Nadeen Hui recently shared on TikTok that she put her boyfriend on a PIP, or Performance Improvement Plan, as a way to help with their relationship struggles. The 30-year-old TikToker shared that she put this plan in place back in 2020 when she and her boyfriends of three months were experiencing "a lot of issues." A PIP is a popular document in the tech world where it is given to an employee who may be underperforming. The document usually has a list of goals and need to be met and if they don't meet them, the person's job may be jeopardized.

“I felt like we weren’t compatible, even though we had a lot of love for each other,” says Hui in the clip. “I know it’s kind of harsh to some of you, but he’s an engineer, and sometimes it’s really hard to communicate with him without using something that he can already relate to. Plus, he kind of liked it,” she continued. Hui detailed how they were able to go about this by saying, “We had a shared note with daily and weekly tasks he needed to do, and a set of things that he needed to work on. And it worked out really well.” She also said that now three years later, they still use some of the PIP techniques. The techniques still used include a visual flowchart each week for managing projects and to-dos and weekly check-ins to get a feel for how things are going for each of them.

@nadeenhui we started living together really early on in our relationship so we saw all of each others living habits and lifestyles super quickly. and i honestly think it worked out better this way because we could decide if we actually wanted to work on these lifestyle habits together or split up. since it was so new, there wouldn’t be much love lost and we’d still be friends. but ultimately, we decided that we wanna stay together, and these lifestyle changes were for the better so why not do it? i had to learn to be more accepting and easy going, and he had to learn to be more tidy and considerate of shared spaces. #relationshipadvice #softwareengineerlife #lifeintech #girlsintech ♬ original sound - nadeen

In an interview with HuffPost, Hui explained how they got to that point by saying, “We were friends first and moved in very quickly together because it was COVID lockdown. Because of that, we started seeing each other’s good, bad and ugly very quickly.” She continued saying, “It really came down to the fact that we had different levels of cleanliness that was acceptable at home. I needed a well-organized space to work and feel comfortable, whereas in the beginning, he’d be the type of guy to kick his clothes under the bed and leave it there.”

Overall, Hui says that her plan worked and that her and her boyfriend's relationship is stronger than ever. “Now we have a shared to-do list, so we see what’s on each other’s plates and add to it if there’s something we need the other person to do. But they’re more like reminders,” she said. “We don’t even use the original note anymore!”