4 ms·

> 6 months is a perfectly reasonable amount of time to judge a job and leave it. Most jobs I've ever had in the UK came with a "probation" period of 6 months,

> 6 months is a perfectly reasonable amount of time to judge a job and leave it. Most jobs I've ever had in the UK came with a "probation" period of 6 months, where the employer could terminate the position with a one week notice (or even shorter if I was the cause of some particularly nasty problem), and after 6 months a review would be conducted to decide if the position was going to be offered on a more permanent basis. I think it's only fair that employees can have the same option to walk away if they find they don't really fit in the culture of the organisation.

redsparrow 5y ago
This is similar to what I've seen in Germany. Probation is six months long and during this time either party can terminate with two weeks notice without any cause. This is a time for both the employer and employee to be evaluating each other for a good fit.
bpiche 5y ago
The US is going this way, with the normalization of contract work for very technical roles. I think it bled over from software-adjacent roles like graphic design and IT support. Regardless, you're going to see more 6 month 'try before you buy' contracts for PhDs with 10 years of engineering experience, than full time roles today. It makes sense for less mission critical roles I suppose, but I don't understand why organizations are willing to put so much at stake by offering a shit sandwich for mission critical roles. And they wonder why there is a hiring issue today.
- throwawayboise 5y ago
  Going this way? It's been this way for decades. Every job I've ever had began with a probationary period, generally 30 - 90 days, maybe one or two were longer.
  - nikau 5y ago
    I've had managers not want to terminate during probation period because it makes them look bad as they hired the wrong person, so they prefer contracts that they can just not renew.
multjoy 5y ago
The probation period is pretty meaningless, except when there's a shorter notice period attached. You can be binned for any reason (or no reason) and have no right to go to tribunal until you've been there for two years, except in the case of a protected characteristic.

redsparrow 5y ago

This is similar to what I've seen in Germany. Probation is six months long and during this time either party can terminate with two weeks notice without any cause. This is a time for both the employer and employee to be evaluating each other for a good fit.

bpiche 5y ago

The US is going this way, with the normalization of contract work for very technical roles. I think it bled over from software-adjacent roles like graphic design and IT support. Regardless, you're going to see more 6 month 'try before you buy' contracts for PhDs with 10 years of engineering experience, than full time roles today. It makes sense for less mission critical roles I suppose, but I don't understand why organizations are willing to put so much at stake by offering a shit sandwich for mission critical roles. And they wonder why there is a hiring issue today.

throwawayboise 5y ago
Going this way? It's been this way for decades. Every job I've ever had began with a probationary period, generally 30 - 90 days, maybe one or two were longer.
- nikau 5y ago
  I've had managers not want to terminate during probation period because it makes them look bad as they hired the wrong person, so they prefer contracts that they can just not renew.

multjoy 5y ago

The probation period is pretty meaningless, except when there's a shorter notice period attached. You can be binned for any reason (or no reason) and have no right to go to tribunal until you've been there for two years, except in the case of a protected characteristic.