Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) are formal, HR-governed workflows in Growth Studio for structured performance improvement. Only HR can publish PIPs. Each plan includes locked expectations, required employee acknowledgment, and a full audit log.
Available in: Perform, Focus (Legacy), and Total Platform packages.
Feature Structure
A PIP consists of the following components:
- Plan details — The plan's title, expectations, milestones, start date, and end date. After HR publishes the plan, expectations and milestones lock and cannot be edited without pausing the plan.
- Section-level visibility controls — HR configures which sections of the PIP are visible to the employee and which are restricted to HR and the manager.
- Employee acknowledgment — The employee must formally acknowledge the PIP before the plan begins. If HR edits an active PIP, the employee must re-acknowledge the updated version.
- Audit log — A tamper-resistant record of all actions taken on the PIP, including creation, edits, acknowledgments, and status changes.
- PDF export — HR can export the complete PIP packet as a PDF for compliance documentation.
- Action items — Discrete tasks within the plan that track progress. PIP action items appear in the employee's Check-ins.
PIP Lifecycle States
| State | Description |
|---|---|
| Draft | HR is building the plan. Not visible to the employee. |
| Published | The plan is live and the start date has passed. Expectations and milestones are locked. |
| Acknowledged | The employee has reviewed and digitally signed the plan. |
| Paused | HR is editing a published PIP. The employee sees a Paused indicator and has view-only access. |
| Extended | The PIP timeline has been extended by HR. |
| Complete | The plan concluded and the employee met expectations. |
| Not complete | The plan concluded and the employee did not meet expectations. |
Key Rules
- Only HR can publish PIPs.
- Expectations and milestones lock after publishing. HR must pause the plan to make edits.
- Employees cannot access a PIP until the plan's start date.
- Employee acknowledgment is required before the plan activates.
- If HR edits an active PIP, the plan enters a Paused state and the employee must re-acknowledge.
- The audit log records all actions and cannot be modified.
- HR can pause, edit, and extend active PIPs as needed.
- PIP action items sync with the employee's Check-ins automatically.
What You Can Do
Set Up
Manage
- Create a Performance Improvement Plan (HR)
- Manage an active Performance Improvement Plan
- Acknowledge a Performance Improvement Plan (Employee)