Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) are formal, HR-governed workflows in Growth Studio for structured performance improvement. HR admins and managers can create PIPs. Managers submit PIPs for HR review before the employee is notified. 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 or manager is building the plan. Not visible to the employee. |
| Pending Review | Manager has submitted the PIP for HR review. HR reviews and publishes. |
| Published | The plan is live, but the start date has not yet been reached. 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
- HR admins and managers can create PIPs. Managers submit PIPs for HR review before the employee is notified.
- 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.
- When an employee changes managers, the new manager does not automatically inherit visibility of the employee's active PIP. HR or Account Admins can reassign PIP visibility as needed.
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)