#performanceimprovement

https://www.hcamag.com/us/specialization/employment-law/ibm-faces-age-bias-lawsuit-alleging-impossible-performance-improvement-plan/561411

The news comes just in time when 15% low performers would potentially be put on PIP

The first batch of Performance Improvement Plans goes out next week. HR defined the Performance Improvement Plans, and they have been standardized and nearly impossible to pass.
If you have a feeling you are going to get a Performance Improvement Plan next week, your hunch is probably right. Your not likely going to pass your PiP, because Microsoft HR defined them for employees to fail. The best thing you can start doing next week after being handed your Performance Improvement Plan. Is to so stop preforming any work and focus on updating your resume. On your Resume, you want to give yourself a fake Microsoft job title that makes you sound like you are really important, in fact using your Microsoft manager's job title as your own is a great idea, On your resume write boasting about all the important work you have done, knowing its total bs. Then start applying to jobs, in between watching Hulu movies while at work.

Performance Improvement Plans recently. We think it was due to a Customer interaction with the two. The customer probably called Starbucks Corp. This is the first time I’ve heard that Starbucks can give employees Performance Improvement Plans.

Welcome to BNY Mellon, the corporate funhouse where the future is offshored, the present is gaslit, and the past has been quietly escorted out under a PIP engineered by someone who couldn’t explain your job if their bonus depended on it. If you’ve ever wanted to experience a workplace that feels like a psychological thriller written by a committee of auditors with no moral compass, congratulations—you’re already included.

Let’s begin with the crown jewel: the 1.4‑million‑square‑foot Pune facility, a gleaming monument to cost‑cutting and the executive fantasy that geography equals talent. Walk inside and you’ll hear it—the cha‑ching of budget wins echoing like a slot machine that only pays out when a U.S. employee vanishes from the payroll.
Real estate consolidation? Cha‑ching. Offshoring? Cha‑ching. RTO badge‑tracking designed to catch you missing a swipe? Cha‑ching. Eliminating work from home so you can sit in a ghost‑town office lit by flickering fluorescent lights? Cha‑ching.

Meanwhile, in the U.S., seasoned employees are being funneled into the Performance Improvement Program Funhouse—a place where your accomplishments are reinterpreted as “concerning behaviors,” your loyalty becomes “inflexibility,” and your manager suddenly develops selective amnesia about every positive review you’ve ever received. We are told it's business, not personal; it’s “People Optimization.” Or, as everyone else calls it: age discrimination with a corporate mission statement.

Your replacement? Already hired. They’re either a contractor, an H1B, or a freshly minted state college grad whose primary qualification is generating tax incentives. Nothing screams “strategic workforce planning” like swapping a 25‑year veteran for someone new who still puts “proficient in Outlook” on their résumé.

And then there’s leadership—RV and Dermie—delivering explanations so vague they might as well be fortune‑cookie messages. “Secular headwinds.” “Strategic acceleration.” “Industry realignment.” These phrases translate directly to: We cut people because it was cheaper, and we hope you’re too demoralized to question it.
They’re corporate illusionists, pulling rabbits out of hats while quietly sawing the workforce in half, all while congratulating themselves for their “courageous leadership.”
But the real horror isn’t the layoffs—it’s the cultural decay and phony empathy. Not a dramatic collapse, but a daily drip of rot. Policies drafted by people who have never met an employee. Decisions that feel like they were generated by a malfunctioning ethics simulator. And the atmosphere? Imagine a place where hope goes to file a ticket with HR and never returns. You are told to recharge, yet you quickly realize your battery no longer holds a charge.

Employees describe it as a slow‑motion freefall: one day you’re standing on a cliff, the next you’re knee‑deep in gravel wondering when the ground gave out. Every new policy feels like it was written by someone who only vaguely understands what the company does. Every leadership message arrives wrapped in jargon, dipped in legal review, and delivered with the emotional warmth of The Grinch who has no integrity and has lost their soul.

And if you’re wondering where ethical concerns go—well, they don’t go to RV. They simply vanish into corporate legal and a maze of executives who nod solemnly while approving fake performance reviews to support a visa‑driven displacement model. There’s evidence everywhere for those willing to look, but the official stance remains a polished shrug.

The downstream effects are already here: institutional knowledge evaporating, teams hollowing out, and the remaining employees expected to train their replacements while pretending everything is “energizing.” Engagement surveys now function mostly as a cry‑for‑help collection system.

But don’t worry—leadership wants you to feel valued. So check under your seat. If you’re lucky, you might find a BNY keychain in a swag bag. A small token of appreciation for your loyalty, your decades of service, and your willingness to participate in the grand experiment of replacing experience with cost efficiency.

In the end, BNY’s transformation story is simple:
Cut enough people, hide enough truth, and eventually even the spreadsheets start believing the fairy tale.

Happy New Year! Enjoy the feeling while it lasts.

Our IT manager let it slip today saying Leadership wants to cut 20% of low performers in Seattle. The performance improvement plans were created by HR to make them extremely difficult to pass.

Based on conversations with the Works Council, here are the top three actions that the executive board is personally invested in to mold SAP the way they want.

1. SAP is enhancing the Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) in Europe. This is tied directly to the new Performance Measurement rolled out in Europe. The underlying premise is to give more power to managers to fire whoever they want to. Just give a bad performance for three times in a row and your reports will be automatically on a PIP and susceptible to getting fired.
2. Leanix and Walkme is undergoing a major restructuring in 2026 Q1. They will be moved under Signavio management and there will be new positions created to accommodate for the larger teams. However, only candidates based in Walldorf or nearby areas will be considered for manager and manager of managers positions even if the team is based elsewhere. They already did this at Signavio and we have managers who get to freely travel a lot because they are based at the HQ while 95% of their reports are in Berlin or other areas. Long-term Leanix and Walkme employees will be gently encouraged to leave just as they did with the Signavio management.
3. No more layoffs in Germany in 2026. The rhetoric for teeth brushing will intensify at the end of Q1 when the stock price goes below 200€ at XETRA but the Works Council already has an agreement for no more layoffs in 2026. The point they conceded on was the average salary hike which will be 2% and stock options which will have a very low budget and will be focused on employees who undergo role changes (e.g. Signavio people leads who were DEI coaches but are now development managers). In 2026, the public health insurance is going up by almost 5–6% but the salaries will not. On the other hand, the executive board bonuses are planned to be more than 20 million for CK and similarly higher for other members.

It is not easy to lay off employees in Europe so the executive board has a simple strategy. Divide and conquer. Put employees against their managers and vice versa. Discriminate against employees in regions besides Walldorf and nearby areas so they are against employees in those regions and vice versa. Make board areas competitive against one another so they will fight for budget.

Employees are so busy fighting against one another and worrying about their jobs and paying the bills that no one will question the share buybacks and why so much money is given to the executive board as bonuses. And life will go on.

Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year too.

Is it just me, or are PIPs specifically designed so employees can’t succeed, and the end result is always termination? I'm starting to feel like this is the case, but it could be just me.

I was told that I can be on PIP next q. If I am on PIP, does it stay on my history incase of looking for another job or for anything in future? Also, can I use my PTO while in PIP?

As a people manager I've just been invited to training for the team members I was forced to rank as "achieved some expectations". I'm UK based but appears to be global training. Anyone know what the consequences this year of getting partial is?

Have PIP terms always been discretionary or are they shortening them just to force people out faster?

Anyone know or have access to information on how the terms of a PIP are determined? I searched MyHR and couldn't find anything transparent.

I thought 90 days for improvement was standard. Someone commented on a post awhile ago that their PIP was 60 days. My coworker just got put on one and she only has 30 days to turn it around. I'm relatively new to the team but from what others have been saying and my experience working with her, it seem preposterous. She's very knowledgeable and helpful and everyone seems to like her. She shared that she's never had a single performance issue previously and consistently received exceeds expectations annual ratings.

Sounds like a classic forced out scenario and if they can do it to her, they can do it to me or anyone, so I'm trying to find any reference material available.

Accenture is well known for its PIP and easy way to get rid of employees.

Have any personal experience how often and prevalent these are? Describe your PIP experience, location, and if you were able to fight, pass.

There were some posts about stacked rankings and PIP's. Is this going to be company-wide? Is there a target %?

Post Dan's speech today, one gets the distinct impression that some version of Amazon's PiP culture coming to VZ. Maybe a 6% URA number to keep everyone on their toes?

Any thoughts?

I heard from a reliable source that a well known VP was complaining that too many employees were passing pip. His orders were to make it harder to pass so more employees would leave. My pip plan is very complicated. I completed all my task projects and they keep adding more to it. I protested but they said the pip plan could change depending on performance needs. I contacted HR and got no help at all. I was told the supervisors and managers were in charge. It feels impossible to satisfy the requirements of this pip. Oh well I guess I will retire. I will tell off that smug d-mb a ss supervisor and useless manager when I leave.

Tell us the ridiculous feedback you received from your manager in 1-1 coaching or PIP meetings.

anyone ever get support needed on mid year? What does it mean. Manager told me it’s not a bad thing but need to see a bit of improvement.

PIP here is more about intimidation or saving money than actually helping anyone improve. Most of the people put on one are not even low performers. I’ve seen good people stressed to the point of burnout just because management wants to assert control. It's all bullcr-p.

🔪 Step 1: Target selected
🧼 Step 2: Wrapped in buzzwords
📉 Step 3: Vanish quietly
Performance plan? Nah — it’s HR’s version of a ki-l room.
Check for plastic sheeting.