Episode Details
Back to Episodes
The Expectations Nobody Wrote Down
Description
Summary
On HR Voices, host Rebecca Taylor and Jeannie Virden, Chief People Officer at Central Health, work through a layered employee relations scenario: an employee with an approved work from home accommodation whose manager wants to move to a PIP three months later. They unpack why the accommodation is often a distraction from the real issue, how unstated remote expectations set people up to fail, and what documentation a PIP actually requires. Jeannie makes the case that strong HR slows managers down, asks for the paper trail, and reframes "you could" into "should you." For any people leader who manages remote teams or owns the accommodation and performance process.
Chapters
00:00 The accommodating conflict
03:40 Where a strong HR leader starts
07:15 Is 90 days really enough time?
08:45 A PIP has a brand
09:55 "I need more than the output isn't there"
11:20 Presenteeism doesn't survive remote
13:10 Talking managers down from a bad call
17:40 Training is the first thing budgets cut
22:50 You could, but should you?
Takeaways
- The accommodation is often a spotlight on management gaps, not the actual problem.
- You can't fairly PIP someone for missing expectations you never set or wrote down.
- "The output isn't there" is not a PIP; it has to name where the person is and where they need to get to.
- Documented coaching across those 90 days is what separates a performance plan from an ambush.
- Being technically allowed to act is not the same as it being the right, people centered move.
Guest links
Jeannie Virden on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeannievirden/
Company Website: https://www.centralhealth.net/
Sponsor
AllVoices brings all your employee relations work together in one place. No more jumping between spreadsheets, emails, and legacy systems — just one place to document and manage reports, cases, investigations, and performance conversations. It helps you run a more consistent process, takes busywork off your plate with AI, and makes it easier to spot trends early, so you can work proactively, not just put out fires.
See a demo at https://www.allvoices.co/