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Generally, people who get PIP'd don't get severance, even if fired. The real purpose of the PIP process is to grind people down so they make mistakes, costing
by cs137 4y ago
Generally, people who get PIP'd don't get severance, even if fired.
The real purpose of the PIP process is to grind people down so they make mistakes, costing them what could otherwise be beautiful lawsuits [1], or just stop showing up (which I guess would fall under quitting, since they end up firing themselves, at least bureaucratically speaking).
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[1] This is surprisingly easy to do in the US. If you post about your termination on social media, this can be construed as "cause after the fact" and make a termination that was in fact unjust or unlawful now legal. The employer's argument becomes that they knew you held malice toward the company ("cause") but couldn't prove it--the social media activity becomes said "proof".
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- halfmatthalfcat 4y agoThat may be for more cold blooded companies but most PIPs I've witnessed have gotten severance and actually good packages to boot.
- aeyes 4y agoAgree, I mostly saw: Take this generous amount of money and hand in your resignation or you won't have to come back tomorrow and you get nothing.
- DisjointedHunt 4y agoTake this generous amount of money (1 month pay) and SIGN THIS WAIVER RELEASING US OF ALL FUTURE LIABILITIES is the important part.
- krallja 4y agoalso usually anti-badmouthing clauses in both directions. “you may never blog about this experience”
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- bko 4y agoSame here. Severance is very cheap in the grand scheme of things. If someone is a poor performer, they're essentially a negative value add. Your default is continuing to pay them a salary, so you may as well agree to continue to do that for a number of weeks and just have them not work. I've seen 2 weeks for every year at the firm as standard
- rexpop 4y agoIt's not necessarily about severance; could be keeping unemployment insurance premiums low, too.
- ac29 4y agoYes, most people dont realize companies can be financially impacted through the unemployment system when they lay someone off even if there are no direct severance payments. An employee who quits isnt eligible for unemployment. (these rules obviously vary by country/state/etc)
- DoneWithAllThat 4y agoI have never, at any company, found this to be true.
- williamsmj 4y ago> Generally, people who get PIP'd don't get severance, even if fired. Not quite true at Amazon, the most infamous PIP user. You get put on "Focus". If you fail that, you are offered severance or to go on a PIP. True, once you're on the PIP, you're not going to get a severance offer. (This is all according to https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/amazon https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/amazon, which is excerpted by the author here https://twitter.com/GergelyOrosz/status/1537810787473006593 https://twitter.com/GergelyOrosz/status/1537810787473006593.)