Running a probation review cycle
Probation decisions get made on the last recent thing that happened. Three good months and one bad week produce a conversation about the week.
Somebody joined three months ago and a decision is due. Two managers have opinions and neither has notes.
The honest fix is not software that scores people. It is writing things down while they happen.
PeopleMuster holds an admin-only log of positive and negative events, each with a category, a written note, an author and a date. That is the material a probation conversation should be built from.
Set the timing up once. The join date sits on the record, and a scheduled Slack notification carries the review reminder. Events written in the week they happened are evidence. Events written the day before the meeting are recollection wearing a timestamp.
Why one record instead of two
Probation sits at the join. Attendance and logged hours are facts the product already holds, and the event log adds the dated written record. Judgement stays with the managers, and now it has evidence under it. That beats memory as a basis for a decision.
What is switched on
- Employee events
- Dated positive and negative events with categories, notes and an author, admin only.
- SOPs and checklists
- The review cycle itself runs as a tracked process with steps and dates.
- Attendance
- Attendance during probation is a fact rather than an impression.
- Daily recap and timesheets
- Logged hours show whether the person was actually on the work people are judging.
- Feedback
- Employee feedback from the other direction is usually the part nobody collects.
- Directory
- Join date is on the record, which is what makes the cycle due.
What the week looks like
Throughout
Events are logged as they happen. Written the same week, they are evidence. Written at the end, they are memory.
Two weeks before
Start the review process so the steps have dates rather than intentions.
One week before
Read the event log for that person. Positive and negative counts sit alongside the entries.
One week before
Check attendance and logged hours as context, not as the decision.
The conversation
Talk about dated examples. Specifics change a conversation that generalities do not.
After
Record the outcome as an event, so the next decision has the same footing.
Questions people ask
What evidence does the conversation draw on?
Dated events with a category and a note, attendance during the period, and the hours the person logged. All three sit on the same person record.
Can employees see their own event log?
The log is admin-only and its contents are masked behind a reveal action. Treat it as a management record rather than a shared one.
How do we remember a probation date?
Join date is on the person record, and a scheduled Slack notification can carry the review reminder to whoever owns the decision.