Performance Improvement Plans are Biased. Now What?
I’ve had countless brilliant, neurodivergent professionals come to me in panic — suddenly placed on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) after years of over-delivering, masking, or quietly burning out.
PIPs were sold to us as compassion wrapped in structure — a tool to help employees “course-correct” and thrive. But anyone who’s been on the receiving end knows the truth: most PIPs aren’t bridges. They’re countdown clocks.
Let’s stop pretending this is about growth. It’s about control — about systems that confuse compliance for care, and accountability for dominance.
And it’s time for both employees and employers to name that out loud — because I’ve seen too many talented, ethical, neurodivergent minds crushed by policies written to “help” them. What’s called improvement often becomes intimidation—a process that punishes difference rather than understanding it.
So, let’s spark that change…
If You’re on a PIP Right Now
Before we talk about systems, let’s start with you. If you’ve been handed a PIP, you are standing in a moment that was never built for your safety. The truth is, most people don’t survive a PIP — not because they’re unskilled, but because the deck was stacked before they even saw the cards. Performance plans were designed to protect companies from lawsuits, not protect humans from harm.
The reality:
Few stay at the company: According to The Wall Street Journal, only 10–25% of employees who are placed on a PIP remain employed afterward. And even when they “pass,” nearly 90% leave the company within a year. That’s not a development program. That’s a slow-motion exit strategy disguised as empathy. Managers will say, “We just want to help you succeed,” but real help doesn’t start with fear. It starts with trust.
The emotional and physical toll is purposefully high: When workplaces use fear to enforce performance, they’re not creating excellence. They’re recreating trauma. Being placed on a PIP can trigger the same nervous-system threat response as social rejection, grief, or trauma because it is a form of loss: of psychological safety, identity, and belonging. Employees describe panic attacks, migraines, insomnia, and hypervigilance. Cortisol spikes. The immune system tanks. And then HR and managers have the audacity to call that “motivation.”
You are not the problem for wanting to feel safe, clear, and respected at work. Or for asserting your own boundaries.
So, it’s okay to give yourself breathing room. Then, get ready to advocate for yourself.
Ask yourself these questions to move from frozen to empowered:
What’s truly mine to address — and what reflects a system that’s failing me, not the other way around?
What do they gain if I shrink in self-doubt — and what happens if I stop feeding that power dynamic?
What support, care, or protection could I claim right now — especially the kind I was conditioned to believe I don’t deserve?
The Accommodation Blind Spot: Where Bias Hides in Plain Sight
Accommodations are not favors; they are federal and state rights. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), when performance issues relate to a known disability, employers must engage in an interactive process to explore reasonable accommodations before resorting to discipline.
But instead of dialogue, most employees get silence. Or they tell you they have to follow only their accommodation process, even if it violates the ADA guidelines. That’s not oversight. That’s negligence and retaliation cloaked as “process.” It is just as bad as a President taking away SNAP benefits from innocent people because he didn’t get his way.
Refusing to discuss them isn’t “avoiding discomfort” — it’s discrimination.
Now, add identity and disabilities into the mix.
Let’s be blunt: who ends up on PIPs is not random. Neurodivergent. Disabled. Black. Brown. Queer. Immigrant. Femme. Older. Pick any identity that’s been historically othered, and odds are the performance bar shifts — silently, relentlessly. Black and brown employees are disciplined more frequently. Women are penalized for being “direct.” Neurodivergent workers are labeled “inconsistent” rather than “creative.”
And…this is very telling…a UK study found that 83% of managers admit discomfort managing performance when mental health is involved. That discomfort often becomes avoidance, or worse, punishment. For people living with ADHD, trauma, or anxiety, this turns everyday regulation challenges into grounds for “correction.”
So, when you issue the same plan to two people with different identities and pretend it lands the same way, that’s not equality. And because HR systems don’t disaggregate performance data by identity or disabilities, those inequities hide inside spreadsheets marked “confidential.”
You Have a Choice
If we’re all serious about doing the right thing, performance management must evolve from threat to trust. That starts opening your eyes to what is happening now and what you can influence.
For Employers
Audit your numbers. Don’t just track how many employees are on PIPs — analyze who they are. Break down data by gender, race, age, neurotype, disability status, and tenure. Patterns reveal bias faster than anecdotes ever will. If you find the same demographics repeatedly flagged for “underperformance,” you don’t have a people problem; you have a systems problem.
Train your managers. Most performance issues are leadership issues wearing someone else’s name tag. Teach managers to recognize how trauma, neurodivergence, chronic stress, or identity-based bias can affect communication and productivity. Incorporate trauma-informed supervision and implicit bias training into your performance protocols, not as HR side projects.
Document the dialogue. A PIP issued without considering accommodations violates the ADA and exposes the organization to legal risk. Managers must engage in the interactive process — a two-way discussion about reasonable adjustments — before escalating to formal discipline. If an employee mentions mental health, medical treatment, or disability, that’s not an inconvenience; it’s a legal and ethical cue to pause and explore support options.
Allow transparency. Offer employees the option to record PIP meetings (with mutual consent where required by state law) and ensure a neutral HR representative is present. Always provide written recaps that clearly state goals, timelines, and expectations. Ambiguity protects the company, not the person — and ethical leadership should never depend on confusion.
Stop using fear as motivation. Fear creates compliance, not commitment. Growth comes from psychological safety — from people knowing they can speak up, ask for help, and still be treated with respect. If your PIP process leaves employees anxious, sleepless, or physically ill, that’s not performance management — that’s intentional trauma.
For Employees
Know your rights. You’re protected by the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), and the DOL (Department of Labor), among others. These agencies enforce laws that protect against discrimination based on disability, race, color, religion, sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), age (40+), and national origin. You have the right to request accommodations at any time — before, during, or after a PIP — without retaliation.
Put everything in writing. Follow every meeting or verbal agreement with a short written summary. Date your notes, and save emails that confirm or clarify expectations. If your manager’s tone or statements shift, documentation provides evidence, not just memory. It turns “he said/she said” into “here’s what was said.”
Ask for clarity. Vague PIPs are traps. Ask for specific, measurable goals: “What exactly will success look like?” “Who will evaluate this?” “How often will we check in?” “What support will be provided?” If they can’t answer, note that — and include it in your follow-up email.
Get allies. You don’t have to face this alone. Bring in a trauma-informed coach, HR advocate, employment lawyer, or union representative. Allies help you interpret coded language, set boundaries, and strategize your next step — whether that’s staying, exiting, or filing a complaint.
Report retaliation. If you’re treated differently after asserting your rights — excluded from meetings, micromanaged, or suddenly labeled “difficult” — that’s retaliation, and it’s illegal. File a charge with the EEOC, your state human rights commission, or consult a workplace attorney. You’re not being dramatic for defending your rights; you’re being strategic.
Manager Reflection Checklist
If you’ve ever initiated a PIP, this section is for you. Read these slowly — and honestly — because the integrity of your leadership depends on how you answer them. If you can’t answer these with clarity and compassion, your “performance management” system is not managing performance — it’s perpetuating harm by disowning your own weaknesses.
Was this plan framed as “objective” while functionally setting up a layoff within a protected class?
Would I issue this PIP if the employee were a man, white, neurotypical, able-bodied, or younger?
Have I explored whether performance issues stem from unclear expectations, limited resources, trauma, or mental/physical health?
Did I set clear expectations before documenting failure?
Have I provided support equal to the pressure I’m applying?
If the employee disclosed a disability, did I engage in good faith in the ADA interactive process?
Do I understand the emotional and physical cost of being placed under formal scrutiny?
When did I last audit who receives PIPs under my management—and what patterns appear?
Am I more invested in compliance, or in humanity?
What if success were measured by trust restored?
What’s Next: Human Development Plans
Performance systems built on fear don’t create better employees; they create better exit paperwork.
Accountability without compassion is control. Growth without equity is gatekeeping.
It’s time to stop pretending the Performance Improvement Plan is a developmental tool. It’s a diagnostic — one that tells us exactly how unsafe a workplace really is.
If your company wants to build excellence, start by building justice.
Replace the PIP with something revolutionary: a Human Development Plan — one grounded in clarity, care, co-creation, and data transparency.
So what is that, exactly?
The Human Development Plan (HDP) is what happens when performance management evolves from punishment to partnership. It starts with one radical assumption: people aren’t problems to fix — they’re ecosystems to understand.
Instead of “meet this metric or you’re out,” the HDP asks:
What conditions bring out this person’s best work?
How does their nervous system respond to pressure, feedback, and power?
What support, rhythm, and autonomy allow them to thrive sustainably?
How can accountability and equity exist in the same sentence?
The HDP doesn’t ignore performance; it redefines it. It turns the traditional hierarchy into a two-way mirror — leaders are measured not just by outcomes, but by the health of the people producing them.
Imagine a workplace where managers are trained like coaches, not cops.
Where HR tracks nervous-system data as carefully as profit margins.
Where improvement plans heal instead of humiliate.
That’s the next era of leadership — and it’s not hypothetical. Every manager is building it brave enough to trade control for consciousness.
Because what employees — and society — deserve are systems that don’t punish difference; they learn from it.
And what the next generation of leadership deserves is something better.
About the Author
Minal Kamlani is a trauma-informed ADHD recovery coach based in NYC. She works with neurodivergent adults in recovery from trauma, burnout, and survival-based coping. Her coaching blends structure and nervous system awareness to help clients reclaim function—without shame or perfectionism. Learn more at Higher Vibes Coaching.