#WorkplaceChallenges #PIP #NewJobStruggles
Hello everyone! 😊 I wanted to share a pretty shocking experience I had yesterday and would love to hear your thoughts or any similar experiences you might have had. So, here’s the scoop: I was pulled into an unexpected meeting with the head of HR and my manager, and guess what? I found out I’m on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) just 35 days into my job! 😳
Honestly, I’m still reeling from the news. Here’s what’s been bothering me:
- Timing: I was only hired a month ago! I thought I was doing well, and now this? 🤔
- Accuracy: The points raised in the PIP seem to focus on minor issues I had in my first two weeks. I’m still learning the ropes, and I’ve already fixed those! 🙄
- Role Confusion: They mentioned I wasn’t bringing in sales, but I clarified with my boss that sales wasn’t my primary focus. So, why is it part of my evaluation? 🧐
- Commitment: I even turned down other job offers for this position! I thought I was making the right choice. 😔
- Client Relations: All my work for clients has been approved with no complaints, which makes this even more perplexing. 🤷♂️
I’m questioning my abilities and feeling lost. I work hard—often putting in 50-hour weeks, and I’ve always been friendly and cooperative. Plus, I’m already on a 90-day probation, which makes this situation feel even more confusing. What’s going on? 😩
If anyone has been in a similar situation, I’d love to hear your advice on how to navigate this. Have you experienced a PIP so soon in your job? What helped you get through it? Let’s chat! 👇
They put you on a PIP because they want to fire you. You haven’t provided enough information for anyone here to tell you why that is. If you want to keep the job, that’s something you’ve got to figure out.
When talking to HR, by all means, defend your work. However, you sound very defensive here, and it doesn’t seem like you understand why they would want to fire you. As hard as it might be, I’d take some time to be really critical with yourself to try to figure out what the issue is. Either that, or start looking for another job.
Under any circumstances putting someone on a PIP after one month is crazy. You must have said/done/not done something to the wrong person. I wouldn’t read too much into what was listed in the PiP , that’s just paperwork.
It also just doesn’t really matter. They didn’t even try to coach you through whatever it is. They decided they don’t want you and you don’t want to work somewhere that treats people like this, just keep it moving
No company will go through the hassle, stress, risk, time and effort to create, implement, and monitor a PIP if the decision has already been made to fire the employee. It’s a dangerous myth to think it’s a done deal. Yes, most PIPs result in termination, but that’s because the employee is unwilling or unable to meet the stated standards. It’s so dangerous for someone to say “A PIP means you’re automatically going to be fired!” because a certain percentage of people will believe that and give up on jobs that could have been saved.
You don’t sound willing to meet the standards. You say the standards are “BS.” Obviously your employer does not believe that. It doesn’t matter if you believe the standards are “irrelevant.” Employers don’t pay you to think or do what you want, they pay you to think and do what they want. You don’t believe sales are important because “my position doesn’t directly fall in the line of sales,” whatever that means.
You would give yourself high grades on everything, but clearly the company has different opinions of your performance. If you truly believe it’s all BS and your employers are idiots, find something else. There are crappy employers out there, and if you run into one it’s your responsibility to find something else. I would suggest in any job you do to try to figure out what your employer wants so you don’t end up thinking you’re doing a stellar job then find out the company completely disagrees.
Sounds like there is something critically missing in your comment. Either that, there is a sense of unawareness in your actions. Line Manager’s do not go through the whole protocol with HR to issue a PIP and having to document things unless there is a very serious issue with an employee, especially after being hired only a month still while under the Honeymoon period.
I take it that your company does not issue a probation period. Otherwise you wouldn’t have needed to go on a PIP and just be fired on the spot without any reason.
OP, please do not be hard on yourself.
It is based on my years of experience that the reason you’re being placed on a PIP, is due to a hiring/budgeting error. When hiring managers create a job that they don’t realize they don’t have the sustainable long-term budget for, they don’t find out until it’s too late, and you’re already hired.
The MOST common reason people get placed on PIPs are: 1. the company is firing you for poor or even illegal reasons, like discrimination, and so the PIP acts as a cover up or even a buffer or 2. the company wants to save money by not being forced to pay for unemployment insurance for their mistake.
I think for you, it’s reason #2.
OP, it sounds like the company didn’t realize they didn’t have the need or budget for your role, so they’re pedaling back. They create a PIP with impossible expectations and fail you, even if you do meet those expectations. By placing and documenting you on a PIP, they can argue out of their way of paying you unemployment.
Either way OP, you need to leave like right away and find a better job or a company that can actually afford workers. These situations are often or not, a result of poor budgeting or managing.
Yikes start searching for a new job, you probably won’t make it until probation. It just wasn’t a good fit.
Start applying elsewhere asap. Theres good reason to believe they already made their decision to terminate you and are just giving the trappings of a fair process to avoid headaches when they fire you. dont quit unless you get another job.
Chances are you rubbed some people the wrong way and they are complaining about you. Or they just don’t see you as a personality fit.
Regardless, they want you gone asap.
Update your resume and start job hunting. PIP means they want you gone and are documenting it so they can fire you without fear of lawsuit. There are instances where people can recover from PIP and be a successful employee. But a vast majority of the time they just want you gone and there’s nothing you can do about it. HR is not your friend, they are there to protect the company.
You better look for new employment fast!
They’re trying to fire you and need documentation to cover their ass. Just put your effort into finding a new job.
I would think if you’re still in your probationary period and they regret that they hired you or hired too many people that they’d just let you go and not bother with the PiP
But these are all questions you needed to get cleared up in the meeting
PIP is used to terminate people
I’ve seen this happen, not so soon but very randomly into the person’s probationary period. The company was doing it’s budgets and decided it needed to cut back, so PIP was the path to undoing their hiring mistake. It was so unfair and everyone thought so.
For sure this at best is a training failure on your manager. This sounds like they don’t like something you can’t control. Race religion ect… Maybe it’s your personality this is a let’s get rid of them without being on the hook for unemployment
and this is why you don’t give two week notices. they don’t care about you
Look for a new job asap
Find and print your job description from when you applied.
Send and email to the 2 people on the same email and put it in writing how you feel that your new. Still learning. And you need HR and your manager to clarify expectations because clearly your new. If you we’re trained properly and you knew the standards you wouldn’t be in this situation. Sounds like training needs more training 😆
Sounds a little extreme to already give you a PIP and still within the 90 day.
Ride it out and collect unemployment.
It’s NOT you it’s definitely them!
Just put in bare minimum while you look for your next job. They are clearly morons for a variety of reasons.
They just decided they don’t like you and most likely no matter what you do you’ll be fired shortly.
Just start looking now; your job is as good as gone.
I would suggest you get your resume back out there asap. Any company that issues a PIP 30 days in (over items that appear to just be training/new hire obstacles) doesn’t seem to be a great fit.
Welcome to the shit hole and backstabbing that is corporate America. Glad I left it.
Hi GP – I agree with everyone who advised that it’s time to move on as quickly as possible.
However – you do have some leverage on your side: the speed with which they placed you on PIP (very suspicious 🤔), and the fact that you only received “two hours” of training. You can use that to your advantage when you collect UI for your hearing.
DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT EVERYTHING! I learned long ago to notate every incident that happens. I do NOT let the other party “tell my story”, EVER! I write my own narrative 😌
I think many companies put people on PIP early on just to scare them into doing things like unpaid overtime or going above and beyond the responsibilities of the position.
It has happened to me, i’ve seen it happen to others and they always do it during probational period to make sure it sticks to you for your time at that company. Since you’re already on edge.
Ever since then, I negotiate no probation period to my job and suddenly, these things don’t happen.
Not to turn this into something it isn’t but the news recently used the word “recession” the scares a lot of people and employers. They may just be preparing themselves to cut ties with the newest guy if the economy heads that direction.