A Performance Improvement Plan (PIP), or Performance Action Plan (PAP), can be used to give an employee with performance gaps the opportunity to succeed. It's purpose is to communicate and address gaps related to specific job goals or to amend behavior-related concerns.

The City of Dallas has a formal process. The process is a partnership between the supervisor and employee. Both work together to put a plan in place to close performance and/or behavior-related gaps.

How to determine if a PIP / PAP is needed

The first step is to meet with your department HR Partner to discuss if a PIP / PAP is needed. We all have performance blind spots.  A blind spot is when an employee is not aware of some of performance / behavioral deficiencies others see.  Is such cases a PIP / PAP may not be needed.  Gaps can sometimes be resolved through routine feedback and coaching.  The HR Partner will step the Supervisor through a process to determine the correct actions to implement. 

If a formal plan is needed, then the HR Partner will work with the Supervisor to develop an improvement actions path.  Navigate to the menu to open the resource page to see the steps that explain the PIP / PAP process.