“We have to talk.” It’s the phrase that’s launched countless uncomfortable conversations, and can be as hard to say as it is to hear—especially if the talk involves the words “performance improvement plan” (PIP).

According to SHRM, a PIP is “a structured plan with time-sensitive goals” that is implemented when an employee’s performance has been suffering for some time. It is HR’s responsibility to determine “whether a PIP is the appropriate action for the situation” and to guide the employee and their manager through the process.

Some see PIPs as just a formality before an inevitable firing. While they may provide employers a layer of legal protection during terminations, HR leaders say PIPs should instead be good-faith agreements that offer employees the opportunity to thrive or even identify new strengths and skills.

Back up. Amid economic uncertainty, some employers, such as Meta, have warned employees of plans to use PIPs to weed out poor performers. One expert told HR Brew that PIPs should be seen as a last resort when addressing performance issues, and that they should never be a surprise.

“There should be conversations that preceded that actual delivery of the performance improvement plan, where everybody was involved,” explained Scott Dust, management professor at the University of Cincinnati and chief research officer at employee engagement platform Cloverleaf. After an employee and their manager have had these conversations, the manager should speak to HR about implementing a PIP.

Elements of a good PIP. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to developing and implementing a PIP. Keep reading here.—KP

Do you work in HR or have information about your HR department we should know? Email [email protected] or DM @Kris10Parisi on Twitter. For completely confidential conversations, ask Kristen for her number on Signal.

Parental leave is anything but a vacation—unless you consider constantly changing diapers, being thrown up on, and losing sleep a vacation. Nevertheless, it seems some employers may be starting to treat it as a luxury.

Just 35% of US employers offered parental leave this year, down from a high of 53% in 2020 and up just 1% from 2019, according to SHRM’s June Employee Benefits Survey. Others have reduced the amount of time offered: Hulu, perhaps most notably, cut its leave by 60%, from 20 weeks to eight. Only 17% of American workers have access to paid family leave, per data from advocacy group MomsRising, and only 11 states have paid leave laws. The US is the only wealthy nation that doesn’t guarantee parental leave for its workers, making employer-sponsored benefits critical to financial well-being.

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on working parents—particularly working moms—so the rolling back of an already scarce benefit has some HR leaders concerned.

All new parents. “Regardless of the economic climate or status of the pandemic, parents need quality time with their newborn, adopted, and foster children,” wrote Linda Ho, chief people officer at technology company Seismic, in a LinkedIn post. Her company, she said, will continue providing 12 weeks of paid leave for all new parents.

Not the time. “Cutting back on benefits for parents or parents-to-be may mean this critical workforce starts looking for a new role elsewhere. You may also see this from other employees, non-parents, as they start to question the company’s loyalty to their support and well-being,” Katie Cox, VP of people at sales engagement platform Salesloft, wrote in an email to HR Brew. Keep reading here.—KP

Do you work in HR or have information about your HR department we should know? Email [email protected] or DM @Kris10Parisi on Twitter. For completely confidential conversations, ask Kristen for her number on Signal.

Here’s an irony that’ll give a linguistics professor a terrible migraine: The condition of burnout continues to spread like wildfire, tearing through brittle trees instead of, uh, doing what its name suggests.

Burnout, as we’ve come to understand it colloquially, is a malady induced by overwork. It is an “occupational phenomenon” according to WHO, and the affliction can come for anyone: College professors, medical professionals, and, ahem, HR pros have all reported that excessive work has taken a toll on their mental health, especially since the pandemic further eroded the boundary between the personal and professional.

The close link between well-being and work has placed HR firmly at the center of the burnout dilemma, with scores of practitioners asking what HR departments can do to help their beleaguered employees.

HR Brew’s latest snap poll asked a (similar) question: Has your HR team taken steps to address employee burnout since the Covid-19 pandemic began? Most respondents (62%) said they haven’t taken any measures to address burnout, while 38% answered that they are attempting to alleviate the grip it has on their workers.

When Google searches for “burnout” spiked earlier this year, Charlie Judy, chief people and culture officer at the healthcare data company Intelligent Medical Objects, told HR Brew that a one-size-fits-all approach to tackling burnout might fall short. Instead of applying a blanket treatment, he advised cultivating real relationships between managers and teams to foster an organic sense of support. He suggested HR pros ask themselves how they can “humanize” burnout interventions—“Because we’re solving for something that is very human right now.”—SB

Do you work in HR or have information about your HR department we should know? Email [email protected] or DM @SammBlum on Twitter. For completely confidential conversations, ask Sam for his number on Signal.

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: Total job openings in the US rose to 11.2 million in July, an increase of nearly 200,000 from June. (BLS)

Quote: “If you’re bigger, you’re the head of the group. Some of that remains engrained…and we perceive height as connected to authority, strength, and a higher position.”—Omer Kimhi, an associate law professor at the University of Haifa, discussing height discrimination in the workplace (BBC WorkLife)

Read: The quiet quitting phenomenon is nothing more than pro-boss propaganda intended to squeeze free labor from employees, argues this withering column. (Insider)

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