‘You’re a dead person walking’: How one worker dealt with being put on a performance improvement plan

After the death of his father, this former sales executive was placed on a PIP. He recounts how deeply the experience affects him to this day.

Performance improvement plans, or PIPs, tend to be seen as a death knell for the employees who get them. Rather than a sincere approach to helping team members succeed, they can often signal a slow farewell from the company—a three-month countdown to getting let go. As Owen Manley, a former sales account executive put on a PIP more than a decade ago, puts it, “PIPs go one of two ways. Three months into them, I’d guess [employees] either leave by their own choice, or they’re let go.”