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Hello. Really appreciate responses from everyone here. I'm in a bit of a miserable situation.
Early this year, my once great boss turned into a complete A-HOLE after not getting a higher position. He somehow began setting his sights on me in a very negative manner. Weekly lectures ensued, but I'm in a position that's really subjective and not metric/numbers based.
Anyway, I thought things would get better, but they did not. Then, my mid-year review, he handed me a PIP. I was shocked. Everything in it is subjective, but of course, HR always backs the mgr. I tried to make things better by working harder, but no such luck. And we all know what PIPs are designed to do.
So I began looking for work...but have not found any! Not any that pay my salary, and we do have bills to pay. I'm now coming to the end of the PIP, and I know I'll be let go.
We have one team member going on maternity leave, so by them letting me go, they'll really be short-handed. Still, I'm sure my boss is going to let me go at the end of this month.
I have one job prospect that looks really good, I went thru a multitude of interviews including the final round. The hiring manager says they'll have the decision made by the end of this month.
I'm in a total state of anxiety and am totally miserable. I have to come into work, work hard, and keep looking for work. All the while knowing they can cut me any time. I go to meetings, get assigned projects and tasks, all the while wondering if I'll be fired that day. Most of my team is not very friendly with me. I have 2 decent friends. One knows, the other doesn't. I don't have any other strong job prospects. And now I'm looking for just about anything. But I know I need them to let me go to get unemployment.
Has anyone else been thru this? How did you deal with the awful feelings? The good part is that in all this, my spouse has been really supportive. We are making plans to list our house, as we live in a good area and will make a profit. Then we will downsize to a smaller apt. that saves us money and lessens the weight of our bills. So that's good. It seems like I'll be fired and find out whether I have a job all at the same time.
Sorry to hear about what you are going through. I have not had to go through what you are experiencing, but it looks to me as though you are doing the right things. I wish you the best of luck with this.
Thank you. I think what really gets me is that I really enjoyed the work and my teammates. I can tell that I'm not the only one going through a rough time, and team morale has suffered. It was a great place to work and now it's awful because of this one supervisor. And apparently, the company supports this kind of tactic. It's a large company, and only recently have they begun moving people out, and then re-hiring from the outside. I can't help but wonder if I'm somehow caught up in that.
I'm a good worker, loyal. I've never called in sick in nearly 2 years. I'm not sure how this makes business sense.
Worst, it's a real kick to my ego and has me questioning my abilities. I'm no spring chicken and my self-confidence is just about shot.
Worst, it's a real kick to my ego and has me questioning my abilities. I'm no spring chicken and my self-confidence is just about shot.
That's the intention of a PIP. To destroy your self confidence in your ability to do the job right. As you said "It's perception based" and that's tough to fight against...
best of luck with the job search, interview and life....
Got it. This is horrible. Every day I wake up feeling daunted, and all day, all the time, I have a constant feeling of dread and sadness that runs like a river current in me. I know I'm not going to win. I'm trying to not do anything that gives them ammo to fire me immediately. And if I do get fired I'll ask if they are going to contest unemployment. And now that I just typed that, should I do that or just take my firing quietly and walk out with my head held high?
Got it. This is horrible. Every day I wake up feeling daunted, and all day, all the time, I have a constant feeling of dread and sadness that runs like a river current in me. I know I'm not going to win. I'm trying to not do anything that gives them ammo to fire me immediately. And if I do get fired I'll ask if they are going to contest unemployment. And now that I just typed that, should I do that or just take my firing quietly and walk out with my head held high?
What is a PIP?
In my experience, one person cannot typically get you FIRED, however, how one person views you can definitely affect how others view you, whom gives you work, and impede your progress at a company.
I think there's two different situations. One where you are fired, and one where you might be low on the totem pole due to the factors that you mentioned and you'll be one of the first to go when work is slow.
In either case, you enjoy your work, so that alone puts you WAY ahead of the game.
It's just a question of changing jobs. If you get let go, by your own admission it's nothing due to anything you did, so you'll collect unemployment. There's so many cases of people who get fired for good cause collecting unemployment, that is not what I would be worrying about now.
But I do think you're overstressing. I have similar, not as intense feelings about my workplace, but my problems run deeper, because I'm trying to change careers. If it was just the job that was the problem, it'd be pretty easy. I could even move states if I had to, but it'd be relatively easy to find another job.
PIP is a performance improvement plan. Very few argue that they are for actual improvement. They are often full of vague and unobtainable goals. It's a formality used by management to get someone out.
So yes, it's one person, my boss, who does not like me. The end result of a PIP is almost always getting fired, so I am assuming that'll happen to me as well.
You are right about me liking what I do I'm hoping I can find it elsewhere. I've been looking but don't really have any good prospects other than the one I mentioned.
You put it so simply: It's just a question of changing jobs. I think you are right. And I appreciate your comment about over-stressing. I did switch careers years ago, and then switched again. That was hard, but this is harder in my own personal experience. Once I figured out how my current skills could translate into a different career, I was on my way.
PIP is a performance improvement plan. Very few argue that they are for actual improvement. They are often full of vague and unobtainable goals. It's a formality used by management to get someone out.
So yes, it's one person, my boss, who does not like me. The end result of a PIP is almost always getting fired, so I am assuming that'll happen to me as well.
You are right about me liking what I do I'm hoping I can find it elsewhere. I've been looking but don't really have any good prospects other than the one I mentioned.
You put it so simply: It's just a question of changing jobs. I think you are right. And I appreciate your comment about over-stressing. I did switch careers years ago, and then switched again. That was hard, but this is harder in my own personal experience. Once I figured out how my current skills could translate into a different career, I was on my way.
Thank you.
Ah, I see. About the PIP I would probably agree.
In the one job I had that I got a tangible warning that 'you could be gone', it did in fact happen.
And regardless of how close you are to being fired, you don't want to be there that long anyway. Remember, your JOB is preventing you from doing an honest job search. If you had all day to look for a job, well ... that'd help your prospects over 'whenever you get time, are not exhausted and are doing fun things to try and forget about the stress of work.'
I'm in a similar boat, and here are two options you have...
1) Quit. If you quit, you get to start your job search now, and you don't have to explain why you were fired, but you don't get unemployment.
2) Ask to be made part time. This might force their hand. They lay you off, you get unemployment. If they don't, you get one whole day a week to look for another job.
Otherwise, it's anybody's guess as to how long the cycle continues...
Thank you. I think what really gets me is that I really enjoyed the work and my teammates. I can tell that I'm not the only one going through a rough time, and team morale has suffered. It was a great place to work and now it's awful because of this one supervisor. And apparently, the company supports this kind of tactic. It's a large company, and only recently have they begun moving people out, and then re-hiring from the outside. I can't help but wonder if I'm somehow caught up in that.
I'm a good worker, loyal. I've never called in sick in nearly 2 years. I'm not sure how this makes business sense.
Worst, it's a real kick to my ego and has me questioning my abilities. I'm no spring chicken and my self-confidence is just about shot.
"...moving people out, and then re-hiring from the outside" - I have experienced that in my last IT job. My former company decided to replace virtually ALL their employees with low-cost newbies doing the same jobs, but for about one third the pay. There are about 50,000 employees that are in the process of being replaced over a several year period. I was one of them. But they didn't put me on a PIP before they let me go. I just got laid off with a bunch of other colleagues and got my salary continued for 6 months as severance. I was just one month shy of my 60th birthday when that happened so I was able to grab my pension from them when I turned 60. I looked at my finances and income streams and decided to call it quits and retire. Unfortunately, most of my colleages who were laid off were not that lucky.
But as the replacement continued apparently it became too expensive for the company to keep paying severances, because in many cases they just started firing people for "not being productive enough". I don't know if anyone was put on a PIP first.
Who knows, perhaps we are discussing the same company here?
Sorry to hear about your situation. The PIP is designed to break your confidence and will and get you packing. Without any objective, measurable goals there is no way to beat it if they want you gone.
Hopefully you find a good job soon.
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