Probation Periods Explained

A probation period is the opening stretch of a new job during which the contract usually allows a shorter notice period on either side. It is a trial in both directions, and the terms differ by country and by contract. What follows describes how probation normally works; the version that applies to you is the one in your offer letter.

What probation is for

The employer uses it to check that you can do the job, and you use it to check that the job matches how it was described. Contracts commonly run probation for three or six months, sometimes twelve for senior roles, and usually allow the period to be extended once by a set amount if the assessment is not yet clear.

Some contracts give fewer benefits during probation, such as no company sick pay beyond the statutory minimum or no eligibility for a bonus. Read those clauses before you start, not on the day something goes wrong.

Ask before you accept whether probation affects your eligibility for the pension, for a bonus or for company sick pay, and how much notice you must give if you decide to leave during the first month. Those three answers change the real value of the offer.

What your rights are during probation

Probation does not remove your basic rights. You are still entitled to your contractual pay, statutory holiday, sick pay where the law provides it, protection from discrimination, and a payslip showing the deductions taken. What probation usually changes is the notice period and, in some countries, how long you must have worked before you can bring a claim for unfair dismissal.

The shorter notice cuts both ways. If the job is wrong you can leave quickly, and if it goes wrong for you the employer can end it quickly, sometimes with a week's notice or pay in lieu and often without a detailed reason. That is why the first few months deserve more attention than most people give them.

Keep your own copy of the contract, the written objectives and every review note. Managers leave, systems get migrated, and the folder you keep yourself is often the only version of those documents that survives intact.

How to pass it

Few people fail probation because of skill. They fail on reliability and on silence about problems that could have been fixed.

Learn the unwritten rules quickly: how work gets signed off, who to copy on an email, how long a lunch break people actually take. None of it is in the handbook, all of it is noticed, and getting it right in week two buys you room to be ordinary later.

• Get the objectives in writing. - Ask on day one what you will be assessed against. If there is no list, send your manager your own summary of what success looks like and ask them to correct it.
• Meet the dates. - Turn up on time, deliver what you promised when you promised it, and tell people early when you cannot. Reliability is the thing most often assessed.
• Ask for a review yourself. - Do not wait for month six. At week four and again at week ten, ask for fifteen minutes and one question: what should I be doing differently?
• Record the feedback. - After each conversation, email a short summary of what was said and what you will change. That gives you a trail if the assessment later shifts.

If it is not working out

When your manager raises concerns, ask for them in writing with examples and a date for the next review. Vague criticism cannot be fixed and is difficult to answer later. Ask what a good outcome would look like in the remaining weeks, and whether an extension is possible.

If the probation is terminated, ask for the reason in writing and check the notice you are owed. Discrimination, or dismissal for raising a safety or whistleblowing concern, is a different matter from a genuine capability decision, and time limits for claims are short. Get advice quickly if you believe the real reason was one of those.

Confirm the outcome in writing

When probation is completed, ask for confirmation in writing and for any agreed change to your notice period or benefits from that date. Keep it with your contract.

If the period is extended, get the extension, the new end date, the objectives and the support you will be given, all in writing. An extension without written objectives tends to repeat itself.

If written confirmation never arrives, ask for it by email and copy whoever issued your contract. Silence is not approval, and a missing confirmation can leave you unsure months later whether your notice period ever changed.