Employees with under two years of service can be dismissed for reasons of poor performance or misconduct without the risk of facing an ordinary unfair dismissal claim. However, as with any dismissal, there are inherent risks associated with terminating an employee’s contract. In addition, a lot of time and effort goes into recruiting new team members and probation periods provide employers with an opportunity to evaluate the performance of new employees in a real work environment whilst following a fair process.
This evaluation period allows you to assess whether the new hire meets the expectations of the role in terms of skills, work quality, productivity, and cultural fit. Starting a new job can be a significant adjustment for employees, as they learn new processes, systems, and responsibilities. A probation period gives new hires time to acclimatise to their role and the company culture while receiving support and feedback from managers and colleagues.
Just as you are assessing the performance and fit of new hires during probation, employees also have the chance to evaluate whether the job and company meet their expectations. This mutual assessment helps both parties determine if there is a good long-term fit and can prevent issues or misunderstandings down the line.
Set Clear Expectations:
- Define specific goals, objectives, and performance expectations for the new hire’s role.
- Schedule regular meetings to discuss progress, address any challenges, and provide constructive feedback.
- Encourage open communication and ensure the new hire knows where to turn for support or assistance.
- Plan to hold probationary review meetings and confirm the outcome of these meetings in writing.
Feedback and Continuous Improvement:
- Solicit feedback from the new hire about their onboarding experience and use it to identify areas for improvement.
- Regularly assess the effectiveness of your onboarding process and make adjustments as needed to ensure it remains relevant and impactful.
If performance issues arise during probation, you should provide feedback, guidance, and additional support to help new hires improve. This proactive approach can prevent problems from escalating and give employees a chance to succeed in their role. It also helps ensure that if an individual’s performance is not meeting the required standard, you will be able to set clear expectations when extending probation, or alternatively why the probation has not been passed and the employment terminated.
HR Solutions can advise you on how to correctly extend probationary periods.
If it is apparent during the probationary period and from review meetings that an individual is unlikely to meet the required standard, then it may result in a dismissal. It is important to ensure that any decision made to dismiss is not based on an unfair reason for dismissal, i.e.
- Dismissal based on protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 can be deemed automatically unfair.
- Dismissing an employee for whistleblowing is considered automatically unfair, as whistleblowers are protected by law.
It is also important that the correct notice period is given to ensure that there is no breach of contract.
Should you need support with the onboarding of new starters, supplying induction forms, setting clear objectives, managing performance in probation or terminating employment HR Solutions can advise on these various elements and the prevailing legislation.
