A new colleague has been with you for almost three months. The contract says the probation period ends on Friday. On Wednesday you realise nobody has talked about how it is going. The person seems fine, a few things were slow, a few went well, and the manager has a vague feeling. On Friday the period simply ends, and the company has kept someone it never actually decided to keep.
This is the usual failure in small companies. Probation is not the problem; the lack of a routine is. With three short check-ins and a page of notes, the period becomes what it is meant to be: a fair trial for both sides.
What probation is for
The purpose is simple. The company learns whether the person can do the job and fits the way the team works. The person learns whether the job is what they expected. Both sides should be able to say yes or no with a reason.
Rules on probation differ a lot between countries: how long it may last, how much notice is needed, what protections apply, whether it can be extended. They are often set by law or by the contract. Before you design your routine, check them with your lawyer or payroll provider. Everything below is about how to manage the time, not about what you are legally allowed to do.
Week one: agree what "good" looks like
Probation fails most often because the target was never stated. In the first week, sit down for twenty minutes and write three to five points describing a good result at the end. Make them observable.
- "Handles incoming customer requests alone, with no more than occasional questions."
- "Closes the monthly reports on time, with errors found by review rather than by the customer."
- "Uses the shared tools as the team does: tickets, calendar, shared drive."
- "Tells the team early when a deadline is at risk."
Avoid points like "good attitude" or "fits in". If you cannot imagine an example of it, the person cannot aim at it. Give the person the list, and keep a copy. If you already have a first-week plan for new people, this list sits next to it; see the first week of a new employee.
The three check-ins
Each check-in takes thirty minutes and has the same shape: what has gone well, what has not, what is unclear, what happens next.
- Early, around week three or four. The question is mostly about the company: did we give you what you need? Access, tools, a person to ask, clear tasks. Problems at this stage are very often ours, and fixing them is part of the test.
- Middle, about halfway. Go through the list from week one point by point. For each point, say where the person stands and give one example. If something is clearly off track, say so now and agree what would change it in the next four weeks.
- Final, one to two weeks before the end. Nothing should be a surprise here. Review the list again, say what you are leaning towards, and ask the person how they see it. Then set the date of the decision.
Do not skip a check-in because it is busy. A skipped check-in is how a manager ends up deciding on the last Friday with no facts.
What to write down
After each check-in, write a half-page note the same day. Four headings are enough:
- Date and who was present.
- What we observed. Facts and examples: "Closed the March report on the 3rd, two corrections found in review." Not "seems slow".
- What we agreed. One or two specific things the person will do and one thing the company will do.
- Open points. Anything still to be decided or checked.
Send the note to the person, or at least show it, so that both sides agree it is accurate. Keep the notes with the personnel file in the place where you keep other employee records, with access limited to the manager and the people who handle HR. Treat them as personal data and follow your local rules on storage and retention.
How to decide
Put the decision date in the calendar before the person starts, a few days before probation ends. This leaves time to act whichever way you decide, including time for any notice you must give.
On the day, read the list from week one and the three notes. For each point mark one of three things: met, partly met, not met. Then ask two questions.
- Would we hire this person again today, knowing what we know?
- If the answer is "partly", is the gap something that training and clear feedback can close, and do we have the time to do it?
The usual outcomes are to confirm the employment, to confirm with a short agreed development plan, or to end it. Where your rules allow an extension, use it only for a reason you can state in one sentence and with a new, specific target. An extension because "we are not sure" only moves the missing decision to a later date.
How to say it
If the answer is yes, say it plainly, mention one or two concrete things that earned it and what the next step is, for example a first regular one-to-one; see a regular one-to-one meeting with each team member.
If the answer is no, say it in person, early in the conversation and without long preamble. Name the points from the list that were not met and the examples from your notes. Follow the process required by your contract and local rules, and have your lawyer or payroll provider confirm the wording and the dates. Because the person has seen the notes from three check-ins, the message should not be a shock. Agree how the handover of work and access will happen. A short, respectful conversation protects the person and the team that remains.
Where AI can help, and where it should not
An AI assistant can turn rough bullet points into a clean half-page note, prepare a first draft of the week-one list from the job description, or remind you of the check-in dates. It should not judge the person, and it should not receive personal data about them unless the tool is approved by your company for that purpose. The decision and the conversation stay with the manager. Read every note yourself before it is saved or sent.
What to do this week
- Take the next person who joins, or the one currently on probation, and put three check-in dates and the decision date in the calendar.
- Write the three to five points that describe a good result and share them.
- Make a one-page note template with the four headings above.
- Ask your lawyer or payroll provider for the rules on length, notice and extension, and add them to the top of the template.
None of this takes much time: about two hours per person over the whole period. It replaces a vague feeling on the last Friday with a decision both sides understand.