Performance improvement plan
After half a decade at my current company and getting a new manager in the last year, I've suddenly been put on a PIP seemingly out of the blue. I've always done my job to the best of my ability and have had no big problems during my tenure and yet this happens. My team is doing platform engineering though this is not what I want to work on and my manager knows, yet refuses to move me to a team where I can thrive better, citing this is an "opportunity to grow". I'm in Europe so it's difficult to simply fire me but I feel that is the wanted outcome of this. I've already done the PIP for 3 months but when discussing the outcome with my manager and HR, he refuted any claims I made about having done what was asked and I'm now tasked with choosing between severance or do another more focused PIP for 30 days. I'm leaning towards the severance as I don't see my manager being open to any improvements I may or may not do to satisfy him. It's gotten to the point where he is actively nitpicking the work I do. Anyone been in a similar situation and what can I do to either have the PIP dropped or to negotiate a better severance? (They are offering just 2 months salary) Thanks! =========== Edit: Told HR that I will take the severance. The fact that the opinion of my manager matters more than what my peers and colleagues say is a pretty big red flag to me and I cannot keep working at Algolia if this is the case.
If you are confident on your work and don't have enough preparation to crack interviews then decide on measurable metrics and goals of the pip to evaluate if it's success or not. Get it in writing before the pip starts and proactively document your progress. Otherwise take severance and prepare for interviews. Personally if the manager really doesn't want you in the team and switching teams is not an option you will face more hardships going forward.
That’s so shit. I’m so sorry this is happening to you. Since you’ve been with Algolia for so long I assume you have good relationships with other leaders. Did you try to talk to them confidentially to get advice?
No I haven't done so yet as I wasn't sure if it was smart to go above my manager, but at this point it surely can't hurt.
Go to someone you trust not necessarily your skip, if you have w good track record of good performance you have a chance to fight it. I’m always told that it’s hard to be let go from Algolia and people in pip have a high chance of survival (that may be the case with a good boss) so try to get advice from someone else in the company.
You will never pass the pip. Manager is dead set on getting rid of you. Best course of action would be to accept the focused pip to keep getting a paycheck but don't try to pass it. Instead, focus on getting interviews during this time. Then collect severance when they fire you.
This is pretty shitty I’ve seen people have to go through this and managers will make baseless or overblown claims to hit URA. It’s cruel and they should get a taste of their own medicine to know what they are putting their report through. This trend is more common this year as companies no longer want to be nice and layoff with a good severance package and instead terminate based on lies so they don’t have to pay out as much severance.
Go on mental health paid leave
I've been told this before but I have literally no clue how to go about it not to mention whether or not it is "acceptable" this far into the process?
1. Look up your company’s short term leave benefits. It will be through a third party insurance company. 2. There should be a point of contact there. Work with them on getting the right proof of absence. A doctors note from a therapist or doctor saying until when you need to take time off is usually the requirement 3. Agree on a final day at work before leave with the insurance rep. On the last day inform your manager and HR. the most important thing through the process is to never ever involve anyone from your company until you are literally going on leave. Don’t tell hr, don’t tell your manager
why is it hard to fire in Europe?
The contracts are literally permanent. They can only be broken when an employee resigns or gets fired with severance. Most companies don't want to pay severance so they try to get the employee to resign by treating them poorly
That's a myth... In southern europe people are commodities. In Italy, Spain, Poetugal, your manager can fire any direct report at will. HR will help with the guidance. Europe is famous for labour protection only in the north, in Germany, France, Netherlands. But the rest of Europe is like a third world Guatemala
“I’ve done my job to the best of my ability” But do you get stuff done?
Yes. I've only had two instances where my work wasn't completed within a sprint and both times the tickets were simply too large and underestimated. When I brought up the issue to my manager he said it was okay. Now after he started the PIP of course he is saying otherwise.
PIP is such a coward move
Update: I took the severance they offered and left. I'm feeling much happier already only ~2 months later.
Thanks for the update OP! Glad you’re better and good luck!
What a shitty manager
I agree