GUEST COMMENT: Get out BEFORE you get put on a Performance Improvement Plan
This may come as a surprise, but if the bank you work for wants to dismiss you for poor performance it can't do so immediately.
Before dismissing employees on the grounds of capability - or lack of it - employers must first put together a formal, 'Performance Improvement Plan.'
Such plans set out goals which employees need to attain within a given time period (usually two months, but it can be more). Failure to achieve these goals will ultimately lead to dismissal.
In most cases dismissal is, indeed, the outcome. By the time an employer has invoked the formal stage of a PIP, trust and confidence in the employee's work has already largely dissipated.
It is fair to say that most employees under PIP's find the targets they are set either unreasonable or unattainable. Some will rise to the challenge, but the added pressure of being under a PIP, as well as carrying out their day to day work is often difficult to endure. And so there becomes an unwritten and often unacknowledged acceptance on both sides that the relationship is not going to last for long.
Many employees who follow the PIP route nevertheless do want to retain their jobs. However, there must always be the concern that if their performance doesn't improve in their employers' eyes, they could end up having it terminated for capability reasons.
If you work in banking, this can spell career disaster. Many banks have a policy of stating on job references if an employee has been dismissed for poor performance.
So, are there any alternatives? Well, yes, although not in every case.
Most PIP's will take a minimum of 2 months and sometimes more to properly complete. During this time, you may improve your work, but perhaps not enough to have the PIP removed completely. Even if you fully improve, the damage in employment relations may be irredeemable.
In these circumstances, banks may be prepared to entertain at least the possibility of dispensing with the PIP and agreeing mutual terms of departure. This would enable you to leave with your head held high and a clean reference. The PIP, which would otherwise come into force, never happened and there is no loss of face from either side.
In these cases, it is often possible for individuals to negotiate generous terms of departure. After all, employers would have had to maintain the employee's salary during the PIP, which is potentially wasted money. They would also have had to pay notice should the employee
fail the PIP.
Against this, however, employees will have to weigh concerns of their own. In many cases, the PIP may not appear justified in the first place. In others, the employee may be convinced of his or her ability to meet the performance requirements stipulated.
Negotiating an exit prior to the invocation of a PIP isn't always the right course of action. Sometimes, however, it can make all the difference.
Feel free to contact Philip on pl@lzwlaw.co.uk or 020 7357 9494 for a free consultation on this or any other employment law issue.
