3 Million People Watched This Woman's Advice For What You Should Do When You're Put On A PIP — AKA A Performance Improvement Plan

Anyone who's ever worked a job will tell you that it's an awful feeling when your manager puts a random meeting on your calendar without an explanation.

Sometimes those meetings are about performance improvement plans known as a PIP, which are typically initiated "when an employee isn't meeting job standards or goals."

Recently, Johana Saimbeau, a 26-year-old HR and Talent Acquisition Leader, known as @Johanas_world on TikTok, shared advice for what people should do when they're faced with a PIP. Her advice went viral with more than 3 million views.

TikTok: @johanas_world / Via tiktok.com

In the video, she explains that people should first, "make sure you request a copy of that plan."

"And we’re going to take it a step further," she continued. "After you are given that PIP, make sure you’re documenting everything moving forward."

"When you’re having a meeting about this PIP, HR is usually going to be sitting in on this meeting, so ask as many questions as you need to ask to understand what’s going on," she said.

In the comments, people shared their experience with PIPs. One person said, "I was placed on a PIP. I was actually promoted to a position they knew I never did before. Instead of helping hands-on, they watched me struggle."

This person said from experience, "One time I documented how I had achieved my PIP, and gone above and beyond. I was still fired. If they want to fire you, they'll find a way."

Another person suggested that getting a PIP doesn't have to mean the end. "I was on a pip I never should have been on and managed up, made the manager meet with me weekly on my process and also documented by sending a summary and next steps every meeting. Fight back it works."

Regardless of timing, this person said a PIP should never be a surprise. "If you have a good manager that is having 1:1 meetings about your work you should know if things are going well etc."

And many people shared advice for employees in this situation. "As a plaintiff's employment attorney, as soon as it happens, start applying for jobs and get out quickly cause the PIP is step one of termination."

And finally, this person agreed saying, "A PIP is a hop, skip, and jump..from you getting fired!"

In an interview with BuzzFeed, Johana addressed that last common misconception. "I don’t think it’s always a lost cause," she said.

She also hopes that people realize her post going viral means this challenge is fairly common. "The overwhelming response showed me that there’s a huge need for open conversations about these experiences and actionable advice on how to handle them," she told BuzzFeed.

What do you think? In your experience are PIPs the "beginning of the end" of someone's time at their job, or is it possible to turn things around? Let us know in the comments.