Welcome to episode 175. And one of the things that I find really interesting is that we spend a lot of time as business owners and leaders talking about recruitment, you know, attracting the right people, writing better job ads, improving interviews, making good hiring decisions. And like that’s all important because finding
really good people isn’t always easy. And so sometimes we’re just relieved when the recruitment process is over, because finally someone has accepted the role and they sign the contract and, you know, the hard part’s behind us. But what actually happens is that that’s what starts the most important stages of the employee journey. Those first 90 days often determine whether someone is a confident, high-performing, engaged member of the team, or six months later, everyone’s wondering, why didn’t that work out?
And the latest AHRI, which is the Australian Human Resources Institute Work Outlook Report, tells us that almost three in 10 organisations in Australia are still finding recruitment difficult. So if you’ve invested weeks, sometimes months, finding the right person, you really can’t afford to just leave those first few months of employment to chance.
So that’s why today I’m talking about probation, because it’s not about just getting to the end of three months and deciding, you know, someone passed or failed. It’s really about giving someone every opportunity to succeed and become a long-term engaged team member. So starting with what a probation period is. Most of them are three to six months, although that should never be confused with an employee’s workplace rights or the minimum employment period under the Fair Work Act, which is 6 months or 12 months, depending on if you meet the definition of a small business employer. So although the time period is important to understand, one of the biggest misconceptions I come across is that probation is a date in the calendar. Someone receives a reminder from HR or payroll that probation finishes next week. The manager has a bit of a panic thinking over the last three or six months, have a meeting, complete a form, make a decision. And if that’s what probation looks like in your business, then it’s probably time to start thinking about it a little differently. Because by the time you’re having that conversation, the most important part of probation has already happened, or maybe it hasn’t happened at all. Because probation shouldn’t be about making a decision at the end, it should be everything that happens along the way. If someone reaches the end of their probation and they’re surprised by the outcome, then something is wrong in the process. I’ve spoken before about onboarding and if you listen to the podcasts regularly, you’ll know that I’m a big believer that onboarding is a lot more than just showing someone where the kitchen is and giving them a login and a laptop on their first day. But onboarding and probation aren’t quite the same thing.
So if you think about onboarding as helping someone settle into the business, it’s introducing them to the people, the systems, the culture, and giving them confidence to find their feet. Whereas probation is about helping both the employee and the business understand, is this the right long-term fit. And sometimes we forget the employee is also assessing us as much as we’re assessing them. They’re asking themselves questions like, is this what I expected? Do I enjoy working here? Do I trust my manager? Can I see myself building a career here? And the 1st 90 days aren’t just about the employer making a decision, both sides are working out is this going to be a successful relationship? So when I talk about success through probation, I’m not just talking about whether someone can technically do the job, but also about how are they working with the team? Are they living the values of the business? How do they respond to feedback? Do they show good judgement?
Because those things are going to tell us just as much as their technical skills. And we want to pay attention to early patterns, you know, not isolated incidents because everyone can have a bad day, but patterns, you know, are they consistently late? Do they avoid feedback? Are they blaming others when things go wrong?
Or are they learning? Are they adapting? Are they becoming confident? Because those are the sorts of things that can help us paint a much clearer picture.
And one thing I notice quite often is that businesses assume expectations are obvious. We recruit someone, they interviewed well, we send them a position description, we explain a few processes, and then we just expect them to work out what success looks like. But a position description doesn’t actually tell someone how success is managed in your business. One manager might value initiative. Another might place more importance on accuracy. Someone else is looking for someone who builds relationships quickly. And if we haven’t had those conversations, we’re asking people to hit a target that they can’t actually see. So whenever I’m working with a client who’s bringing someone new into the business, I encourage them to think about success in stages. So not waiting until the end of probation. So in those first 30 days, I’m generally looking at whether someone is settling in. Are they building relationships? Are they learning the systems? Are they asking good questions? By around 60 days, I expect they’re becoming much more independent and starting to contribute with more confidence then by 90 days, you’re really looking at whether they’re consistently delivering what’s expected of them. It doesn’t mean that they’ve learned everything. Nobody can do that usually in three months, but you should have a pretty good indication that they’re headed in the right direction.
So take a moment and ask, what would you like this new person to understand after two weeks? What should they be able to do confidently after the first month? And what would good progress look like after 60 days? And then by the end of 90 days, what would tell you that this employee is heading in the right direction, those conversations make feedback much easier, because everybody knows what they’re working towards.
Another thing I’ve learned over the years is not to confuse confidence with competence. Some people can arrive full of confidence. They build relationships quickly, they’re happy to contribute ideas from day one, and everyone says, oh, they’re going to be fantastic. And sometimes they are. Sometimes they’re still learning the technical side of the role and need plenty of support.
And then there are other people who are much quieter and they take longer to find their feet, but they ask lots of questions. So they may not appear as confident in those early weeks, but maybe in the long term, they’re actually going to become your most exceptional employees. So I’d encourage managers not to judge
too quickly. Learning doesn’t look the same from one person to the next. And I remember one client who called me because the candidate that she fell in love with for a sales role and offered the role to was late on day one.
And on day two, she had car trouble. Day 3, she heard her on the phone to a customer being overly direct. By week two, there were so many red flags that she had to have an open conversation with the employee about her concerns. And it turned out to be one of those situations where the employee was super confident, but the skills and behaviours didn’t match.
So one of the conversations that I like to engage business leaders with is about feedback during probation. Because the number of times that I’ve heard a manager say, this person’s just not working out. And first question is, okay, what conversations have you had?
And they say, well, none, because if we’re not sure after two months, there’s every chance the employee isn’t sure either. And feedback should not be saved for a formal probation review. It should just become part of the way that we’re managing day-to-day. So some of the best managers that I’ve worked with don’t make a big event out of feedback. They just ask, you know, how are you finding things? Is there anything harder than you expected? Or, you know, here’s something that you just did really well, or, you know, can I give you a suggestion that could make that task easier for you next time? They’re really small bits of feedback and conversations, but they build trust and clarity over time. So then when you get to the end of the probation period, nothing’s a surprise because you’ve been talking all the way through.
And occasionally we are asked, can probation be extended? And often an extension has no real legal standing in that just because you say it’s extended doesn’t mean that the period aligns with the Fair Work Act requirements or that the employee can’t make an unfair dismissal claim. But more importantly,
If you have a six month period and you have enough concerns that you’re still unsure, then I would be asking, why are you considering trying to extend this? Are you just trying to avoid making a decision? And that’s why the process check-ins and conversations during the period are so important.
Now, of course, there are times when concerns start to emerge and that happens. But before deciding that someone simply isn’t the right fit, it’s worth just slowing down, asking a few questions. Asking yourself, have I provided enough training? Have I been clear about what good performance looks like? Has the manager been available when they needed support?
Have they received feedback and been able to act on it? Or have we assumed that because someone has done a similar role before, they’ll automatically know how to do things here? Because they’re very different situations. Sometimes the issue is capability or confidence or unclear expectations. Sometimes it’s the way that the role has been structured.
And sometimes it’s just not the right fit. But the important thing is taking the time to understand which of those you’re dealing with rather than jumping straight into a conclusion. And I remember a time where a manager was unsure about their new employee, but once they had an open conversation, they discovered that the employee just really lacked
confidence to ask for help. So once they knew that it was safe to do that and that help was available and expected, then they were able to start improving their performance. And without that conversation, they probably would have continued to lag and not been a long-term employee.
So one thing I also encourage managers to do is to keep a simple record of these conversations. I’m not talking pages of notes, it could just be a few bullet points. Just after each check-in, you know, what did we agree was going well? What support did they ask for? What actions did we both commit to before we meet again? And the reason I’m mentioning this is not because I’m expecting something to go wrong,
but because three or six months is actually quite a long time, and it’s amazing how quickly people remember conversations differently. So having those notes just helps everyone to stay on the same page. Something else I’d like to touch on is the role of managers, because I think sometimes we do put too much pressure on them. Managers worry they’ll say the wrong thing or that they need to have all the answers before they have the conversation with someone who’s struggling.
But you just don’t. You know, as a manager, your role is to notice when something isn’t quite right, to create a safe conversation and to listen with curiosity rather than jumping to conclusions. So a simple phrase you can use is just, I’ve noticed, dot, dot, dot.
Because it starts with an observation rather than assumption. So I’ve noticed you’ve been staying back quite a bit. I’ve noticed you don’t seem quite as confident as you did a few weeks ago. Now those conversations are much easier and more open and they come from a place of curiosity and positive intent rather than…
Now, I’ve noticed that you’re struggling. So, and they create space for the employee to actually tell you what’s going on. So by the time you get towards the end of the probation, you both know what you’re walking into.
Which of course, there are three possible outcomes. The first is easy. You’re confident it’s the right person and you confirm their employment. Sometimes you might genuinely feel that someone needs a little bit longer because there have been interruptions to their training or they’ve changed roles partway through. And sometimes the outcome is that employment comes to an end. No one enjoys those conversations. But if you’ve managed probation well,
the employee should understand why you’ve reached that decision, because you’ve been having those honest conversations throughout. And this is also where HR can play a really valuable role, because good HR doesn’t take those conversations away from the managers, but it supports managers to have them well. And sometimes that support is helping
someone prepare for a conversation, or helping managers separate facts from assumptions, or making sure concerns have been documented appropriately. And in smaller businesses where there isn’t an internal HR, that’s often where an external HR consultant becomes that sounding board, not to make the decision, but to help managers to think it through. So quite often people call us when they’ve already decided to let someone go, but it’s much better to call your HR partner a month or ideally two months before that, because that’s where HR can really help managers think through the situation, work out whether the expectations have been clear,
whether enough support has been provided, and what the best next step might be.
And one point that’s probably worth clarifying is that probation isn’t a legal free pass. I have heard, unfortunately, a lot of people over the years say that, oh, you know, you can just get rid of someone really easily in probation. So putting aside the ethics of a comment like that, employees still have workplace rights during probation. And it’s important that businesses manage concerns fairly and respectfully through the process. So rather than thinking of probation as a safety net, I’d encourage you to think of it as an opportunity. It’s the opportunity to give someone the best possible start while also making sure the business has enough information to make a thoughtful decision about the future. So if you’ve recently welcomed someone into your business or perhaps you’ve got someone who’s halfway through those first 90 days, I’d encourage you to stop and ask yourself a few questions.
Have you been clear on what success looks like? Have you checked in often enough? And have you recognised what’s going well, as well as what could improve? And if there are concerns, have you raised them early enough for the employee to genuinely do something about it? And finally, if we reach the end of probation tomorrow,
would the outcome be a surprise to the employee? Because if the answer is yes, then there’s probably an opportunity to improve the process rather than simply focusing on the outcome. Good probation isn’t about ticking a box after three months. It’s about creating the conditions where people can do their best work, managers feel confident leading them, and businesses make informed decisions based on conversations that have happened consistently along the way. And if we can do this, then this becomes the foundation for a really great employment relationship. Thank you so much for joining me today. If this episode has prompted you to think a little differently about the way you support new employees, I’d encourage you to have a look at your own onboarding and probation processes. You might find a few small changes that could make a significant difference over the long term. And as always, if you’ve enjoyed today’s episode, I’d love it if you could leave a rating or a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify so someone else can find the episode and get help with their business. If you have a question, feedback, or a topic you’d like me to cover in a future episode, head on over to Amplifyhr.com.au or connect with me on LinkedIn and we can start a conversation.