Managers guide to performance improvement plans (PIP)
Specs:
10 mins to read
1353 words, 4 A4 pages
Reviewed 1 September 2025
If you have employee performance concerns, this model guide will help you to agree improvement plans for them to achieve and maintain the standards expected.
Managers guide to performance improvement plans (PIP)
The purpose of the Performance Improvement process is to establish or clarify any cause(s) of an employee's underperformance and to agree a plan to try to improve it.
Setting the scene
Where you have concerns about performance a meeting should be organised. The meeting should be against a backdrop where the manager has already been giving regular feedback to the jobholder about their performance, including regarding aspects of the jobholder's performance which are not satisfactory.
The meeting should take place in private, in an environment that is comfortable, non-threatening and away from interruptions or distractions. A representative from HR should be in attendance to take notes.
The manager should confirm that the jobholder has been offered to have a colleague or trade union rep with them in the meeting, and ask the jobholder to clarify
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What is this for?
Managers should ensure consistent and fair treatment for all and to assist any employee who is considered to be experiencing difficulties in performing satisfactorily the duties required of the post to which they were appointed.
Unfortunately occasionally an employee's performance does not always meet standards expected.
This guidance provides managers with a framework to improve an employees performance in the workplace, and includes the following steps:
- Setting the scene
- Jobholders view
- Managers view
- Resolution
- Summary of agreement
- Monitoring
