Instead of PIP, underperformers will be fired immediately. "Third, as we have a clearer and continuous understanding of where each of us are, we're going to end Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) in the US. We haven't seen these plans actually work consistently, as they often feel too late and don't push the manager to give feedback in a timely manner. It's a lazy and often surprising approach that we can avoid with direct and consistent feedback." https://www.businessinsider.com/jack-dorsey-ending-pips-at-block-names-new-cto-2023-11
I thought they were going to do layoffs
They are going to manage people out over the course of 2024. But not through PIP.
So through what then?
Pip is slow. Termination is instant
Good. PIPs and traditional performance reviews (with stack ranking included) are a horrible way of evaluating performance, and for far too long they’ve been weaponized against tech workers. Even if this is being used to justify voluntary layoffs, I’d like to see some actual legislative action against PIP culture and the use of it as a form of employer retaliation. Hopefully more companies follow suit. Based on the article, it makes sense to get rid of PIPs since they just lead to termination anyway and are rarely beaten. While I don’t appreciate the negative sentiment towards “resting and vesting” which is just an attack on WLB, I can say that this is effectively cutting out the middle part of actually being put into Focus and PIP. Most HFTs operate this way (as far as I know) so this should have been expected. In the end, it’s just another company to avoid working for. TC: 105K
This is brain dead logic. You’re saying PIP is terrible and used as a weapon. Without PIP, “you’re fired” would be used as the weapon. Either way you’re out of a job. PIP keeps you on the payroll for several months. If you have legal standing, the you can beat PIP. If you want legislative action a better approach is to legislate against retaliation and keep PIP. It’s better for employees. It’s better for companies to just fire the shit out of you.
How is this terrible logic? PIPs by their very nature are meant to make you leave. There is no case of legal standing that can be used to beat PIP, and no instance of where PIP has been used to help the employee get better and actually recover. You can stay on payroll for a few months, but even if you have to leave in the end, there’s no point to it. All this is doing is removing the step of PIP and moving to firing instantly, which is what HFTs already do. Amazon does the same thing with PIPs, except they use to fulfill a quota and get people out the door that way. It doesn’t matter if the affected employee takes severance and leave or stays on until termination, it’s still the end of your tenure at the company. I’m not saying this practice is any better—this is obviously an attack on tech workers by Dorsey with the hopes of gaining power back—but let’s not pretend that PIPs are somehow better. Both systems are toxic to tech workers, and companies should not be incentivized or allowed to arbitrarily fire their own workers to meet a quota.
Getting rid of PIPs and firing instantly. That’s going to make places even more toxic. Performance is largely subjective and can be spun to the pre-existing bias.
I wonder if this is becuz employees in some companies such as Amazon have started to exploit PIP for FMLA for future job search.
In a way I like Square’s approach. It’s instant death vs PIP which is slow killing.
PIP gives you time to prepare for your next steps (i.e. applying to new jobs)
This is worse than pip
Agreed.
Tbh, PIP was nice because it gave the employee time to look outside before getting terminated. 90% of PIPs end in termination anyway, and even in cases where the employee gets out of it, they have a target on their backs for the rest of their time with the team. It’s purpose is to give the employee time to find outside opportunities without fear of a job gap, and the employer assurance that they won’t get sued for wrongful termination. Dorsey is definitely in the wrong here
You proved Dorsey’s point. Nothing you said has anything to do with business performance, which is what he is optimizing. Why keep deadweight for longer and waste company time? You’re just talking about feelings. We need to stop being soft.
F*** off dude. Nobody said anything about feelings, just worker rights and not perpetuating a fearmongering slave ship. Advocate for your own instead of these detached billionaires ffs. If we had more CEO/executive sympathizers like yourself, then we’d still be making 80k TC on average like every other engineering discipline
PIP gives 6 months to find a job (useful for international workers)
PIP is way less than 6 mos at Square (I previously worked at Square). Maybe more like 6 weeks.
FMLA gives you additional 3 months
Paywall
Non-paywall version: https://archive.is/MqPB0
Paywalls are ruining the internet We need blogspam again. Keeps things free