My Employer Has Put Me on a Performance Improvement Plan – Should I Be Worried?
You’ve been called into a meeting and told there are concerns about your performance.
Perhaps this is the first time you’ve heard there is a serious problem.
Perhaps your previous appraisals were good.
Or perhaps you’ve known for a while that your relationship with your manager has changed.
Then the words appear:
Performance Improvement Plan.
Usually shortened to PIP.
And the immediate question is:
“Are they genuinely trying to help me improve – or are they trying to manage me out?”
The answer is that a PIP can be either a genuine attempt to help an employee reach the required standard or part of a process that could ultimately lead to formal warnings and dismissal if performance does not improve.
Being placed on a PIP does not mean your employer has decided to dismiss you.
But neither would I dismiss it as “just a development plan” without looking carefully at what has led to it, what the plan requires and how your employer intends to assess you.
The earlier you understand what process you are actually in, the better placed you are to respond.
What is a Performance Improvement Plan?
A PIP is essentially a structured plan designed to address concerns about an employee’s performance.
ACAS describes PIPs as something an employer might consider if informal steps have not worked. Its recently updated guidance says a PIP should set out specific objectives, a reasonable timeline and any further support or training the employee needs.
That sounds straightforward.
But in practice, the circumstances surrounding the plan can tell you a great deal.
Has your manager previously discussed the concerns with you?
Have you been given feedback?
Have you had appropriate training?
Were the standards expected of you clear?
Are the objectives genuinely achievable?
And are the concerns consistent with your previous performance history?
Those are very different circumstances from an employee receiving unexpectedly negative feedback followed almost immediately by a formal-looking PIP.
Does being put on a PIP mean they want to dismiss me?
Not necessarily.
Good performance management is part of running an organisation properly.
If somebody is struggling, a responsible manager should be able to identify the problem, explain the expected standard and provide reasonable support to help them improve.
ACAS specifically recommends employers try to understand why somebody is underperforming and distinguish capability — the person’s ability to do the job — from conduct, which concerns behaviour. It also says employers should take steps to support improvement before starting formal disciplinary procedures.
So a PIP can be entirely genuine.
However, it can also form important evidence if an employer subsequently decides that an employee has not achieved the required standard.
ACAS identifies PIPs showing a failure to improve as one type of evidence an employer might rely upon when considering capability dismissal.
That’s why I wouldn’t panic about a PIP.
But I wouldn’t ignore its significance either.
Look at what happened before the PIP
This is often where the real story sits.
Ask yourself whether the concerns are genuinely new.
What did your last appraisal say?
What feedback have you received during regular one-to-ones?
Have performance concerns been documented previously?
Have your targets changed?
Has your workload changed?
Have responsibilities been added without additional training or resources?
Has your manager changed?
Has something else happened — perhaps a grievance, disagreement, restructuring or change in senior leadership — shortly before your performance suddenly became an issue?
None of these things automatically proves the PIP is unfair.
But they provide context.
If someone has consistently been rated as performing well and is suddenly told they are significantly underperforming, I would want to understand what has changed.
What should a fair PIP actually look like?
There is no single statutory PIP template that every employer must use.
But a credible performance plan should give the employee a meaningful opportunity to understand the concerns and improve.
Current ACAS guidance says objectives should be specific, the timeline reasonable and necessary support or training identified. Its wider performance guidance recommends objectives that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.
That doesn’t mean every PIP has to use the word “SMART”.
It means you should be able to understand what success actually looks like.
Compare:
“Demonstrate better leadership.”
with a clearly defined expectation supported by examples, evidence and measurable outcomes.
If the employee cannot objectively understand what they need to achieve, it becomes much harder to understand how success or failure will ultimately be judged.
Pay attention to the timescale
A PIP should provide a reasonable period for improvement.
What is reasonable will depend on the job and the performance issue.
Some improvements can be demonstrated quickly.
Others need considerably longer.
A salesperson with a long sales cycle, for example, may not realistically be able to demonstrate sustained revenue improvement within a few weeks.
A manager asked to improve engagement within a team may similarly need time before meaningful change can be measured.
This is why context matters.
The question isn’t simply:
“Is a six-week PIP legal?”
It is:
“Is this timeframe reasonable for what I am actually being asked to demonstrate?”
What support is your employer providing?
A PIP shouldn’t simply be a list of deficiencies followed by a deadline.
ACAS says employers dealing with capability problems could help employees through support such as coaching, mentoring and training, and employers must provide adequate resources for employees to do their jobs.
So look at both sides of the plan.
What are you required to improve?
And what is the organisation doing to help you achieve it?
If training has been identified as necessary, is it being provided?
If regular feedback is promised, is it happening?
If resources are required, are they available?
A PIP should be an improvement process, not simply a measurement exercise.
What if health or disability is affecting your performance?
This requires particular care.
Sometimes what appears to be a straightforward performance problem has another explanation.
An employee may be experiencing a health condition.
A disability may affect how certain aspects of the role are performed.
Or an adjustment may be needed before performance can fairly be assessed.
ACAS specifically warns that capability and conduct can sometimes overlap with disability issues and confirms that employers have duties around reasonable adjustments where the Equality Act requirements apply.
That doesn’t mean disability prevents performance management.
It means the employer may need to consider the disability and any relevant reasonable adjustments when deciding how the employee’s performance should be managed.
What happens inside the employer?
This is where understanding the employer side can be particularly useful.
A PIP is rarely just about the document sitting in front of you.
Once performance concerns become structured, your manager may be creating a record.
HR may be advising on the process.
Review meetings will document whether objectives have been achieved.
Examples of alleged underperformance may be retained.
Support offered by the employer may also be recorded.
Why?
Because if improvement doesn’t happen and the matter eventually progresses towards dismissal, the employer may need evidence showing both the performance problem and what it did to help the employee improve. ACAS expressly identifies those as relevant evidence in capability cases.
That doesn’t mean every PIP has been designed to produce a dismissal.
But it explains why you should take the documentation seriously.
Your employer probably is.
What happens if I don’t pass the PIP?
Again, it depends on the circumstances and the employer’s procedure.
If you’ve improved but haven’t quite reached the required level, ACAS says an employer could consider extending the PIP.
Alternatively, continued inadequate performance can lead to formal warnings and potentially dismissal.
Where formal action is taken, fairness becomes particularly important.
The ACAS Code recognises poor performance as something that may be dealt with under disciplinary procedures, although employers may instead have a separate capability process. Either way, the basic principles of fairness should apply.
A formal warning should make clear what improvement is required, the relevant timescale and what could happen if sufficient improvement isn’t achieved.
Ultimately, capability can potentially provide a fair reason for dismissal, but the employer must follow a fair process and dismissal should be a last resort.
One important change is coming
There is another reason employers and employees should be paying closer attention to performance management.
From 1 January 2027, the qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal protection is due to reduce from two years to six months. The current two-year qualifying period remains relevant to dismissals taking effect before then, although some dismissal and discrimination protections do not depend upon two years’ service.
That is likely to put even greater focus on whether performance processes are genuine, documented and fair.
For employees, however, length of service should never be the only question when something appears wrong. Different legal rights can arise depending on the reason for the treatment and the circumstances.
Don’t wait until the final PIP review
This is where I think employees sometimes leave things too late.
They attend the PIP meetings.
They try harder.
They assume their manager will recognise the improvement.
Then they arrive at the final review and discover the employer’s assessment is very different from their own.
By that point, weeks or months of documentation may already exist.
If something about your PIP concerns you, understand the process while it is happening.
Look at what preceded it.
Understand what is being measured.
Consider whether the objectives are achievable.
Understand what support has been promised.
And recognise whether you are dealing with an informal improvement exercise or something that has moved into a formal capability process.
You don’t need to assume your employer is trying to remove you.
But you shouldn’t be the only person in the process who doesn’t understand where it could lead.
Frequently asked questions
Can I refuse to go on a PIP?
Simply refusing to engage is unlikely to resolve the underlying performance concerns and may make the situation more difficult. If you believe the PIP is inaccurate or unfair, the more important question is how those concerns should appropriately be raised and recorded.
Does my employer have to give me a warning before a PIP?
Not necessarily. A PIP can itself be used as part of an informal or formal performance-management process depending on the employer’s procedure. Understanding which process your employer says it is following is important.
Can I be dismissed if I fail a PIP?
Potentially, but failing a PIP does not automatically make dismissal fair. The employer needs to consider the circumstances and follow an appropriate fair process. ACAS says capability dismissal should be a last resort.
What if I think the PIP has been designed for me to fail?
Don’t rely on the feeling alone. Look carefully at the evidence, objectives, timescales, previous performance history and support being provided. If those raise concerns, getting independent advice early can help you understand the significance of what is happening.
Someone in your corner
If you’ve unexpectedly been placed on a PIP, you don’t need to wait until the final review to understand what it could mean.
TrustForce can independently review what has happened, help you understand the process from the employer’s perspective and identify the questions you should be asking before important decisions are made.
Sometimes the difference is recognising what process you’re actually in early enough to do something about it.
TrustForce — Someone in your corner.