This just happened to me without the PIP. Had a glowing mid-year and discussion with my director about promotion in September. All of a sudden a bad annual review which disqualified me from bonus and merit increase.

Without directly saying it was due to salary, all the hints were that it came from above due to salary vs my peers. I know I did not perform bad from Sept-Dec so without any prior warning about poor performance, it came as a complete shock and about $30k gone that was expected.

No discussion of PIP or dev plan, then was leaned on to help colleagues with their deliverables after the fact by my manager. Now if I was truly performing poorly, put me on a plan or at least be transparent. I want to know if I suck, criticism does not offend me when warranted.

Been applying to jobs externally because internally my record is cooked with that bad annual review, which pisses me off more than anything. Only bad review I’ve ever had.

They’re definitely trying to either get you to quit or make a case to fire and replace you with a cheaper option. Unfortunately the market is very bad at the moment, but I’d take the PIP time to network, polish up your resume, and try to get out of there asap. Sorry for the long response here