I'm going to fail probation - How to kill time

[GeorgiePeachie]

I am likely to fail my probation (extended to) 8th November. I am 28 weeks pregnant and have not performed as they expected/wanted.

There's a ton of reasons why this is a bad fit for me: I have an inexperieneced manager, they hired me at a L2 on their scale, but I am actually a L1 in terms of expereience - They wanted an L3 but got me cheap because I interview well. I didn't lie about anything on my CV but their expectations are way off for my abilities.

They've extended my probation basically as a favour because I am pregnant, giving me an extra month of money before I go into unpaid maternity leave with maternity allowance from gov.

However, I am now in a position where really... they don't want to give me anything to do incase I mess it up. No one checks what I am doing and basically everyone is just counting down the weeks to early Nov - I am going on holiday next week so that kills one of them.

Meanwhile I am sitting at work struggling to find things to do or care about.
Any ideas for how to kill time?

Browse the internet? Plan your next holiday? Look at baby clothes online? Congratulations on your pregnancy!

Start playing The Sims.

You can start maternity leave from 29 weeks so I would notify them of your intention to start maternity leave. Then you will get maternity pay and will be employed on your CV. Towards the end of maternity leave you can choose to either continue your probation or get a new job. They cannot fail your probation because you have started maternity leave.

This happened to me and this is what I did. At the end, I was made redundant which I was obviously expecting but was a lot better financially and easier when looking for new jobs.

Good idea, but as I only started in July I don't qualify for Maternity pay from them anyway and never would have got anything so the money doesn't benefit me.
But it is an interesting idea to beat them to it and force their hand to make me redundant later. They would hire a FTC at the correct level and then have a fully resourced team.
I kinda feel like they're going to dump me anyway why prolong things?

It gives you some breathing space though and better on your CV potentially unless you plan on leaving it off completely. You would get 90% for 6 weeks plus annual leave money for the year. My company has 6 months full pay from when you first started so financially a serious decision though.

Very very true that a redundancy/me deciding not to go back and find something better in a year's time would look better.

I wouldn't get anything money wise, but I wasn't going to from them anyway.

I would get maternity allowance in Jan (that's what I've put on my application)

So would go into unpaid until after Christmas - Things would be tight but I would save myself 3-4 weeks of just sitting around.

I think they could still fail my probation whether I had started my Mat leave or not. the reasons theyre going to fail me still exist.

Someone else has suggested resigning and negotiating a longer notice period giving me more paid employment until at least Christmas but without the expectations of trying to meet their standards. Can cover them while they hire someone.
Either they'll accept my resignation and longer notice and task me with more managable things to help out while I am here.
OR they'll say no thanks work your 2 weeks notice and we'll see you never. - I'd end up in the same boat as them failing me.

You could well do that.

I’m wondering why you/them think you’re going to fail your probation because as far as I recall most bosses like yours try to make you pass, maternity leave or no, and they can’t just fire you or behave badly employment wise because you’re pregnant. PS - congrats on your pregnancy.

@Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain They've extended my probation already and I've been on a kind of informal PIP. I've had to go through the job spec for my role and traffic light green - I do this, yellow - I do this but need help and red - I don't have this skill. almost everything is yellow and red.
So they're putting everything in place to highlight that I don't meet the job description. They've miss hired me. They need a L3 in the role, but hired me at an L2, since hiring me they now evaluate my skills to be more like what they call an L1. So the standards I am asked to meet are impossibly high for my abilities. It's a miss hire, miss fit, and I am made to feel like a failure all the time.
The fail is inevitable, they've extended it as a favour and not to leave me in teh lurch as a pregnant mother, but they're also working hard to make sure everything is in place to fail me with good reason.

So either resign and try to get more work with them, but accepting it's just busy work and has less pressure on me to succeed. Or they'll feel that it's not even worth having someone in the role while they hire my replacement and I'm no worse off than taking early Mat leave and getting no money from the 8th anyway.

I had a consultation with an employment solicitor and they said that if they were to not let me ‘try’ to continue my probation post maternity leave that it would be discrimination. They’re unofficial advice was to go on leave when I could. When I told my manager I was leaving earlier she was pleased because, like you, it wasn’t maternity discrimination but a situation where I was mishired. It’s worth noting that if you take over 9 months of leave they are not required to give you the same job when you go back. It does have to be same pay and conditions though. They could do that?

I like the idea of the longer notice period though.

Can I just say OP, that you deserve some kudos for being self aware and not acting like a CF. You accept the job is a mismatch and aren't trying to screw your employer over it. It's refreshing to read.

This….

They’re complete and utter tossers as they’ve miss-hired you and now seem to want to get rid of you to cover their backs and get rid of you. I suppose it’s better you do fail your probation but do get everything you are owed please.

In these circumstances I would send a letter stating the date I wish to start my maternity leave (with a photocopy of MATB1) and also to tender my resignation, at the end of my period of maternity leave, on x.

They've made a mistake, and so has OP. It happens. Nobody hires someone thinking they want it to not work out. And when a job is a bad fit on both sides, ending it is the right thing for everyone involved. Nothing OP has posted suggests her employer is a tosser.

It does a little bit because they hired her at a certain level when they knew it wouldn’t work out and this was to save money. They shouldn’t have done this. They knew she was a bad fit almost from the get go from what she’s posted. She’s been allowed to work there knowing she will fail probation and they’re luckily (because she’s pregnant) extended the probation period knowing she’ll fail it and will have to leave.

In terms of her future employment it means she’ll have to look for another job but she could have if she passed probation have stayed there even though she wouldn’t have been there long enough to get full maternity pay and benefits from her employers.

You do realise some people interview really well and as an employer you want to give them a chance?
And then they start, you give them time to settle but 3-4 months in you realise but you want to try and make it work so you set targets, keep going etc.
Before you know it six months are up but the employee is pregnant so you feel really bad and extend again just in case.
Not every employer is a tosser.
What if this happened in your team and/or the employee was doing something safety critical or something like that?

You could use the time to learn as much as possible about the role you say you are unsuited for, in case you want to apply for a similar role after your maternity leave.

Download duolingo!

But just giving them a chance to settle in and doing nothing else when you know you’ve hired someone who doesn’t have the skills you need is crap. It’s pretty much only going to end in a failed probation. Fine to do it if you are willing to investing in the candidate over the long term.

I agree, I don't think it's personal or anything or that they're doing anything wrong by extending or failing my probation.

From my perspective either way something needs to change, I can't keep working like this for 3 weeks just sitting on my hands and hating every day and feeling frustrated and stressed - and making them frustrated and stressed as well.

So - options are
Resign but offer to work until Christmas on harmless out of the way projects that won't bother anyone - administrative, Audits, etc. Then they can open the role and hire someone in. good for me, might be good for them.
Risk - they accept my resignation and say no thank you to extra work - just work your notice and go have your baby. (only paid until the 8th of Nov).

Start Mat leave on 28th October. (I am on holiday the previous week, including a scan which could be a good point to say, after scan I need to just focus on bubba.) Going on Mat leave early.
Risk - They can still fail my probation and fire me while I'm on Mat leave, but I wouldnt have to work the last weeks up to the meeting date.
Risk - They could keep me in Probation throughout my Mat leave so that if I returned I'd still have to do a probationary period/if they made me redundant they'd still only have to pay out 2 weeks notice.

Do nothing. Fail probation on the 8th, get 2 weeks paid notice until the 22nd Nov and then start my break, focus on baby.

I think do nothing or resign are looking like the best options.

Have you ever hired someone? A mishire and a failed probation are costly, stressful and time-consuming. Nobody hires someone knowing it's not going to work out. It's an absolute own goal.

They thought, or at least hoped, that it would work out. Everyone who hires has a mishire from time to time - I have. Most people also land in a job that's just a poor fit from time to time - I have. The best thing to do in these situations is handle it openly and swiftly.

I've resigned. I've never felt more free.