Probing into Probation

by Brendan McCarron, Assistant Manager of the Brightwater HR division

In an ideal world you interview and hire your preferred candidate and that’s the end of that. They start working for your organisation and deliver the performance and quality that you expected from their stellar interview process.

In reality it sometimes just doesn’t work out – the fit is just not ‘right’ for either or both sides. The proof is in the pudding… both parties really only find out if the move is right once you have started the new Job. There is a mutuality in these instances….

However, if the issue is down to the employee’s performance and quality of work, or the manager’s expectation not being met, then it is a different conversation and normally not a ‘mutual’ one. People who have gone into the review meeting, sit-down or ‘chat’ and asked how they felt things were going – then are ultimately told how the organisation felt things were going and are exited shortly after.

This is something that I struggle to comprehend. Do your new hires know exactly what is required to PASS probation. What is expected of them, what their deliverables, metrics, KPI’s are.

What ‘good’ looks like.

I have talked to candidates who have been ‘let go’ once their probation period is up – a little too late for any discussion around performance then.

You exert so much time and energy attracting and recruiting talent to your organisation, only to shuffle them into an unfair, murky and knife-edge probation process. It doesn’t make sense….

At the IBEC conference in May, IBEC’s Paul Rochford talked about managing a successful probation period. There are three outcomes to a probation period:

• Confirmation
• Extension
• Dismissal

He stated that any of the three should not be a surprise to the employee when conducting their review.

Paul said that managing a successful probation process starts when the person is hired. The expectation is outlined to them from the get-go, it is clearly included in their contract of employment – either in line with wider company policy or a specific set of policies to govern probation with your company.

There should be frequent check-ins throughout the probation. Be open and honest. Have the conversation if things are not progressing as expected but have this as early as possible. Extend the probation period if needed, but clearly explain why.
Or maybe the only option is really to dismiss the person, but ideally there have been conversations leading up to this decision and it is not a bolt out of the blue for the employee.

You worked long and hard to hire this person, so make sure your probation policy gives them the best chance to succeed

About the author
Brendan is a BA Honours Graduate in History and has worked within the Irish staffing industry since 2013.
Brendan joined Brightwater in April 2017 as Assistant Manager of the HR division and assists companies of all sizes and across all sectors with their HR recruitment requirements. He specialises in recruiting HR professionals at all levels from administration through to HR management and across all specialisms including recruitment coordination, training/learning & development and employee engagement/compensation & benefits.