New Delhi: While on a performance improvement plan (PIP), Microsoft is giving its underperforming employees the choice to accept a payout to leave the business or face termination.
The action is meant to strengthen the organisation’s performance management system as it looks to fire the underperforming employees.
Employees who have been designated as “low performers” and are prepared to quit freely are being offered 16 weeks of compensation by the internet giant. The designated employees have five days to select their course of action. An employee will not be eligible for the compensation if they choose to begin the PIP.
“This performance improvement process is available year-round so you can act quickly to transparently address performance issues, while offering employees choice,” Amy Coleman, Microsoft’s new chief people officer, wrote in an email.
The affected employees can enter PIP or quit and accept a “global Voluntary Separation Agreement (GVSA),” the email added.
Employees who quit during a PIP or after receiving poor performance reviews are likewise prohibited from being hired again for two years under the new policy. Employees who perform poorly will also not be allowed to move to another Microsoft position.
“Employees with zero and 60 per cent Rewards outcomes and/or on an active PIP will not be eligible for internal transfers. Former employees who left with zero or 60 per cent Rewards or during/after a PIP will not be eligible for rehire until two years after their termination date,” the email noted.
Notably, the new PIP system may work differently outside the US, as other countries have different laws.
Earlier this year, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg also targeted low performers when the company eliminated thousands of jobs. The fired employees were put on “block lists” to stop them from being rehired.
