When to Use a Performance Improvement Plan (and When Not To)

A junior marketer keeps missing a deadline, delaying the whole team. A salesperson isn’t hitting sales targets. A project manager routinely skips key meetings. At some point, every manager will face an underperforming employee and feel unsure about what to do next. 

When that happens, a performance improvement plan (PIP) might seem like the obvious move. But PIPs are frequently the wrong tool. That’s because most performance issues fall somewhere in the middle. Coaching, training, or an individual development plan (IDP) is a far better choice.

But managers, especially when they don’t have the right framework in place, reach for a PIP too quickly or avoid poor performance altogether, letting the problem get worse. Neither works. This article offers a better path, including a simple decision-making framework, signals to look for, and clear next steps, whether the right answer is coaching, training, an IDP, or a PIP. 

Understanding Your Options Beyond the PIP 

A PIP is a formal document that identifies specific performance gaps, sets a timeline to address them, and outlines how the manager will support the employee. If an employee doesn’t meet the requirements laid out in the PIP, a demotion or termination may follow at the end of the PIP period.

In 2024, according to software firm HR Acuity’s ninth annual Employee Relations Benchmark Study, about 39 employees for every 1,000 had some sort of performance issue that resulted in a performance plan, coaching, or counseling. That’s down from 43 the year before, but up from 32 in 2021. 

Somebody should never be finding out that there is a performance issue as you are presenting a PIP to them.

An effective PIP, however, can end with positive results for both the individual and their employer. “I’ve seen people come out of a PIP and, in a few years, get a promotion,” said Katie LaFranchi, HR division partner and fractional CHRO at Ampleo HR & Recruiting. “It’s not always a death sentence for your career...The best case scenario, it’s the wake-up call that person needs.”

Even so, a PIP should be reserved for persistent work performance issues that haven’t improved with feedback. A better starting point is coaching, including lightweight support and mentoring, or targeted training to build the specific skills the role requires. 

An individual development plan (IDP) is another option. Co-created by an employee and their manager, an IDP maps out career goals and the concrete steps, such as training and stretch projects, needed to reach them.

Whatever you choose, the aim is to address the root cause, not just the symptoms of the employee’s underperformance, and that requires clarity. Employees should always know what is expected of them through a clear job description, regular one-on-ones, and consistent performance reviews. “Somebody should never be finding out that there is a performance issue as you are presenting a PIP to them,” LaFranchi said.  

The PIP Decision Framework 

When to Skip the PIP 

In some cases, a PIP just isn’t the right tool. A fundamental role mismatch, where the job expectations and the person’s strengths don’t align, signals a hiring or onboarding problem, not necessarily poor performance. 

Or, a new employee may not have had a fair runway to develop the skills the role requires. Measuring their performance too early sets them up to fail. In both cases, coaching and training would be a better option than starting the PIP process immediately.

“I’ve had people on my team where we realize, ‘Hey, this is a will issue. This is not work you want to be doing anymore, and, unfortunately, this is the work I need done. But I know you’re really good at this, so let’s try to find you a different role where you can be fulfilled,” said Erica Pieczonka, an organizational psychologist, executive and team coach, and talent strategy consultant. 

If you're just going through those motions without actually trying to help the employee improve, then managers go into it begrudgingly.

Some workplace behaviors, of course, involve serious policy violations or conduct issues. Those should be handled through an internal process spelled out in your employee handbook or company policies. 

“There are times when someone’s behavior or a policy violation is so significant that a performance improvement plan is not going to fix it or be the appropriate action to take,” said Jennifer Walrath, an attorney with Idaho Employment Lawyers. 

Employers should also ensure that performance management policies and processes provide every employee with the same chance to thrive through helpful feedback and access to coaching and training. A performance review calibration can help ensure that managers apply the same uniform company standards when working with their direct reports. 

Finally, a PIP becomes performative if a decision on the outcome has already been made. Using a PIP when the outcome is predetermined damages trust and undermines a culture of candor across an organization.  

“If you're just going through those motions without actually trying to help the employee improve, then managers go into it begrudgingly,” LaFranchi said. “They just know it's going to be a big waste of their time.”

Example Decision-Making Scenarios 

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Making Your Decision Actionable 

Once a manager chooses a path, follow-through is critical.

For coaching, training or an IDP, managers should create a clear plan, paired with support, checkpoints, and written recaps, so there’s a record of expectations and progress.  

For PIPs, expectations, timelines, criteria, and consequences all need to be spelled out clearly and measurably over a 30 to 90-day window with regular check-ins. It should always be anchored in many prior conversations and never land as a surprise, LaFranchi said. At this point, she said, “You’ve given them every opportunity to improve.” 

Better Decisions With the Full Picture

The biggest reason managers reach for the wrong tool isn’t bad judgment.

Look at it this way: Without a clear record of past feedback, goal progress, and one-on-one history, it’s nearly impossible to know whether coaching has actually been tried or whether performance gaps are truly documented.

Lattice gives managers that full picture in one place. Goals with progress tracking, a continuous feedback history, and collaborative one-on-one agendas mean the evidence is already there when a hard conversation is needed. And Lattice’s AI Agent can surface patterns across feedback and review data — helping managers spot issues earlier and coach more effectively before a formal intervention is ever needed.

Ready to see how Lattice can help your team better track performance? Reach out and request a demo now. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Managers have lots of questions. Here are the answers to the most commonly asked. 

What are the clearest signs that coaching is no longer enough? 

Once a manager has clarified expectations, offered consistent feedback, and provided support, yet performance is not improving, coaching may have run its course. Give it time, LaFranchi notes, but after four weeks of focused coaching with no improvement, a more formal intervention, like a PIP, may be warranted.

“PIPs are really when there is either a significant portion of their role that they're unable to fulfill to expectation and/or it's at a point where these issues have been discussed [through] feedback, but they're not changing,” Pieczonka said.

What should a PIP measure if the issue is about behaviors, not output? 

Interpersonal behavior is more difficult to measure than sales figures, but it’s not impossible. Managers can set expectations around specific, observable actions — that an employee responds to teammate requests within five hours, for example, or refrains from interrupting colleagues in meetings.

How long should a manager run a coaching plan before reassessing? 

It depends. Simple behavioral changes, such as showing up on time, should show improvement immediately, but skill-based changes take longer to develop, LaFranchi said. As a general rule, she recommends giving it about four weeks. “You want to see incremental change,” she said. “If you don’t see that in about four weeks, then it’s [time to] get a little bit more serious.”

What should a manager include in a written improvement plan to make expectations clear? 

A clearly written PIP should include how the underperforming employee is falling short, the specific goals that they must meet during a set timeframe, and the concrete, measurable criteria that they’ll be evaluated against. The length depends on the issue. Most PIPs, Walrath said, run 30 to 90 days.

“For attendance, maybe 30 days is enough to show an improvement,” she said. “For other things, that might take longer to be reasonable.” 

How do I keep a PIP from feeling like a surprise escalation? 

A PIP is the endpoint of a visible, documented coaching journey. Before a PIP is ever considered, the employee should have a clear job description, multiple specific feedback conversations, coaching or training, and written follow-up notes about expectations and gaps.

When introducing a PIP, the conversation might open with words like, “I know this won’t come as a surprise to you,” LaFranchi said. 

“They should be expecting that that's the next step,” she added. “You've been giving them feedback. You've been giving them every opportunity to improve.”