Last reviewed: 22 June 2022
- Make workplace adjustments for disabled employees during their probationary period – consider extending their probation if the right adjustments take time to identify and put in place.
- Set realistic goals and support employees on probation with regular check-in meetings to review their performance.
What is the purpose of probationary periods?
The point of a probationary period is for both the new employee and the employer to find out if the job is suitable for the person hired
Setting goals
Set the new starter goals or targets to achieve during their probationary period.
- Make sure that targets are realistic for the employee to achieve during their probationary period.
- Their targets should relate to the job that they were hired to do – they should match the essential criteria in the job advert.
Make sure the employee understands
Employees can only demonstrate their capabilities and suitability for the role if they are clear about what is required from them. This means that at your first meeting you must ensure the new employee understands:
- What outputs or deliverables are required from them by the end of the probationary period? What do they have to achieve and by when?
- The standard of performance required of them. What does good look like and what is not good enough, illustrated with examples.
- How will their performance be measured? This includes any standards or measures you regularly use. These could be from data collected electronically, quality control measures or feedback from customers or colleagues.
- What standards of conduct or behaviour are required? This may include how they dress or how they work with clients and colleagues.
- Any areas where they will need to develop their skills or knowledge.
- What they should do if they are experiencing problems or if adjustments aren’t working effectively.
The role of the manager
The employee needs to be supported by their manager. Their manager should also keep them up to date with their progress and indicate how they can improve if they are failing to meet their targets.
Managers should schedule regular check-in meetings with the employee during their probationary period. At these they should:
- Ask if the employee needs any extra support
- Check to see if their adjustments are working well or if their adjustments need to be changed or if they need new or different adjustments. For advice about asking questions about adjustments, see our resource ‘Asking about adjustments – Language’.
- Tell the employee how they are performing and if they need to improve to meet their targets.
- Provide constructive support and advice about how they can improve and meet their targets.
- Discuss any training or extra support that could help improve their performance.
- Setting a mid-probation meeting to discuss the first few weeks or months or the probation period and the time to come before the period expires is a best practice. The final end of probation meeting should not contain any surprises for the employee. Any issues or difficulties should have been discussed and resolved prior to this meeting.
Probationary periods and adjustments
Employees will only be able to demonstrate their ability to do the job if they have the adjustments they need in place.
Some employees may start their probationary period with adjustments in place, for example if these have been agreed and put in place before their first day. For other employees, the need for adjustments may only become clear once they start working.
If adjustments have been put in place before they start, these may not be completely effective. They may need to be changed or new adjustments put in place during their probationary period.
If the adjustments an employee needs to do their job are put in place after their probationary period starts, consider extending their probationary period until they have had a fair time to demonstrate their ability. For example, if an employee has a three-month probationary period and they need adjustments that were only put in place six weeks in, consider extending their probationary period by six weeks.
However, don’t needlessly extend their probationary period. Someone may benefit from adjustments but still be able to meet their targets without them. In this case you wouldn’t need to extend their probationary period. Needlessly extending a probationary period because of disability could be seen as discriminatory.
Probationary periods and the law
Probationary periods are no different from regular employment, aside from changes to their contract that come into effect after they are confirmed in post.
This means that, in the UK, employees on probation are protected from discrimination and unfavourable treatment by the Equality Act 2010. This means that:
- Employers are required to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ for disabled employees on probation.
- Failing to confirm employees in post without first making reasonable adjustments could be unlawful discrimination.
For tailored guidance about your organisation’s legal duties and best practice, contact our Advice Service.
Further information
Our People Manager Toolkit contains guidance for people managers about supporting disabled new starters during their probationary period. See the resources in the section ‘Managing new starters’.
For tailored guidance about what to do in specific situations and best practice, contact our Advice Service.
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