90 Day Probation Period

So before you get all excited about your W-2 permanent position, you need to know a few little things so you don’t screw up and lose your job. What? Yep, it happens. A lot of employees are actually “temp” with no benefits until their 90 day probationary period is over. That also includes your employee discount. We don’t want to hire someone who robs us blind with discounts and then quits. Yes it happens. Technically it is considered theft. Using your employee discount for someone who isn’t entitled is also theft, and also punishable by termination. Crazy right? It happens. Do people really get fired for employee discount situations? Yep, when I worked at the jewelry store my first week, 2 people got fired for giving the discount to a former employee. Yeah, diamonds have a high mark up so we are talking significant money. Personally I would have just made the current employee pay back the difference and not lose a good salesperson. HR is not always so black and white and managers do have discretion. Some people might say playing favorites, others … discrimination. Why did that white chick just get a slap on the wrist for the same offense when the _____ guy got fired? Manager discretion.

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So the reason for the probation period is a lot of employees simply don’t work out and within a short amount of time, 3 months, it can be determined that a hiring mistake was made and that employee needs to go. Hooray, unemployment! Nope. Wrong. You gotta work there for like, 18 months or longer to get anything from unemployment. AND you are employee at will, so you are screwed. You have no recourse. You can’t sue. You can’t get severance. You can get your box of “things” and be walked out the door never to enter again. Yeah it is kind of a sucky situation for the employee, but it is costly and expensive to hire employees, have them take advantage of resources and then end up leaving. It also is a way for companies to churn through employees with the “they are a dime a dozen” mentality. Companies like, … apple, Google, and Microsoft will always have thousands and thousands of people who WANT to work there. They don’t have a labor shortage crisis.

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So once you make it past the 90 days, you should get your healthcare, vision, dental, 401(k), bus pass, company credit card … AND now that you are in the system, if they want to get rid of you, they have to have a PIP, performance improvement plan, which, from my experience can take up to TWO years to successfully terminate an employee. Most companies have a 3 strike rule, but you are employee at will so keep that with a grain of salt. It starts with a verbal warning, a written warning, final written warning, termination. If you don’t show signs of improvement, they can terminate you and you get no unemployment. Just so you know, the 2 things that are easiest for the employer to prove and win is …. attendance and theft. Fuck up either one or both of those and you are gone. No call, no show, is also terminable offense. But if you have an arrest or jail time proof you might get out of it. Although I don’t recommend sharing any personal information with the employer. Need to know basis.

Moral of the story: This is your dream job. Put your best foot forward. Show everyone you are a great hiring choice/decision and not something they are going to regret. Don’t screw it up in your 90 days is all I have to say. Good luck and have fun making new friends and lunch buddies!

 

 

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