AIBU to think dismissal during probation was unfair given autism adjustments?

[SereneRoseRobin]

I’m looking for honest views because I’m not sure whether I’m being unreasonable or whether this was genuinely unfair.

I was recently dismissed from a graduate/analyst role after my probation was extended. I am autistic, and my employer knew this. I had raised the need for clear written instructions, defined objectives, examples of similar work, timelines, and timely/direct feedback. Some support was put in place, including coaching, but I don’t feel the actual adjustments were properly embedded or reviewed before the decision was made.

The difficult part is that the concerns raised about me seemed mainly to focus on communication style, professional behaviour, asking for clarification, Teams messages, and quality assurance under pressure — rather than on whether I could actually do the analytical work. Some recent written feedback said my analytical skills were good, that my work did not contain relevant errors, that I was taking ownership, and that I sought support appropriately. Another person said I had picked up on a complex project well.

The project I was criticised on was not straightforward. I was a first-year graduate with no prior experience in that sector, and I was assigned open-ended/data-heavy modelling work with a lot of ambiguity and short deadlines. Some outputs were expected within hours or by the next day, so there was not much time for structured review. I also didn’t always get timely feedback while I could still act on it. Some feedback came months after the work had ended.
My probation extension was meant to allow support and coaching to take effect, but I was dismissed before the extension period had fully ended. I had submitted evidence of improvement the day before the decision, but I don’t feel it was properly discussed or considered.
The coaching report apparently said the benefit of coaching should be assessed after a longer period, because performance can dip while new strategies embed.

I’m appealing because I think they didn’t properly separate disability-related communication issues from actual capability, didn’t give recent improvement enough weight, and didn’t consider alternatives such as letting the extension run, providing clearer QA/communication frameworks, assigning more standard analyst work, or redeploying me to a more suitable team.

I’m not saying I was perfect. I know there were areas to improve. But I feel like I was assessed against unclear expectations, on complex work, without the timely feedback and structure that had already been identified as necessary for me.

AIBU to think this was unfair and potentially linked to disability discrimination/failure to make reasonable adjustments? Or is this just how probation works, and I should accept it and move on?

Agreed. This is what makes leading teams so stressful!

That's why you failed your probation.

I went back and re-read the OP and you are completely correct.....it was definitely written by AI but I hadn't picked up on it on first reading, I'd missed the telltale hyphen.

OP, if your natural communication style is more like your replies to posters on here e.g blunt, evasive and with poor spelling then that's another reason why this hasn't worked out.

Then you didnt need to record it you would have had access to the official recording.

The fact it was being recorded anyway, doesnt mean its right or correct for you to have recorded it without consent. Then when its drawn to your attention that you did the wrong thing, instead of apologising you argued.

i didnt argue. i jsut told her i wouldnt do it again and it was an honest mistake

i agree 100% with a previous poster that grads are entering the workplace with unrealistic expectations about the sorts of accommodations that can be made. Some roles just can’t be modified to suit everyone.

I was on the other side of this as a senior to a graduate with autism. He was brilliant at some tasks where he had a singular issue to look at and time and depth and I tried as much as possible during his placement with me to facilitate that. The problem was, the programme he was on expected competence across a range of skills including things like dealing with uncertainty, reactive work, stakeholder management and he was shit at all of those things. His actual line manager was tearing his hair out and he’d come off a placement with poor feedback. I really encouraged him to look at roles where he could play to his strengths and move sideways before he was kicked off the grad scheme.

You need to step back and learn from this.

when you start anywhere else, clarify policies and procedures.

im not going to blame you for typing and spelling, coz mine is shit on here, but in work, it’s pretty much perfect.

you need to lengthen your replies. If the length and tone of what you write here is indicative, that will be an issue in most workplaces.

you can’t use AI in most workplaces, and if you can it’ll be specific AI such as copilot only. You need to take that on board.

How was it an honest mistake though, it goes against gdpr policies. What action did you take afterwards? What was your purpose in recording and transcribing it? Had you done so before?

This might be one of the reasons they didn’t want to keep her around. Constant messaging for approval.

@SereneRoseRobin there is a fine line between an adjustment ensuring you can do the role, and the role being almost different because of your requirements.

I have lost of neurospicy issues, some diagnosed and one not, but I taught myself how to be resilient, how to use the neurodiversion to my advantage and not as something people needed to pander to.

adjustments are wonderful, and fair, but there is only so far they can go. Ultimately you weren’t suitable for the job, and that’s ok, there are others. Learn from this and move on.

It may be difficult for you to hear OP, but AirborneElephant is quite right in what they have said.

I simply would not be able to provide that degree of spoon feeding, especially in a fast paced busy team and frankly that degree of instruction would be resented (understandably) by others in the team and not deliverable by me across the diversity and range of tasks required. I’d be thinking it would be easier to do the task myself. I think the reasonableness of those adjustments may have tipped over into not that reasonable in practice.

It’s about finding the right tasks for you, I had a team member with ND who was great in routine, process led straightforward tasks, but anything ambiguous or starting from scratch often was a car crash. She flourished in a finance role, but that wasn’t what I needed! Probation is about fit- for the employer and for you. I also wonder if you are over reinforcing the importance of the positive feedback? I always try to find positive things to say to people even if I over inflate a bit to stop them getting despondent- could that have happened here?

But did you apologise?
And are you able to write with proper punctuation, spelling and grammar? I know there’s no compulsion on a chat forum like this, but there’s so many writing errors it would seem unusual for someone in a professional field.

Sorry OP. As a management consultant for 25 years you need to be self sufficient. No senior consultant has the time to provide the support you describe. It sounds as though actually they've been supportive and fair. I would say this type of role isn't for you and your skills probably lie elsewhere. A huge part of being a good consultant is stakeholder engagement and doing accurate work without always having a clear brief. That is basically what you're paid for.

Also. You Recording the meeting without consent of the attendees is a data protection breach. And. Depending on the content of the meeting and the effect on others might even be reportable to the ICO. Did you report the breach internally?

Unfortunately that is probably what did it for your former employer. Use this as a lesson so this does not happen at tbe next place.

No job is the right job. Work takes work and not everyone wants to do it.

Recording a call without permission is gross misconduct. Nothing was going to save you at this point….

I think OP needs to realise there’s a difference between being autistic and rubbing people up the wrong way deliberately. Yes the finding it tricky to work to quick deadlines etc I totally get. But for instance they’ve been told that brief abrupt replies are rude and keep doing them. They were asked to apologise for doing the recording for transcription and they refused to. Sounds like they also were told about what means to use/not use to communicate at work and CBA to change. Sorry but I don’t think those are autistic specific behaviours they sound like pain in the bum behaviours from someone who thinks they can do what they like without consequence. Most autistic people I know are practically desperate to do the right things at work when those things are clearly communicated.

OP youve asked opinions on whether terminating your employment during probation was reasonable.

The fact the probation was extended meant you werent performing adequately enough to pass your probation in the initial period.

Youve mentioned some things that arent related to your disability that may explain why your employer ended your probation. 1. Recording a call without consent 2. Refusing to apologise for this, when it was pointed out as inappropriate to you 3. Using wrong channels for work related discussions.

Other people are asking for additional info and pointing out potential areas of concern for an employer unrelated to your disability in order to help advise. Your short responses, arent always helpful and this poster has politely asked you to add more info and answers, saying please. And your response comes across as rude.

You don't have to answer. But if this is how you respond to people when they ask something of you that may be part of why your manager felt you werent suitable for the company

Then why didn't you apologise?

She might have an adjustment to not be recorded

Quite.

fyi a lot of folk I work with don’t know that I have an adjustment to be recorded - my immediate team do, but not the wider org. Because it’s none of their beeswax.

The choice is yours: if you have money to sue them, go nuclear

I was sacked for being pregnant within probation period - they made up a load of crap because I was struggling with back pain. And they commented on my “lack of commitment”

I was pregnant on the very first day and was completely upfront about it so that they couldn’t accuse me of pulling a fast one. It didn’t work.

It was a senior role in an asset management company in Edinburgh

nothing could be done - this was 15 years ago. I cared too much about my baby to go through the stress of suing them - I had a miscarriage the year before and was still devastated.
so let it go.

You’re coming across as a bully who is enjoying hectoring and being unnecessarily unpleasant. Blunt wouldn’t excuse it where I work, that’s just code for unnecessarily rude and a bit of a bully,

She really isn’t.

this is the problem with schools and colleges and universities making so many adjustments to people, giving extra time, extra coaching, extra consideration, special circs etc. It's not reflective of the business environment in the real world.

Of course, reasonable adjustments must be made by employers. but the key is the in the word reasonable. In a fast paced business environment other employees cannot be expected to provide 1-2-1 support and hold your hand as was the case in school and college and university.

Sadly, all the support and adjustments that you are used to in college are not replicated in the world of work