Field guides

The company has a playbook. Here’s yours.

Plain-English guides to the situations nobody prepares you for — written by a former HR director who spent 12+ years running the company’s side of the table.

Field guide · By Kyle Perlmutter Chapa, former HR Director
The PIP question

A PIP isn’t a right. It’s a receipt.

What a performance improvement plan really means, how to read the signals, and the first 48 hours.

Managed out

No PIP. No warning. Just a slow fade.

The signs of quiet firing, why companies do it, and what to do while you still have leverage.

Before you sign

The offer isn’t just the number.

What’s actually negotiable in a severance package — dates, healthcare, equity, the story — and the mistakes that cost the most.

Who HR works for

HR isn’t your friend.

They’re not the villain either. When going to HR protects you, and when it puts you on record.

On the record

Put it in writing. Before they do.

Your inbox is evidence. What to send, what never to send, and why sequence is everything.

In one of these situations right now?

Guides are general. Your situation isn’t. Book a confidential SOS call — in 60 minutes you’ll know exactly what’s happening and exactly what to do next.

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