Microsoft's ex-VP of HR says you should leave a company if you get put on a PIP

Another colleague was put on a PIP after being on the team for 2 years. They made a big effort to go around to all of the leads (including me) and ask for advice on getting out from under it. They did (but kind of via a technicality) and stayed on the team. It was obvious how they were passed over for project after project and ended up only doing maintenance work until eventually being laid off.

Yeah, if you get PIPed, at least leave the team, if not the company.

Also, I've met more than a few managers over the years that never use a PIP unless they've already given up on the employee. It's a checkbox at that point to make HR happy, there is going to be no possible redemption.

Or just make some shit up no reason for you to start being honest in a situation where your future employer will likely start by lying to you about the state of things as well

There's also longstanding evidence that Amazon uses PIP's just to recapture locked RSU shares after bad financial quarters. Basically, have a bad financial quarter, just tell managers they have to stack rank and fire a few more employees than usual.

If I were put there for good reason, then the fact that I'm performing poorly and wasn't able to correct before management felt the need to address it is a pretty much ironclad indication that I'm a poor fit there.

If I were put there for a bad reason -- well, that speaks for itself. I'm not wanted.

In either case, whether I quit or not, my days at the company are clearly numbered. Better to get out right away than to suffer the humiliation of remaining.

Of course, the more this is recognized (especially if it becomes recognized socially enough that the legal system recognizes it), the more companies will need something to replace PIPs as “constructive termination that we can get away with without consequence.”

If you are put on a PIP, the right course of action is to:

1. Do the bare minimum to not be fired for job abandonment,

2. Apply to new jobs,

3. Let them fire you at the end.

Of course we have all heard of a coworker who was placed on a PIP and then survived the PIP and went on to do well. It happens, but the people who struggle and then fail, or who survive but struggle for years far outnumber them (and he has the data).

Naturally, if you attempt the PIP and it doesn't work, then leaving makes sense. But leaving because you start one is illogical to me.

No wonder engineering at most large companies has become shitty. Nobody cares any more than just doing enough to keep their jobs.

Such a big management fail.

The work isn't fulfilling or something, so moving on is a good idea. This can be a positive signal for change

Staying is also signing up for another hedonic treadmill

I agree that by the time a PiP comes around, it’s probably too late: Every advice has been to act fast, yet only psychopaths can ignore the emotional toll.

Dragging out low performance on the otherhand really affects the team badly, so it cannot be left alone.

So a human being will be discussing in one-on-ones on issues with performance and jotting unofficial notes bot visible to anyone to avoid an unnecessary stain on an employee. Once a PiP comes around it’s become formal.

After this is all done, I’m hoping to get myself PiP’d out of this job.

Maybe what someone else said in HN was right: I’m not cut out for managing.