Colleague let go yesterday

[topcat2014]

A young colleague (same age as DD) was let go yesterday after an extended probation.

I feel sorry for her, it's just a shitty way for things. Kind of having to grab your stuff and walk out.

The world of work is utter shite

It’s always a shame OP but the employer may have had their reasons, it’s just not always visible.

Hopefully she will find something new.

I act as hearing manager for this sort of thing op. It is a shame for young people as i understand how difficult it is for young people in the job market, but what is your issue here?

From what you said, they already extended her probation? So dismissal means there was either a conduct, performance or absence issue that continued.

I worked in a call centre when I was young and it was 2 older colleagues that were dismissed during probation for conduct and absence issues. So not a young person thing by any means.

If she had an extended probation this won't have been a surprise. No way would I want work to keep a colleague they knew didn't pull their weight.

Just to add op, if the company know what they are doing, they would be able to provide evidence they have done everything they can to support the employee beforehand, such as a development plan. Dismissal is a last resort.

It is also essential they leave immediately in many workplaces. That is the procedure at my work as we deal with customer data, and we want to keep it as secure as possible, by not letting a possible disgruntled ex employee having access to it even for 5 minutes.

Recruitment is expensive so they must have had good reason to let her go?

There is seldom a good way for a job to end if it is not your decision. I think that not having to serve a period before leaving whilst perhaps a shock may be the lesser of two evils.

Why is the whole world of work shite? There will be reasons. It's not nursery, you have to do your job to get paid. Now the position can be filled by someone who will actually do the job in the expected manner, which is better for the team. And the young adult will be an experience richer. As long as she isn't disabled and has been unfairly dismissed, it's just what happens. She is young and can, should and will do better in her next job. AT the risk of sounding ancient, this is why it's no good to over indulge teenagers. Chores, part-time work, volunteering and learning to put up with honest feedback.

If they had to extend her probation then perhaps it wasn't the right job for her? Hopefully she'll find something that suits her better soon.

We had someone let go this week, and it was a bloody good thing. He was talking down to younger female colleagues in a very misogynistic way and when finally someone complained it was handled straight away - complaints on the thursday, investigation on the friday, and he was gone on the monday and a company wide meeting to remind everyone of the importance of equality in the workplace. I was very impressed with how he was dealt with.

Happened to one of my colleagues last year, it was unsettling but she was pretty shite at the job and not a nice person to boot. I still felt rotten for her though, it’s not nice.

I can relate OP, a colleague of mine was also let go this week and I’ve been feeling really awful about it even though it’s nothing to do with me.

I always find it interesting the way some people can just switch off and think about work and management in such a calm rational manner. I struggle to do this and always feel terrible for people when something like this happens to them even though I know the employer usually has good reasons.

Wonderful 👏
Best I have read on Mn in a while.

It just seems such an unfortunate start to a working life. The job was probably too broad to be sold as a "starter" job (and of course with starting pay..) - and there was no day to day supervision.

Of course by the afternoon it was all "gather round, how are we going to divy up X's tasks" like they hadn't existed.

I don't necessarily agree with the employer, which of course makes it a bit harder.

Mind you, self preservation will kick in and we will all get on with things.

It's just so bloody bleak..

It’s tough, but as an employer I’ve several times had people I wasn’t sure about towards the end of probation and every time if we’ve decided to keep them on - usually because of a combination of already having invested in the cost of recruiting and training and sympathy - we’ve regretted it. If people cant do it and don’t seem to be learning effectively when they are on probation and should be trying their hardest, it doesn’t get better.

@SummerInSun it will be a bit like QEII "recollections may vary" I suppose.

Employer probably thinks they've done "loads", employee feels they did nothing.

We have someone who shouldn’t have passed probation and now, several years down the line other team members are still having to spend lots of time supporting this person. There are protected characteristics at play, which of course should be supported, but those team members have their own work to do and are under considerable pressure while also trying to help this person, who just seems to have no initiative and needs constant direction. I think the protected characteristics are making people wary of going down the capability route but they really aren’t up to the job and it’s not fair on the others.

It’s never pleasant - I had it happen once in my 20s and I panicked, but it all worked out in the end.

I've had to let people go during their probation. One was at the start of their career.

The person was capable on paper but had zero work ethic and also seemed to feel that work was something to be fitted in around a social life which spilled over into working hours. They were prone to wandering in late and it culminated in them lying about supposedly working from home. There was a brief investigation and they were let go the following day, not having even made it half way through probation.

The person was escorted off the premises immediately because it would have been unhelpful to have them working a notice period.

Sometimes these things have to be done, otherwise we'd still be carrying that person now, as well as potentially wasting a lot of time on performance management. It would also send the wrong message to the rest of the organisation about acceptable standards of behaviour during working hours.

When you hire people to do, say, work on your house, if they’re not up to it and can’t do what you need, do you keep them on and keep paying them? I doubt it. It’s easy to demonise ‘the world of work’ but it’s just other people and they don’t hire and fire staff for fun. They wanted this person to do well, hence extending the probation to give them an extra chance. If they weren’t up to it, it’s better for everyone including that person not to carry on in a job that’s the wrong fit.

If they extended her probation she had a chance to improve her performance. She evidently didn't and she had to be let go. You can't keep people on who aren't performing to expected levels.

Extended probation would have been a sign things weren't going well, I would have thought. She was already given extra chances to improve.

Perhaps this now ex-employee was 'bringing their whole self to work' 🤨

It's important, OP, to remember the core deal in the employee/employer contract. The employee does the work as specified in the job description, the employer pays them.

OR the employee shows they are not able to do the work as specified in the job description, the employer dismisses them.

It sounds like an unfortunate situation, but on the whole employers are very wary of sacking people without very good cause.

I'm in HR - I've only felt uncomfortable about 1 dismissal when I thought a warning would have been more appropriate. Otherwise, it rarely happens, but all the others pretty much sacked themselves because of conduct or ineptitude. One that sticks in my mind was a man being very predatory towards a young naïve female employee. Good riddance!

Years ago a newbie at our place was escorted off the premises for fighting with a copper. We were a police office so…