Performance Improvement Plan and Dr's Note

Esther74

Hi My manager recently put me on a performance improvement plan when she got back from maternity leave and for the forthcoming objective she set. firstly i don't thinks its fair but had to go along with it, and secondly she is now micromanaging me to the point that i feel under undue pressure. I have also just be diagnosed with depression and stress as there have been a lot of things happening in my personal life that have contributed to my mental health deterioration.
My concern is if i take the doc's note and go off sick for two weeks during my pip will the company then be able to sack me? i'm concerned if i try to take a break to recuperate ill be penalized for it. i've checked the company staff handbook and there is nothing in there about this. Am i better to just try and deliver on the pip and not take some time off or should i do the opposite? i do have a feeling my manager wants to get rid of me as she has made my objectives for the period particularly challenging. problem is i have no motivation to do it as i feel well a bit sh*t really. thanks

nicechap

Esther74 wrote: »

Hi My manager recently put me on a performance improvement plan when she got back from maternity leave and for the forthcoming objective she set. firstly i don't thinks its fair but had to go along with it, and secondly she is now micromanaging me to the point that i feel under undue pressure. I have also just be diagnosed with depression and stress as there have been a lot of things happening in my personal life that have contributed to my mental health deterioration.
My concern is if i take the doc's note and go off sick for two weeks during my pip will the company then be able to sack me? i'm concerned if i try to take a break to recuperate ill be penalized for it. i've checked the company staff handbook and there is nothing in there about this. Am i better to just try and deliver on the pip and not take some time off or should i do the opposite? i do have a feeling my manager wants to get rid of me as she has made my objectives for the period particularly challenging. problem is i have no motivation to do it as i feel well a bit sh*t really. thanks

If you have a doctor's note to be off then you should be off.

In general, Performance Improvement Plans follow a period of under achieving. If you know you have no motivation to achieve your Performance Improvement Plan and the objectives are particularly challenging, then I'm sure you know what the eventual outcome will be - a doctor's note won't prevent the inevitable.

Comms69

How long have you worked there?

ReadingTim

Given you're on a PIP, they've already started the process of sacking/getting rid of you - you're being "managed out" as the euphemism goes. You're unlikely to have passed it, even without the mental health issues you mention.

The question is therefore whether you want to read the writing on the wall and jump before you're pushed? You may therefore wish to use the Dr's note, the depression and the PIP as a way to negotiate a mutually agreed and immediate resignation, take some time off to recuperate, then look for a new job when you're in a better state mentally.

jacksouth

First of all, continuing to work (especially under stress) while you have depression that you have a doctor's note for will probably just be detrimental in the long-run. If the idea of the pip is to improve your performance, then you certainly won't be doing that with the combined stress and depression. Take care of your mental health and take the time off.


If you're worried about how to approach it, try talking to HR about how to handle it with regards to the pip, saying that you looked in the handbook but didn't find anything.

JReacher1

Firstly PIP's don't mean they want to sack you. It often is used as a kick up the behind to get you to improve in the office.

I recently reluctantly put an employee on a performance improvement plan which did ultimately end after several months with them being dismissed for not improving to the required level.

What was interesting is during the very long process of the plan I did question what would happen if the person went off sick and I was told that at that point the plan has to be completely paused and then restarted when they returned to the office. In fact if they were off sick for a long time then when they returned to the office I would have had to wait at least one week before restarting the plan.

At the end of the day if you are sacked after failing a PIP and you go to tribunal the company would have to demonstrate that failing the PIP was a fair reason to dismiss you.

If you are off sick for a large proportion of the PIP and the company does not give you enough time to improve your performance then you have a strong case for wrongful dismissal.

dlmcr

In 95% of cases being put onto a PIP means the company want you out. Your face doesn't fit, your manager doesn't like you, you slept with the bosses wife. Whatever. You won't be able to fight it so you might as well assume you will be out in x weeks and get looking for another job now. In a PIP in 95% of cases you will generally get set objectives that are either unachievable or so vague or unquantifiable that they will never be met and so it is the same thing that they won't be achived. If there is a genuine concern about an employee underachieving then there will have been many many opportunities for the topic to have been raised during performance reviews and in feedback from managers and colleagues and room, scope, and support available for such improvements to be made. Why wouldn't they? If it is a supporting company, they want you to improve so that you can excel at your job, right?! If an employee review takes place once a year then it is improbable to me that an employee would just go straight from being ok in one year to being so bad that they would need to be put onto PIP with no discussions taking place in between, there would be a period of decline that would take place over a period of time with as I say many warning signs and opportunities for discussion in that period. In the other 5% of cases of PIP being issued, then if an employees performance is genuinely so bad that they cannot do their job to the extent that a PIP is needed, then that employee has more serious issues than being able to jump through the hoops that would enable them to pass a PIP.

Les79

dlmcr wrote: »

In 95% of cases being put onto a PIP means the company want you out. Your face doesn't fit, your manager doesn't like you, you slept with the bosses wife. Whatever. You won't be able to fight it so you might as well assume you will be out in x weeks and get looking for another job now. In a PIP in 95% of cases you will generally get set objectives that are either unachievable or so vague or unquantifiable that they will never be met and so it is the same thing that they won't be achived. If there is a genuine concern about an employee underachieving then there will have been many many opportunities for the topic to have been raised during performance reviews and in feedback from managers and colleagues and room, scope, and support available for such improvements to be made. Why wouldn't they? If it is a supporting company, they want you to improve so that you can excel at your job, right?! If an employee review takes place once a year then it is improbable to me that an employee would just go straight from being ok in one year to being so bad that they would need to be put onto PIP with no discussions taking place in between, there would be a period of decline that would take place over a period of time with as I say many warning signs and opportunities for discussion in that period. In the other 5% of cases of PIP being issued, then if an employees performance is genuinely so bad that they cannot do their job to the extent that a PIP is needed, then that employee has more serious issues than being able to jump through the hoops that would enable them to pass a PIP.

I'd love to hear what sample you used to determine "95%" as your figure.

I'm a "PIP survivor" with my previous employer and they were surprisingly supportive; so the PIP attrition rate wasn't too much higher than the baseline attrition rate (~15%) which included ALL employees. Sadly, the sample size was skewed in that the baseline rate was fairly consistent each week but only a small fraction of the workforce (~10% maybe) were on PIPs at any given time. Still, that's good because the larger sample of non PIP people (~90%) left in fairly equal numbers to the PIP people.

To OP; take dlmcr's post with a huge pinch of salt. It will most certainly be based on their own circumstantial evidence (or gut instinct) and in no way representative of the whole population. PIPs are not automatically a sign of you being out of favour/on the chopping block, however it can be a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy in that those on PIPs are by default not the best + more likely to leave. More so when people with depression get fed with ideas like "95% of cases being put onto a PIP means the company want you out".

Esther74

Hi Thanks for your responses, i forgot to mention that i do another role for the same company with a different manager and this one has no problem with my performance. i am speaking with a law firm today, i feel I just need a break to get my head together and then come back with more motivation, its not the job i don't like it's the manager, which makes it difficult to be motivated. thanks for your replies though very helpful.

takman

dlmcr wrote: »

In 95% of cases being put onto a PIP means the company want you out. Your face doesn't fit, your manager doesn't like you, you slept with the bosses wife. Whatever. You won't be able to fight it so you might as well assume you will be out in x weeks and get looking for another job now. In a PIP in 95% of cases you will generally get set objectives that are either unachievable or so vague or unquantifiable that they will never be met and so it is the same thing that they won't be achived. If there is a genuine concern about an employee underachieving then there will have been many many opportunities for the topic to have been raised during performance reviews and in feedback from managers and colleagues and room, scope, and support available for such improvements to be made. Why wouldn't they? If it is a supporting company, they want you to improve so that you can excel at your job, right?! If an employee review takes place once a year then it is improbable to me that an employee would just go straight from being ok in one year to being so bad that they would need to be put onto PIP with no discussions taking place in between, there would be a period of decline that would take place over a period of time with as I say many warning signs and opportunities for discussion in that period. In the other 5% of cases of PIP being issued, then if an employees performance is genuinely so bad that they cannot do their job to the extent that a PIP is needed, then that employee has more serious issues than being able to jump through the hoops that would enable them to pass a PIP.

You can't just quote figures like that as if they are facts when clearly they are just your opinion due to working for bad employers.
I know some people who have been on a PIP at my workplace and it is nothing like you describe and it certainly doesn't mean they want to get rid of them.
One of them had the targets of not being late to work and not using their mobile phone outside of break times, which was reviewed after a 3 month period.
Another one was something along the lines of not stopping work to talk to people and not leaving their workstation outside of break times unless required.

Both of them seem to be perfectly reasonable and neither of them got fired. So you can't just say PIP's are to get rid of people just because you only have experience of rubbish employers.

polgara

Esther74 wrote: »

i am speaking with a law firm today,

Good way to escalate your exit out of the business. If you feel that you are being treated unfairly then there will be internal processes that you can use. Firstly step back and see if the plan is reasonable and achievable which might be difficult given your current mental health. Take time off if you need to, but be aware that if the PIP is reasonable then it will still be there when you return.