The WSJ’s performance improvement plan problem

Lachlan Cartwright and Ravi Somaiya of Breaker write about the performance improvement plan issue at The Wall Street Journal.

Cartwright and Somaiya report, “Just ask the Wall Street Journal where PIPs have almost doubled since editor in chief Emma Tucker took over in 2023. It was, perhaps, the inspiration for a November Journal story ‘The Most Hated Way of Firing Someone Is More Popular Than Ever. It’s the Age of the PIP.’

“The piece from workplace reporters, Lauren Weber and Chip Cutter, went into granular detail to ask ‘Why are PIPs so common now?,’ ‘Why are PIPs needed?’ and ‘What’s it like to be put on a PIP?’

“They didn’t have to look far for answers. They interviewed former Journal senior special writer, Stephanie Armour, who is currently suing the paper for discrimination and the fraudulent use of PIPs. She alleges the Journal used confected performance issues to get rid of her.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.