Handle Underperformance Fairly: Corrective Feedback and Improvement Plans in Writing
Managers often avoid a hard conversation until the problem is too big, then reach for a warning letter. We set up a fair route in between: a diagnosis of the cause, a corrective conversation, and a short written improvement plan with support, check-ins and a clear end date. Nobody is surprised by the outcome.
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Share your requirementsWhat is performance improvement plans and corrective feedback?
A performance improvement plan is a short written agreement that names a gap in an employee's work, the standard expected, the support offered and the date of review. Corrective feedback is the conversation that comes before it. GullyHR designs this route for Indian startups and small and medium businesses: the diagnosis step, the conversation planner, the plan format, the check-in log and the manager briefing. Legal questions on any case go to the company's own adviser.
The starting point
When businesses ask us for this
- A manager has been unhappy with someone for a year, but nothing was ever said or written down.
- The first formal step an employee sees is a warning letter, and they say they were never told.
- Managers label people as lazy or careless instead of describing what happened and when.
- A plan is written to push someone out, and the employee can tell, so the whole team loses trust.
- The employee lacks a skill or a tool, but the response is still a warning rather than training or a role change.
- Two managers handle the same shortfall differently, one with patience and one with an instant letter.
- A plan is issued, nobody holds the check-ins, and at the end date there is no record to decide on.
- HR is called only when a case is already tense, and finds no dated notes to work from.
What the work covers
GullyHR builds a staged route for handling underperformance. We begin by agreeing, with the owner, when a conversation is enough and when a written plan is needed. Managers then learn to describe what happened in plain, dated terms, and to check the real cause: knowledge, method, motivation or support from the organisation. Where the skill is missing, the answer may be training or a different role, not a plan. For a recurring or serious gap we draft a plan format with the baseline, target, standard, support, weekly check-in dates and a signature box that records the employee's own comments. We set the rules for who drafts, who reviews and who signs, and how the end decision is recorded. Finally we brief managers and test the route on live cases, with your adviser reviewing the final documents.
A diagnosis of the real cause comes before any plan is written.
Managers use a short gap analysis to separate knowledge, method, motivation and support problems, and to note what the employee did not control. The action chosen must match the cause.
Corrective conversations are planned, private and held within days.
A planner sheet turns the behaviour into a dated fact, checks that it can be changed, sets the opening, and records the alternative agreed and the follow-up date after two to four weeks.
The improvement plan has a fixed format with measurable items.
Each item carries a baseline, a target and the standard it is judged against. The plan also lists support, check-in dates, the review date and what happens if the gap closes or does not.
The employee has a voice in the plan and in the record.
The format has space for the employee's comments and acknowledgement. We set a route for asking for a second view from a senior manager or HR before the end decision.
Records are kept to a standard that a reviewer could follow.
We define what goes in a case file: fact sheet, plan, check-in notes, outcome form. Managers are told what to avoid writing, such as guesses about character, health or family matters.
Plans are kept apart from discipline and from retaliation.
We write the line between a plan about performance and a process about conduct, and require HR to confirm that no plan follows a complaint or a leave request without a second review.
The process
How it runs
Agree the escalation ladder
With the owner we decide the steps from informal word to conversation, plan and outcome decision, and who may start each one. We write the ladder on one page.
Set the diagnosis step
We introduce the gap analysis sheet and run it on two recent cases. Managers practise writing the gap as a dated fact and rating the four possible causes.
Draft the plan format
We build the plan template with items, baselines, targets, support, check-in dates, comments and signature fields, then fit it to your roles and your tone.
Brief the managers
A working session covers the conversation planner, role play of an opening, what to write in the file and what to leave out. Managers leave with a worked example.
Test on live cases
Over a few weeks we review the first plans and conversations with HR, correct gaps in the notes and tighten the wording of items that cannot be measured.
Audit and hand over
We sample recent warnings and plans for consistency, help given and record quality, report the gaps found, and hand over the final templates and the case file index.
What you receive
- Escalation ladder for underperformance, on one page
- Performance gap analysis sheet with four cause ratings
- Difficult-conversation planner and fact sheet
- Performance improvement plan template with employee comments section
- Weekly check-in log and a signed outcome decision form for each plan
- Case file index listing what to keep and what never to write
- Manager briefing deck with a worked example and role play scripts
- Review note on a sample of recent cases, with fixes listed
Who it is for
- Founders who have never issued a plan and want a fair standard before the first case.
- HR heads in growing companies whose managers handle shortfalls in very different ways.
- Companies where the first sign of trouble is usually a resignation or a dispute.
- Business heads preparing to make a hard decision and wanting the file to be complete.
- Team leads who were promoted for skill and have never had to correct a colleague.
- Firms that already use plans but suspect the notes and check-ins are thin.
Why GullyHR.
We write for owner-led Indian businesses where the manager and the employee often know each other well. Our route is built to be fair first and well documented second, and we avoid forms that nobody will complete. We work with your managers on real cases, not only on slides. We keep a clear line between design work and legal advice, and your adviser reviews the final set before it is used.
Design the process
Map how the work runs today, then write the procedure, the forms and the approval route it should follow.
Strengthen management
Settle the structure, the roles and the decisions each level can take without the owner.
Develop people
Train the managers who have to run it — the review, the difficult conversation, the handover.
Automate HR
Configure the agreed process in software, so the document and what people actually do stay the same thing.
The difference
What changes
- Managers raise issues early, in a private conversation, with dated facts in hand.
- Every plan has a baseline, a target, named support and a review date.
- Employees can say what was expected of them and what help they were given.
- Case files are complete enough for HR and your adviser to review without chasing people.
- Decisions at the end date rest on logged check-ins and not on memory.
- Plans are used to help people recover, and they do not become a quiet exit tool.
How we are measured
Before work starts, we record where you stand. Every later report compares against that baseline.
We choose the measures with you at the start, from the list on this page, and only the ones your data can support. We do not promise a result. We promise a baseline, and a report that shows the change against it, whichever way it went.
The measures we choose from
Time-to-hire
Days from approved vacancy to accepted offer.
90-day attrition
New joiners who leave in their first three months.
Annual attrition
Leavers over the year, by team and by manager.
Payroll and statutory errors per month
Corrections after the run, and returns filed late.
Open compliance gaps
Obligations without an owner or a due date.
Employees with written goals
Share of the team that knows what it is measured on.
Review completion rate
Reviews finished on time, not just started.
Manager training coverage
Managers who have been taught the part of the job they were promoted into.
Working together
Who does what
| Activity | GullyHR | Your team |
|---|---|---|
| Writing the escalation ladder for underperformance | We draft the steps, roles and sign-off points for your review. | The owner decides how firm each step is and who may start it. |
| Diagnosis and the content of each plan | We provide the sheets and coach managers on writing gaps and targets. | Managers write each case with real dates, data and support offered. |
| Running check-ins and recording the outcome | We set the cadence and the form for logging each meeting. | Managers hold the meetings and HR reviews the log before the end date. |
| Legal and statutory review of the documents | We draft the documents and flag where wording needs a second look. | Your own qualified legal adviser reviews them and decides any statutory question. |
| Decisions on the outcome of each case | We run the route and review the file on request. | The company decides the outcome of each case and communicates it. |
Where the software fits
The templates are editable documents kept in a shared folder you control, with a case file index and a simple tracking sheet for open plans and check-in dates. If you already use an HR system, we adapt the forms to fit it. Our own software is optional and is never needed to run the route. Access to case files should be limited to HR and the managers involved.
Ways to engage us
- Plan and conversation starter pack
- A focused piece: the gap analysis, the conversation planner and the plan template, with one briefing session for your managers.
- Full route and briefing programme
- The ladder, templates, manager briefing, support on early live cases and a closing review, delivered over a few months.
- Review of cases you already hold
- We read a sample of recent warnings and plans, report on consistency and record quality, and list fixes for the file and the habits behind it.
- Alongside other HR work
- Added to a performance management build, a manager development programme or your disciplinary and grievance documents, so all of them use one language.
Good to know
Questions we are asked
Corrective feedback is a planned private conversation about one behaviour, with a follow-up in a few weeks. An improvement plan is a longer written agreement for a gap that feedback has not closed, with targets, support, weekly check-ins and a review date.
That is a question for your own legal adviser, because the answer depends on the role, the state, the sector and the facts. We design a fair and well documented route, and your adviser decides what each case requires.
We keep them apart. A plan deals with a shortfall in results or skill, and conduct matters follow your disciplinary route. We write the line between the two so that managers know which one a case belongs to.
That is a management choice, and we help you set it by role, since a sales target and a technical skill take different times to show. Most plans carry weekly check-ins and a fixed end date that the employee can see from day one.
Our diagnosis step is built for this. If knowledge or method is missing, the answer may be training, coaching or a move to a better fitting role. A plan is for cases where support can reasonably close the gap.
The work is scoped and quoted in writing after a short call. The price depends on how many managers are briefed, how many templates you need and whether you want us to review existing cases or support live ones.
We do not give legal advice, run disciplinary enquiries, issue letters on your behalf or decide outcomes. We also do not supply payroll filings or statutory compliance support. We design the route and train your people to use it.
Prefer to talk first? +91 80958 58589 · hello@gullyhr.com