At a Glance
Many leaders avoid or delay Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) because they feel like the beginning of the end. This Insight reframes them: done right, a PIP is a structured return-to-good path—as well as a rigorous and legally defensible document.Key Takeaway: A PIP neither "creates" nor merely documents underperformance—it reveals whether expectations, support, and accountability are in place. If the plan is vague, unrealistic, or punitive, it increases conflict and risk. Before you start a PIP, ask yourself:Is this a skill gap—or could conduct, misconduct, or accommodation be in play?Can I describe the gap with specific facts and dates, not impressions or adjectives?Do I know what success looks like specifically enough that the employee could measure it themselves?
Setting the Scene: The PIP Nobody Wants to Start
You're staring at the PIP template and feeling a heavy sense of dread. One employee is struggling—missed deadlines, errors, friction with teammates, work that needs redoing. You know something needs to change, that you need to have a difficult talk, but even just saying "PIP" can make the whole conversation feel loaded. Your process demands a PIP, but you view it as a formality prior to termination.
What Leaders Are Navigating
The Core Principle
A PIP is most effective when it creates clarity and support, not when it's merely used as a paper trail.
The Gatekeeper: Is a PIP the Right Tool?
Skill vs. Will
Is this a Skill Gap (they don't know how) or a Will Gap (they won't)? PIPs work best for skill gaps where support and training can change outcomes.
Intent Check
If you already know you will terminate and you're only buying time, don't run a fake process. It damages team morale, wastes time, and breeds resentment. Have an honest transition conversation instead. Explore a mutual separation or a without-cause termination package that allows the employee to exit with dignity, rather than dragging them through a 90-day paper exercise designed to fail.
Here is the question nobody asks until after the second PIP: You've run this plan before. Or something like it. The behaviour improved. Check-ins were positive. You closed the file. And then, three months later, why are you back in the same room, having the same conversation?
The Hard Truth: Is it a Performance Issue, or a Communication Failure?
One more situation that should be faced honestly: Sometimes the person who most needs a structured conversation is the manager, not the employee. Some performance gaps exist because the employee underperformed. Others exist because the manager was not clear. Hints were dropped. Feedback was softened until it lost its meaning. The difficult conversation was escalated to HR rather than delivered directly. And the employee—who was never told plainly what was wrong—now finds themselves blindsided by a PIP.This is not a performance problem. It is a communication failure—and it sits with the manager. Using a PIP to fix what a direct conversation should have addressed months ago does not correct the root cause. It documents the symptom and leaves the cause. Although the employee may have performance issues, the PIP should wait until the day-to-day communication improves and the manager becomes more consistent.For Executive Directors and CEOs, this is the critical question to put to your management team: Did this employee receive a clear, direct signal—in plain language, without softening—that their performance was not meeting expectations? If the honest answer is no, the first intervention is a conversation with the manager, not a PIP for the employee.
Clarity: Define the Gap with Precision
PIPs often fail because the issue is described in vague terms ("improve communication," "be more proactive").If your organization has a Competency Framework, you already have the language to define this gap precisely. That framework describes what "good" looks like at every level; this plan documents where reality fell short of it, with specific dates and examples. If that foundation doesn't yet exist, defining the expectation clearly is your first step.Define success in detailed measurable terms (e.g., "invoices submitted with zero missing fields for four consecutive weeks").
Care: The Barrier Question
Before you draft the PIP, check whether something is interfering with performance that may require support (explore accommodation).Ask: "Is anything getting in the way of meeting these expectations that we should understand or support?" If the answer is yes, pause. Depending on the barrier, you may be moving out of standard performance management and into specific legal obligations. You may need to explore the duty to accommodate under the BC Human Rights Code, address health, safety, or injury concerns through WorkSafeBC, or navigate statutory leaves outlined in the BC Employment Standards Act.
Employer Checklist
Confirm prior conversations: Ensure verbal or written feedback has already occurred and is documented. A PIP should never be the first signal an employee receives that something is wrong.Confirm the issue type: Ensure it's a performance issue (not misconduct) and that expectations are written and shared.Define the gap: Use facts, dates, examples, and impact (avoid subjective labels).Define success: Outline measurable outcomes (what "done" looks like).Set a timeline: Establish a reasonable timeframe (often 30–90 days) and book the check-ins now.Document specific supports: List coaching, training, tools, templates, or priority resets being provided.Ask the barrier question: Ask and document if anything is in the way, and pause if accommodation may be needed.Close with clear outcomes: State factually the paths forward—success, extension, or transition.
Aurora's Perspective
We work with leaders across BC to treat a PIP as a clarity-and-support process, not a paper exercise. We help define expectations in plain language, document facts without labels, and build a realistic improvement plan with visible supports—so everyone knows what success looks like, how it will be measured, and what help is available.When the intent is genuinely to support improvement, the documentation becomes clearer, fairer, and easier to stand behind under BC employment law. And a PIP conducted in good faith is, without exception, the most defensible record you can have if the situation ever escalates.
Talk to an HR Consultant
Reach out to discuss how this applies to your organization.
Talk to an HR Consultant
