check-ins.”
- Consequences: “Failure to meet this goal may result in reassignment or further disciplinary steps.
Key Takeaways
- While some individual managers or company cultures look at PIPs as a thing to fear, others view them as a chance to improve and grow. Instead of using it as a tool of punishment, use PIPs to support a growth mindset culture of continuous learning and improvement.
- A PIP is fundamentally done to improve retention & reduce employee turnover. Considering the complexities & costs of hiring new employees, it’s not surprising that companies want to try their best till the last point possible to work things out.
- It is typically the HR department that oversees the filing and management of performance improvement plans. But it’s the line manager or supervisor who co-creates the plan and sets the general tone and direction for it.
- Results of a PIP often determine the outcomes of the discipline process. While a successful PIP may lead to continued employment, salary increments or even a promotion, a failed one may result in termination, transfer or demotion.
- While a Performance Improvement Plan is not a disciplinary action, it serves as a formal warning of one’s underperformance and a recognition of their inability to reach certain goals.
- The importance of time can’t be stressed enough; a delayed PIP can cause continued loss to your company in terms of productivity & resources!
What Do I Need To Do?
All you need to do is build a roadmap of action for weak performers by filling out their case details in our premade template. Our team of professional researchers spent hours looking at the content & structure of hundreds of PIPs out there.
Based on what we saw, we recycle here the most relevant and common information categories in a typical PIP; hoping to provide clarity around goals, timelines, scheduled check-ins, and training.
Think of a PIP as a second chance for the employee with structured guidance and support from the management side. Successfully done PIPs can help you maintain current performance standards while reducing turnover in the long run!
Create a culture of employee value, positivity, and growth by tackling performance issues or gaps in a less disciplinarian way!
Note
To make them easy to use, our template is available in multiple file formats, including Microsoft Word for easy offline editing, OpenDocument (ODT) for compatibility with various word processors, and via Google Docs for cloud-based sharing, editing, and collaboration.
The template is fully editable and can be customized to meet your specific needs and requirements, making it ideal for organizations of any nature, size, or complexity.
You can customize the question fields and change the fonts, colors, and backgrounds. Feel free to embed this form into your system or use it standalone – either way, you save yourself hours in research, design, and formatting work!
