At Lunar HR, our HR Consultants have comprised a step-by-step guide to probationary periods.
Whether you are a first-time employer or a seasoned employer, hiring the right person comes with a risk.
Until your chosen candidate starts work and you can see if they live up to the interview and CV, you don’t know if you have the right person for the job. Equally, this applies to the candidate. The probation period is also for them to see if the company and job is what they were promised at the interview. For these reasons, the probation period is so important, yet it doesn’t always get the importance it should be given.
At Lunar HR, our HR Consultants have comprised a step-by-step guide to probationary periods.
Employment law does not state you must offer a probation period, it is entirely up to you if you do.
The purpose of the probation period is for both parties, you and the candidate, to effectively trial the job and see if it is right. It’s the opportunity to check if everything that was discussed in the interview or written in the job advert and CV stacks up.
There are some employment rights the employee will have from day one such as not to be discriminated against, the right to be paid, entitlement to annual leave.
The length of a probation period is traditionally between 3 and 6 months. It really depends on the role.
The more senior a role, with more responsibilities and requiring a higher level of skills and experience, it is not unusual for a 6-month probation period. How long will it take for an employee to learn the job, your systems or whether they need to undergo additional training.
If you recognise the performance or conduct of an employee isn’t quite where you expect it to be, you can extend the probation period. You should be having regular discussions with the employee about setting expectations and offering support and coaching to help them to become successful, after all you have spent time and money on recruiting. Our HR Consultants go through this in more detail below.
Yes, you must stipulate how long the probation period is, that you will review and monitor performance and conduct during this time and hold regular review meetings. The clause should also inform the employee that they will be informed in writing if they have passed their probation period.
As stated above, the employee’s statutory rights are not affected by a probation period. The main difference is the notice period you agree. Usually termination of employment, for unsuccessful probation period is 1 week (after the first 30 days where you don’t have to give any notice period) whereas once a probation period has successfully been passed, most contracts state employees must provide one month’s or 4 weeks’ notice.
The statutory notice period to terminate employment the employer must provide is 1 week for each complete year.
An employer can choose not to provide contractual benefits during the probation period, such as permanent health insurance, additional annual leave, bonus and commission.
An employer should also make clear that the offer of employment is conditional upon the successful completion of probation period.
To start with, we would suggest weekly as any teething problems can be ironed out. If the employee is managing well then you can hold reviews on a monthly basis.
The point of a review is to discuss any areas of performance and conduct where the employee is not meeting expectations, make expectations clear and offer support, coaching and additional training if needed. You want the employee to succeed in doing a good job.
If there are concerns even after the support and coaching then it is important not to ignore them but bring them to the employee’s attention. They may not even be aware there are concerns about their performance and/or conduct.
Many employers have probation periods but not as many employers have reviews during the probation period.
Review meetings are really important if you are going to have a probation period. How else is the employee going to know they are meeting expectations, discuss training, understand the culture of the business?
You will have planned weekly or monthly review meetings but that doesn’t stop you from discussions between then if something crops up. You don’t want the employee to sit waiting until the next review meeting to ask a question or to clarify expectations.
The purpose of the review is to have an open dialogue where the employee can also raise concerns, ask questions, check their understanding and get constructive feedback. If a probation period is not going well, you don’t want to wait until a termination meeting to bring this to the employee’s notice.
Be honest with the employee about their performance and have a plan on what you want them to achieve ready for the next review meeting. Remember SMART goals!
Keep a record of the review meetings and share them with the employee, so everyone is on the same page.
If you have been having regular review meetings, you will know in a couple of months if the probation period is going well or not. If not, you will have identified why not and hopefully agreed remedial actions, such as clarifying expectations, provided additional training and support.
Where an employee is making progress towards achieving the expectations, you may well decide to extend the probation period.
How long you extend the probation period depends on how long you believe the employee needs. Usually, it would not be more than 3 months.
You should meet with the employee, explain the reasons why you believe an extension of the probation period is being recommended, discuss this with the employee and then confirm the decision in writing.
You will need to meet with the employee and inform them whether they have successfully passed their probation period or not. Write to them with your decision.
If they have successfully passed their probation period, any contractual elements that were dependant on a successful probation period will become effective, such as notice period or benefits.
In the event the employee is not going to pass their probation period, you should invite them to a meeting, explaining a possible decision from the meeting could be to terminate their employment. As this is a formal meeting they have a statutory right to be accompanied by a work place colleague or a trade union representative.
During the meeting discuss the previous review meetings, support/coaching and any additional training offered and how the employee has performed. It’s important to allow the employee to put forward their reasoning and mitigation for you to consider.
When deciding on the outcome of an unsuccessful probation period, it does not always mean termination of employment. There may be another role the employee is more suited to which you could offer instead.
If you do decide to terminate the employment, confirm the decision in writing and give the employee the right to appeal.
If you have any questions about probation periods we have not covered, please give our HR Advisors a call on 07508 022261. Human resource management can be a demanding aspect of your business, so leave it to our friendly team who
We are friendly and approachable and we would love to hear from you.
If you would like to enquire about any of our services or just have a question you would like to ask, please contact us and we will be more than happy to answer your questions.
Let us help you to keep abreast of employment legislation that affects you and your employees. Find top tips you can easily implement in your business today. We love receiving feedback on our blogs, so don’t be shy and get in contact.
Designed & Built
By wizard pi