I got asked if I'd be willing to take a guy on pip onto my team. The guy was senior to me when I started but he languished a bit so I was now senior. He was good technically but terrible with internal politics. It was a bit of an adjustment but we worked hard and managed a turn around. He was surprised and thankful for the genuine interest in his career and well being. He never became an A player, but he stayed on a few more years and stock splits and we remain in contact 15 years later.

For management it is a win-win. If the employee fails they have a record that they can use to defend themselves in court against a discrimination lawsuit. If it actually helps, they retain a worker with perhaps improved productivity. Companies can use them for either or both

Yeah, I had a manager PIP me out once like that. I was required to work until midnight to hit a deadline, then get on a call until 3am with the contractors in India, and when my butt wasn't back in the office chair by 8:30am the next day, I was written up for being late. Another warning came from refusing to stay more than 3 hours late one night (unplanned overtime) because I had plans that night, which made me 'not a team player'. After those two warnings, it only took me being randomly 5 minutes late one day for the third and final.

Oddly enough, after we 'mutually agreed to terminate my employment' there, I got a call from the director of another department offering me a job in his department and, most surprisingly, a really glowing recommendation on LinkedIn from the very manager that fired me.

I don't claim to understand it. But I do understand why the company had such high turnover, and why the guy I had been hired to replace had gone on mental health leave and just never came back.

Of course PIP got a huge potential to be abused, it’s like a weapon in the hands of management. I’ve never been under a PIP but if I were I’d urgently look for work.