So I signed a contract with the company last month to keep working here.
Last Friday I came into my quarterly 1:1 with my supervisor to find HR there. I immediately knew something was up and by the was told to sign a PIP. I said that I'd like to take my time and would get it back to them on Monday.
As I expected, the terms were quite vague, with one of the few concrete requirements be that I account for some back documentation/progress reports from January to end of the PIP, and collate them in a shared drive.
To be fair, we are supposed to produce weekly reports on what we did, but it's never really been enforced. Most people don't do it consistently and it's never really been an issue. My supervisor has said in meetings that bi-weekly reports are usually good enough, and I try to meet that requirement unless there's something really urgent. Suddenly, they want boatloads of documentation.
Well, around Sunday evening I get a text from a friend that shows me that my supervisor has posted a job that looks suspiciously like mine on LinkedIn. I logged in and the job posting does exist. What's weird is that this job seems to be posted by an alt account of my supervisor (his middle name and different surname). There's nothing posted on our organization's official recruiting portal, or even his "regular" LinkedIn page. What's more is that it links to a custom GoogleForm with a quasi "password protection". You need a password to submit the form via data validation.
Between the vague PIP and the sudden emphasis on documentation, and all of it happening right after I signed on for another year, I’m getting the sense they changed their mind about having me back, and they want to replace me. The requirement for documentation is simply so that the handoff can be smoother on their end.
Am I reading too much into this, or is this basically a sign they’ve already decided to terminate and are just building a paper trail?
Also, would you go to HR about something like this, or just start job hunting and keep your head down?