Taylor Swift’s recent sourdough obsession offers an unexpectedly useful lesson for employers navigating employee performance improvement concerns: good results take the right ingredients, a little patience, and plenty of follow-up. So what do sourdough and employee performance issues have in common? They’re both crummy! I was inspired by Taylor’s journey into sourdough and actually started baking sourdough myself back in 2025. Since then, I’ve learned that the process for baking a good loaf and implementing a performance improvement plan (PIP) aren’t all that different.
1. Feed Your Starter
Just like a sourdough starter needs regular feeding before becoming “active” to bake a loaf, employees need the right tools, resources, training, and clear expectations. A PIP should not be the first time an employee learns that their performance is a problem – there should be plenty of discussion with the employee before going that route. But, if necessary, employers should consider a few things before placing an employee on a formal performance improvement plan:
- Were expectations clearly communicated?
- Did the employee receive adequate training for their role?
- Does the employee have the necessary resources to succeed, including the tools to self-solve or ask for help when needed? Have they used those resources, if available?
- Has the employee previously received meaningful feedback about the performance issue?
2. The Importance of a Multi-Step Plan
An employee performance improvement plan is a lot like the stretch-and-fold process for making a sourdough loaf: one step isn’t enough. When making a loaf, each stretch and fold develops the gluten in the dough, making it stronger and more likely to bake into the perfect loaf. Similarly, each check-in with the employee for the duration of the performance improvement plan should help develop the employee’s performance.
After identifying that an employee is struggling, don’t just hand the employee a PIP and wait for the deadline to pass. Employers should instead schedule regular check-ins with the employee, to ask questions, provide feedback, and document their progress towards the desired improvement outcomes. This should also include directly observing the employee’s performance or work product, so that employers can address obstacles to their progress. Most importantly, employers make sure the employee understands what successful improvement actually looks like.
3. Patience Is Key
The hardest part with sourdough and employee performance improvement is the waiting. Just as sourdough needs time to bulk ferment, employees need a reasonable opportunity to apply new skills, incorporate feedback, and demonstrate their improvement. The appropriate timeframe will depend on the circumstances and the performance issue. But employers should avoid setting unrealistic deadlines or continually moving the goalposts once the performance improvement plan is given to the employee. This will ensure enough time to determine whether the employee can ultimately meet expectations and improve.
4. Apply the Heat
When baking a sourdough loaf, you have to actually put the loaf in the oven to bake, to see if your preparation and patience has paid off. For employers navigating employee performance issues, that means testing whether the employee’s improvement holds up in practice. After an employee has completed the performance improvement plan, an employer should evaluate whether the employee is still consistently meeting deadlines, whether errors or mistakes are decreasing, whether procedures are being followed, and whether after being on their own, under pressure, the employee has actually addressed the specific performance concerns identified in the PIP.
5. The Goal: A Better Loaf
A PIP shouldn’t automatically mean termination. Think about it: If the goal of baking sourdough was simply to throw away the loaf, why bother feeding the starter, stretching and folding the dough, waiting for fermentation, and baking the loaf? The same philosophy can apply to performance management: the purpose of a PIP should be to give the employee a clear understanding of expectations for their role, the problem with their performance and a structured opportunity to improve, while giving leadership a meaningful way to evaluate whether improvement actually occurs. Whether sourdough or employee performance improvement, these steps are the perfect recipe to yield success.
Carli Smith is an attorney with FordHarrison who focuses her practice on labor and employment law and business immigration. She advises employers on workplace matters and draws on experience in both employment litigation and corporate immigration. A graduate of DePaul University College of Law, Carli earned her J.D. magna cum laude. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling with friends and family and spending time at the dog park with her corgi.