European countries differ, but the tales are alike. At least for Germany, if you want to get rid of somebody (outside the public sector), you can. If you don't

European countries differ, but the tales are alike. At least for Germany, if you want to get rid of somebody (outside the public sector), you can. If you don't know about somebody's qualifications, you have 6 months of evaluation and can start with a limited contract for up to two years (and companies routinely do). If people underperform (or are otherwise unfit for the job), you can get rid of them after a small number of written warnings to notify them, so they can try to improve (somewhat similar to a performance improvement plan). But that tale is very useful to keep employees subservient: "Be grateful that we take the risk of employing you, so better don't stick your neck out by asking for something outrageous such as a higher salary!", and so employers keep telling it.