You may receive a surprise PIP without prior indication about negative performance - Product Designer Automattic Employee Review

Bad managers and leadership. Your employment can be terminated without prior warning. I had weekly 1 on 1s with my team lead/manager (Design Director) and there was no helpful feedback that was given, leading me to believe that I was meeting performance expectations. Prior performance reviews from different team leads have always been positive and resulted in a raise. All of a sudden, I was put on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) by the Head of Design. When I read the PIP, I would have been able to successfully achieve what was outlined had I known that I had gaps in those areas. How can anyone improve if they don't even know what they're doing wrong? A manager's primary role is to guide their direct reports by delivering feedback. My manager had every opportunity to do that during our regular 1 on 1s, but never did so. Ultimately, I declined to pursue the PIP knowing that my manager has poor communication skills. I might be led to believe that I'm doing fine during the process only to fail at it in the end.