How Indian IT Turned Performance Reviews into an Exit Tool

Indian and global IT workers are sounding alarms about the widespread misuse of Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) to pressure employees to resign, often without a clear link to actual performance. Workers' accounts and HR leaders' admissions reveal PIPs, meant for correction and development, are also used as opaque exit tools driven by metrics, staffing issues, and manager choices. The anxiety has deepened after recent layoffs at TCS. It has encouraged employees across the industry to speak more openly about concerns they’ve had for years.  In a statement to AIM, TCS had said it is on a journey to become a future-ready organisation by implementing various strategic initiatives, including realigning its workforce model, and did not state that it was related to PIP.