Respond
PIP Survival
You’ve been put on a performance improvement plan. What do you do now?
Start with the document in front of you.
A practical guide and printable worksheets for your first week on a PIP — so you can work out what the plan actually says, ask better questions, prepare for meetings and keep a clear record of what happens next.
A$19 · Guide + worksheets, two PDFs · Instant download
Get PIP Survival — $19Is this for you?
- You’ve just been handed a PIP and don’t know what to do first.
- You’re not sure exactly what they’re saying you’ve done wrong, or what they expect you to change.
- Some of the examples in the plan don’t match what you remember.
- You have a meeting coming up and want to walk in prepared.
Not a “10 signs they’re about to fire you” guide
From the document alone, you may not know what the eventual outcome will be. PIP Survival doesn’t try to decode what your employer is “really” planning.
It is built around a more useful position: do not assume it is an exit process, and do not assume it is not. Get specific. Document what happens. Notice what stays unclear or keeps changing.
If the process itself feels unfair, read when a workplace process isn’t fair.
What this helps you do
Work out what the plan actually says
Separate what the document says from what you fear it might mean.
Turn vague expectations into specifics
Ask what successful performance would look like in terms you can act on.
Work out which problem you have
Vague expectations, disputed examples, or workplace conditions that affected your work — each needs a different response.
Keep a dated record
What is said, what changes, what support is offered and what you’re asked to do next.
What you get
20-page Practical Guide
The first week in order, from the first 24 hours to your end-of-week review.
Worksheets & Records pack
Six printable worksheets: reading the PIP, workplace context, preparing for the meeting, afterwards, and weekly records.
Questions and scripts
Plain wording for when you need an example, a measure defined, support clarified, or time to think.
Record sheets to reprint
The record sheets and weekly review are designed to be printed as often as you need them.
Instant download
Two PDFs, available straight after purchase. No login, no course, nothing that expires.
Inside the guide
The first 24 hours
What to do now — and what is worth not rushing.
How to read the PIP
The concerns, examples, standards, measures, timeframes, review dates, support and consequences.
10 things to clarify
Vague expectations, judgement-based measures, changing priorities, examples you can’t identify, and what successful completion looks like.
Preparing for the meeting
What you need clarified, what you need to check, and the questions you most want answered.
Keeping a record
Meeting notes, actions, changes, feedback, obstacles and follow-up.
Your end-of-week review
Seven questions: what is now clear, what remains unresolved, and what your next step needs to be.
Take a look inside
Work out the problem
Three situations, three different responses.
Get it on paper
Worksheet 1: what the document says — and “not stated” where it doesn’t.
Know what to ask
Plain wording to use in the meeting, one question at a time.
How to use it
The guide follows the first week in order. The worksheets give you somewhere to do the work on paper, rather than holding it all in your head.
Work through Worksheets 1 and 2 before the first meeting. Take Worksheet 3 in with you, and fill in Worksheet 4 the same day.
Then keep a dated record for the first week — and for as long as the plan runs.
You don’t need to solve your whole employment situation this week.
Is this the right resource?
It’s designed for
People who have recently been placed on a performance improvement plan and want to understand it, prepare for their first meetings, clarify expectations and keep their own organised record.
It isn’t
Legal advice, psychological treatment, or advice specific to your employer, contract, country, state or territory. If you need advice about your own legal position, seek appropriately qualified advice.
About the author
Suzanne Robertson
Registered Psychologist
Suzanne Robertson is a registered psychologist with more than twenty-five years’ experience. Her Master of Counselling Psychology research focused on burnout, and her work includes burnout, workplace psychological harm and recovery.
She created Still Cracked to turn psychology and research into practical, plain-English resources people can use outside the therapy room.
Get PIP Survival
Work out what the plan says, what it doesn’t say, and what you need to ask.
A$19 · Guide + worksheets, two PDFs · Instant download
Get PIP Survival — $19Still Cracked is education, not treatment, and not legal advice.
Change of mind isn’t covered on instant downloads. Your rights under the Australian Consumer Law are not affected: if something doesn’t arrive, won’t open, or isn’t what was described, email hello@stillcracked.com and it will be put right.