Probation policy template
Probation works when the criteria are written down on day one. Most are written on day eighty-nine, by a manager who has already decided.
Use it where new joiners have a defined probation and someone has to make a call at the end of it. Check the length and the wording against your contracts first, because the contract wins.
PROBATION POLICY — [Company name]
Effective [date] · Owner: [HR lead]
1. LENGTH
[Three] months from the start date for [all] roles, [six] for [senior or
leadership] roles. The length is stated in the offer and in the contract.
2. WHAT IS BEING ASSESSED
Written before the start date, shared with the joiner in week one, and kept
to four or five points. Each one is observable:
· the work itself: quality, and whether it lands on the agreed date
· working with others: asks early, answers clearly, takes feedback
· reliability: hours, availability, follow-through on commitments
· role-specific: [name the two things this role must be able to do]
Vague criteria such as culture fit do not belong here. If a point cannot be
evidenced with something that happened, it cannot be assessed.
3. CHECK-INS
Week 2 Settling in. Tools working? Anything blocked?
Week 6 Against the criteria, point by point. Written summary.
Week 10 Any gap named plainly, with what good looks like by week 12.
Week 12 Decision conversation.
A concern raised for the first time at week twelve is a management failure,
not a probation outcome.
4. DECISIONS
Confirmed Criteria met. Confirmed in writing, with the date.
Extended A specific gap, a specific new end date, in writing. Once.
Not passed Handled under [your process], following the contract and the
notice it sets out.
5. DURING PROBATION
Probationers [may / may not] request annual leave, and accrue leave from
[day one / confirmation]. Sick leave applies from day one. [State your
position on remote days during probation.]
6. RECORDS
Every check-in is written up, however short, and kept on the employee's
record with its date and author. The decision references those notes.
7. WHAT THIS IS NOT
Probation is not a review cycle, a rating or a score. It is one decision,
made once, against criteria the person saw at the start.
Approved by [name, title], [date].Before you send it
- Write the criteria before the offer goes out. Criteria written later are shaped by what the person did, which is the opposite of an assessment.
- Allow one extension and say so. Open-ended probation is unfair to the person and tells you nothing new.
- Notice, extension limits and how a probation may end are contract and local-law matters. Have this document checked by someone who knows your jurisdiction before it is used on anyone.
- Keep the check-in notes short and factual. One paragraph per point, written the same day, beats a page written from memory in week twelve.
- PeopleMuster keeps an admin-only log of performance events: a dated positive or negative note with a category and an author, written against a person. Notes like these give the end-of-probation decision something to stand on.
Questions people ask about this letter
How long should probation be?
Three months is enough to see most roles clearly. Six suits roles where the first real output is slow to arrive. Longer than six tells you the criteria were never sharp.
Should probation criteria be shared with the employee?
Always, and in week one. An assessment against hidden criteria is not an assessment, and it is the thing people remember about how you treat them.
Can probation be extended more than once?
Avoid it. A second extension usually means the decision is being postponed rather than gathered. Whether repeated extensions are even permitted varies by jurisdiction and contract, so check.