I know a few people who were PIPed earlier this year and since I don't know that many folks here yet, it makes me worried that PIPs might be something that is used indiscriminately when the management wants to get rid of folks without paying severance. Am I wrong to assume this?
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For the mystery PIPs, I believe you need to look at the salary as well. If someone is at the upper range, I suspect that factors into who is PIP'd ultimately.
As I read about PIPs at IBM, I was hoping someone might be able to shed some light on what I'm experiencing based on their own knowledge and experience. I was put on a PIP as one of the top sellers in my market. Quota doubled from prior year with no explanation. Whitespace territory and still sold more than most. Nobody else from my team was put on one. I had more signings and higher YOY revenue growth and deployment than almost everyone, yet I was put on one. I don’t fall under an underrepresented group or gender as defined in AKs video but others on the team do and were not put on a PIP. I’m over The ADEA threshold. Management followed none of the documented processes. Extremely strange. Mid-year was fantastic. I feel like I’m really missing something here or maybe I should just apply Occam's razor and accept I didn’t hit my number. Well neither did anyone else.
We had PIPs in SWG Sales back when IBM had the "PBC" rating system of 1 to 3. PBC 3 = you're going on a 'plan', which is essentially one procedural step toward being fired for most folks.
I can say with pretty good certainty that no matter what, every manager needed at least one person on their sales team to go on a PIP. Not that hard when territories and quotas/comp plans had become a joke.
I was dealt a PBC 3 back in '14 but recovered from it. The place had become such a dysfunctional clown show that I left the following year. Within a few months of that, my entire team and manager got RA'd.
Certainly a far cry from the IBM a lot of us grew up with. Gerstner's departure started the downfall, and Sammy Boy, followed by Ginny "The Forehead" certainly did more than their part.
this comment is to the 401k thread which I can’t bump but I’m wondering how the raise for the 401k offset will impact yearly salary planning from the standpoint of PMR (salary midpoint). I know Arvind said the yearly bau plan is not impacted but seems if the increase in salary increases your PMR, especially to where you hit a threshold, then it would.
never saw a pip at all from 2007 to 2017 then they started to appear. once they removed the long payouts to minimum, they found out that pips were even less expensive that minimum RA. trouble is in sales - you cant sell cr-p and that all IBM provides now. Similar to what i posted 10 years ago, name me a IBM software product they successfully produced??
I was in sales/tech sales too and had my share of “growth accounts”. How sales management sets quotas has always been a sham. Even when I had key accounts and overachieved my quota, my payout was capped. Even deployment quotas were bogus and they found ways to not pay you.
PIPs came after my time (I was RA'd). However, I've seen enough action in large companies to know that any HR-provided tool will be used to get rid of undesirable employees. The undesirable employees will always be dismissed...the only issue is how to do it in the most efficient and legally acceptable manner.
To put it another way, once management became aware of PIPs and how they could be used, their implementation for canning people was only a matter of time. Social niceties and conventional norms on how to manage people be damned...IBM is a company that is both brutally run and running out of money. If there's a way to get rid of someone and avoid paying out severances, bonuses or any benefits, you can bet that management will do anything to use it.
They'll do it because if they don't do it to their employees, then upper management will do it to THEM.
I was hired into a sales unit and was assigned a “growth” portfolio based on clients’ large one-off sales from the previous year.
As the large sales did not repeat themselves, I was identified as a “low performer” and selected for a PIP. I managed to fight it off and my job was subsequently restructured, following which I was made redundant.
Shortly after leaving, a new role that was virtually identical to my old role was created and filled by a younger person (I’m over 50).
Takeaways:
Your territory determines your fate.
PIPs are a form of constructive dismissal.
IBM practices age discrimination.
IBM management is fundamentally dishonest.
As mentioned above, PIPs are primarily issued
to those not meeting quotas / goals (eg - anyone in sales / GTM). This is just a tool. Remember IBM does have an entire framework on low performance management - and it’s definitely put to work to identify and action.
In Albany ny they essentially said they don’t lay off for lack of work when projects end but do use performance management (kind of implying it’s used more when there isn’t enough work).
For consulting, it’s all about billing the clients.
For sales, it’s all about meeting your quota.
And if you fail, they’ll kick you out via PIP. I have seen many good people on consulting and sales that were in PIP. It’s a shame how IBM operates these days
Just one correction to what you said: "PIPs might be something that is used indiscriminately" ... in fact PIPs are often used VERY discriminately to target employees 50+ years old, as a way to circumvent age discrimination lawsuits.
It used NOT to be common, but it is now. Most (if not all) services teams are on the threat of PIP. If in a quarter you are not billing at least 25%, then at the end of the quarter you are on a PIP for 60 days. If you don't complete the PIP successfully, whatever it is, you are fired. So, how does that sound?
If you are asking because you are planning to join IBM, just don't. IBM is a terrible company these days.