Not Establishing a Probationary Period
Even with sufficient interviewing, testing and background checks, you truly do not know what you have with a new employee until they have been on the job a while and the “new job honeymoon” has worn off. I always think that you truly know the measure of a person when you see how they handle adversity or problems. Do they fold up or rise to the challenge.
That is why we recommend a probationary period – usually 90 days. We will often start the employee at a slightly reduced salary or reduced benefits during the period. We ensure they receive the appropriate on-the-job training and company orientation. Then we see how they perform.
In many jobs it is useful to develop a metric that will measure their performance. Both you and the employee need to know what is expected.
After the probationary period it is important that you sit down with the employee and review their performance. Then you must decide whether to make them a permanent employee or terminate them. Sometimes you may want to simply extend the probationary period, which leads to our next hiring mistake, “Keeping staff that do not excel during their probationary period” coming next month.
