Performance improvement plans are often a precursor of dismissal but workers can make themselves harder to fire

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about large, corporate customers is that trying to get anything done with their employees between 15 December and 15 January is impossible. Nearly everyone’s on vacation. And, c’mon, let’s all agree: the ones who aren’t on vacation aren’t working very hard.

You can’t blame them. They’re getting their paychecks. They’ve earned their four weeks of time off. Most small businesses can’t do this. We have cashflow challenges. We don’t have the luxury to sit back and collect our pay. We need to get contracts signed, bills paid and products approved and that’s made infinitely more difficult when our corporate counterparts are still drinking eggnog and watching Hallmark movies instead of being at work. But if you work for a big corporation, you better be careful. And don’t say you haven’t been warned.