The day I got put on my performance improvement plan (or PIP) in my content marketing job, I drove back to an Appalachian folk magic store I’d happened into the weekend prior. I bought a bottle of Boss Fix Oil, a “conjuring oil” touted as a way of “improving work dynamics.”

I’m not a particularly spiritual man, but I truly was at my wit’s end. I’d been in this role for nearly a year, and in my 25 years of working, I’d never struggled this badly to prove my professional worth. 

A little Googling—and texts from friends—produced the same verdict: PIPs mean they’re trying to get rid of you. Start looking for new employment. 

Needless to say, I was freaking out. But I buckled down, kept my confidence and worked hard through the PIP—and yet? There was something that was bothering me beyond just the PIP. 

Getting put on one made me accept something I was struggling to: the fact that I simply didn’t fit into the culture there.

The term “culture fit” is divisive in corporate spaces, and understandably so: It introduces subjectivity into a world that likes to pretend it’s a meritocracy. But I also think you can’t overstate the importance of fit in the workplace. A 2023 research review found organizational fit has a much stronger relationship with job satisfaction than job performance. 

I suspected pretty early on that the way I worked and the way this company worked didn’t align. I remember talking to my mother after attending an in-person department summit for the first time.

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