Is it common to fail a probation period...

[Mars4832]

with no prior warning from the employer?

I know employers can get rid of employees for almost any reason before 2 years of employment, and during probation they can obviously do so with no legal repurcussions.

What I'm asking is, is it common to fail a probation period, despite the employer not raising any concerns or issues beforehand? I feel employers should at least give an employee a little warning if they're not meeting minimum standards.

No, we have informal chats and mini appraisals setting objectives and then meetings before probation date - all documented ready for a probation review meeting which we invite you to formally etc.

no

unless the person is deluded and a poor performer and has been told numerous times with informal chats etc to pull their socks up - but they have no concept this means you will be gotten rid of.

Whilst the law allows a company to behave like this it is very poor practice in my view. There are significant costs involved in recruiting a new member of staff. If you sack them during probation that money is lost and you will have to incur further costs recruiting a replacement. It is therefore in your interests to try and make it work. The member of staff should be given feedback on any issues and, where appropriate, help to improve. Sacking them should be the last resort, when it is clear that they aren't going to meet the required standard. The only situation where I would sack someone without warning is if there had been a change in circumstances that meant there was no longer a role for the person to fill, but in that situation you should, in my view, be honest about it with the member of staff involved.

Of course, as carly says, you sometimes come across people who maintain they have not had any indication that there was a problem when you know there have been multiple chats about their poor performance.

Unfortunately some employers behave poorly. And some employers are brutal. They tell you on day one what is expected and, if you don't achieve it very quickly, you are out with no warning.

Perhaps they are giving enough rope to hang yourself, which is unfair, but happens

Not common, no. And not good practice. But it does happen. Either because the manager is poor, or sometimes because the company is very clear that it’s a bad fit and the problems aren’t resolvable therefore sees no value in doing anything other than keeping things stress free for all concerned and letting the person go at the end of probation.

The only person in my team who ever failed a probationary period did so because of consistently poor time keeping. She'd been warned, warned again, given the opportunity to start later, start earlier, we'd had a chat about why she was late and still she wandered in late on average 4 days out of 5.

When I told her we would not be keeping her on she was clearly totally shocked - had no idea what was coming. It just didn't sink in even though she was told until I was blue in the face.

It shouldn't be common. Nothing in appraisals and probationary review meetings should come as a surprise. There should be informal one to ones all the time. This is as much for the benefit of the employer as it is for the employee.