Probationary Period Advice

[Bollah]

Right, some back ground information regarding the probationary period letter my girlfriend has received. Let's call her B. B took up employment with a clothing company that has a colour as a name and sells 'things' back in April as a Store Manager. B went to the Brighton store for a week of training before being let loose in her store nearer to home. The idea of training was to learn about the business, the companys ways, HR, business management etc.. but basically ended up being a member of the sales staff. After the week she went to her store and was the Store Manager but this brought about problems, be it staff playing up, not being happy with the job, being told things were incorrect etc.. She had an area manager, but B never saw the area manager even though he was meant to pop in once a week to check things were going okay, or call just to keeps checks on B. None of this happened so B was kind of lost on what to do or how to take ownership of things because of the inaqueate training she had received from the Brighton store, as well as being a hard person to get hold of.

A couple of months in, said area manager became an area manager for a different region and a manager from one of the SE stores was promoted to an area manager who then becames B's new area manager. The new area manager was going to do B's 3 month probationary period, but B said that it wasn't fair to do so, as she had only know this new area manager for 2 weeks. B and the area manager both agreed and B's probationary period was extended for another month (verbally) with B expressing her concerns on the lack of training that she had received. B was sent off for the same training but at the Reading store. B did the training at the Reading store and came away really happy and full of energy on how to sort her store out and how to deal with the issues that she wasn't sure on how to deal with.

B's area manager came back to do the probationary period review of B and things went well. There were something laid out in B's personal development plan such as to recruit new members of staff, do a floor walk, controlling costs, stock less prevention and various bits and pieces. Now to myself and B, we thought this was her probationary period over and didn't need to worry about it, as B has been working her arse off (going in for 7am do a floor walk or staying till 9pm to do staff training with all the staff) So it was a bit of a shock to receive a letter saying the following :

[i]Dear xxxxx

Further to our discussion I am writing to confirm that your 12 week probationary period has been extended until Monday 6th September 2010, in line with the terms and conditions of your contract.

I have taken this decision to extend your probationary period to allow further period of time for development in a few areas of your role as Store Manager in XXXXXX. These areas of development are detailed in the Probationary Review Form that we completed together on Monday 9th August 2010; you have been given a copy of this. We agreed that whis would allow to put all your new skills and tools into action.

We have also built a personal development plan to help guide an improvement in your performance during the extension of your probationary period.

We will meet to discuss your performance again on Thursday 2nd September 2010 and the purpose of this meeting will be to assess your overall suitability for the role of Store Manager. You will have the option to bring a further current member of XXXXX XXXXXX staff with you to this meeting if you choose to do so.

Please be aware that if you fail to demonstrate an improvement in your performance, the meeting may have an impact on your ongoing employment with XXXXXX XXXXXX.

Please speak with me directly if you are unclear regarding the contents of this letter, or require any further information.

Yours sincerely[/i]

Now B is a bit confused by this, as at her probationary review, this was not mentioned that her probation would be extended for another month, yet she has seen and worked with the area manager and she hasn't said anything to B about it.

Obviously B is quite worried about this letter and thinks that she wont pass her probationary period leaving her without a job, but i'm thinking more on the positive side, as she has done what has been outlined in her personal development plan (taken on 3 members of staff and currently recruiting for an assistant manager, as well as doing a floor walk) and she will pass her probationary period.

B is currently drafting a letter to her area manager, her former area manager and HR about this, as she is concerned that this wasn't brought up at her probation meeting that it would be extended by another month.

Opinions on this would be greatly appriceated as to know what to do or how to approach this suitation.

Thanks

Bollah

[Stevenj214]

Bollah said:

Opinions on this would be greatly appriceated as to know what to do or how to approach this suitation.

Everything that happened before the new Area Manager appeared is irrelevant.

The probation review was as it said on the tin - a probation review. The outcome of the probation period and probation review was detailed in the follow up letter.

Some areas have been identified for improvement. Don't rock the boat, get her head down and improve on the identified areas. Don't write to HR (I'm not even sure what she is writing about??).

[Stevenj214]

Read the post again and it seems like her main issue is not being told her probation period would be extended during the probation review?

I refer to my answer above - there could have been 3 outcomes to the probation review: a permanent position, a probation extension or being let go. The difference between 2 and 3 could simply be how she responded in the review, her attitude and how willing she was to improve. To go into the review with a pre-made decision in this example would have been very unprofessional.

[Bollah]

Stevenj214 said:

Read the post again and it seems like her main issue is not being told her probation period would be extended during the probation review?

Yep, that's pretty much it. Just seemend weird that the review went very well, things were given to develop on, then nearly 2 weeks later, gets a letter to say that the probation had been extended again?

Obviously women tend to over react to things, and i do think she will pass her probation, but her mind isn't working like that, it's more about the what if's The letter idea came from her Dad, and B's dad thinks that the letter B received is a bad thing but i do agree, and not to rock the boat and everything should be okay

[siscar]

A probationary period is a slightly odd concept anyway, it doesn't mean a great deal since in the first 12 months she is an unprotected employee anyway. So it gives no protection nor does it change her status at law in any way. Obviously what it does do is give some reassurance about what they think about her, which has value, but that is all it is.

[edc]

siscar said:

A probationary period is a slightly odd concept anyway, it doesn't mean a great deal since in the first 12 months she is an unprotected employee anyway. So it gives no protection nor does it change her status at law in any way. Obviously what it does do is give some reassurance about what they think about her, which has value, but that is all it is.

Doesn't answer the OP per se but successful completion of probation may confer additional contractual rights.