Probation Query

Gary Gurney

Hi,

I have had my probation period extended in my job. It was a fairly random act from my superiors to do, I had been given 0 warning that this was on the horizon. I've already been working at this employer for a year, the fact they want to extend is bizarre. I was told the reasons are not performance related but more to do with my ways of working. I have been given 3 subjects to work on and they are the reasons my probation has been extended. They are within rights to do so Im not arguing that point - but my point is that I have not been given any warning or any feedback about my ways of working before this review. I had no idea this was on the horizon basically.

They have asked me to dwell on the points mentioned above and go back with my own feedback on them. I've spoken to fellow employees about this and its not the first time they have done this. I am very capable in my role, I actually outperform my line manager in virtually every situation. Would appreciate comments on what would be the best way to approach above situation, I'm a bit rattled mentally from it myself so probably not thinking straight.

Foweva Awone

What are the three subjects? It's hard to judge without knowing whether they are significant or not.

Dav010

Probation can’t exceed 1 year.

bobbysands81

Dav010 wrote: »

Probation can’t exceed 1 year.

It can be extended beyond a year. I’ve seen it happen many times.

rock22

bobbysands81 wrote: »

It can be extended beyond a year. I’ve seen it happen many times.

True, but the employee does have full protection of Unfair dismissals Acts after 12 months , so probation is rather meaningless

any probation extension that came up that late into the original probationary period without a clear paper trail demonstrating that there had been reason for and attempts to previously address those reasons would be highly likely to be found unfair or inadequate in the event of your probation not being successful.

i think best practice probationary periods are recommended capped at eleven months but in practice an employer that hasnt got a nice tight case documented and the employee notified of same by nine months is asking for a lot of trouble

mariaalice

I would be looking for another job (1) they regularly extend probation extending probation should be the exception not something done regularly (2) probation is being extended for something vague like ways of working (3) unprofessional.

Things like that do not occur in isolation says a lot about the organisation or company.