Ask questions and don’t hide problems: how to successfully pass the probationary period

Labor legislation on probationary periods

The Labor Code of the Russian Federation deals with the issues of probationary period:

Article 70 “Test for employment”;
Article 71 “Result of the test for employment.”

They also stipulate the possibility of dismissing an employee if he has not completed the probationary period. Some probation issues are governed by Federal laws, such as details of probation for government employees

There is the following procedure for dismissing an employee who has not completed the probationary period, which all law-abiding employers must comply with:

Such an employee should be warned (necessarily in writing) about the impending dismissal no later than three days in advance (the reasons why the employee was found to have failed the test must be indicated, and documents confirming the unsuccessful and insufficient test result must also be referred to). The worker should read the notice and sign the employer's copy. If the trainee refuses to sign, an act must be drawn up with the signatures of at least two witnesses.
According to Art. 71 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, issue an order to terminate the employment relationship with this employee in the T-8 form, which was approved by Resolution of the State Statistics Committee of Russia No. 1 of January 5, 2004.
Make final payments to him on the day of dismissal. It is worth noting that if an employment agreement is terminated due to an unsatisfactory test result, severance pay should not be paid to the dismissed employee (Part 2 of Article 71 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).
On the day of dismissal, give the employee his work book with a record of dismissal already included in it. The work book is issued to the dismissed employee only after signing the personal card (Form No. T-2), and in addition, in the book for recording the movement of work books and inserts for them. If the dismissed employee is not at the workplace on the day of termination of his employment contract, he must be sent a notice by mail with an urgent request to appear for his work book. The employer may be released from liability for the delay of the work book only if such notice is sent.

Undesirable consequence

Dismissal as someone who has not completed the probationary period must be carried out in accordance with the law. Because a dissatisfied employee suspended from work has the opportunity to appeal this in court.

If the employer is not completely convinced of the sufficiency of evidence that will confirm the negative outcome of the test, it is better to choose a different course of action. Eg:

terminate the contract due to repeated failure to fulfill official duties (clause 5, part 1, article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation);
dismiss by agreement of the parties (Article 78 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

Can everyone be given a probationary period?

The probationary period for employees is established by the decision of the employer: he can accept the employee without any testing, or, on the contrary, set the maximum possible probationary period.

The most important thing is that information about the probationary period must be indicated in the employment contract, otherwise it will be considered that the employee was hired without any probationary period. Even if you indicate in the hiring order that the employee was hired on a probationary period, but do not stipulate this in the contract, it is considered that the employee was hired without any probation.

p{amp}gt;We should not forget that a probationary period cannot be established for all categories of workers. The Labor Code prohibits establishing a probationary period:

pregnant women and women raising children under the age of one and a half years;
minor workers;
seasonal workers whose fixed-term employment contract is signed for two months or fewer days;
employees in paid elective positions;
employees hired for transfer work;
employees who have signed an employment contract for two months or less;
employees who won the competition for this position.

In some cases, such as government civil servants, these requirements may not be met.

Prepare for new challenges

If after the interview you understand that you have to do something new and some knowledge is missing for this, do not put off studying it until the probationary period itself. The first three months will be difficult anyway. Make good use of the time before you go out.

Ideally, immediately after accepting the offer, you should ask your future manager about what you will be doing for the first time, and what, for example, professional literature is worth reading.

This is doubly useful: the manager will mentally give you a plus in your karma, and you yourself will feel more confident during the probationary period. By the way, if you understand that you need serious preparation, then try to take a break of not one week, but two, after leaving your previous job. For example, we needed SQL specialists for our analytics team, but we really liked one candidate whose experience with SQL was insufficient. We agreed that he would undergo a training program before leaving. As a result, this specialist performed well during the probationary period and still works for us.

Duration of probationary period

The probationary period may be two or three months. In some cases, for example, when it comes to testing managers, the probationary period can last from three months to six months.

For civil servants, the probationary period is on average up to six months. In some cases, the probationary period can last a whole year.

Employees with whom a fixed-term employment contract has been signed for a period of two to six months cannot be subject to probationary periods longer than two weeks.

It is impossible to extend the probationary period, just as it is impossible to dismiss employees as having not completed the probationary period if the tests have already ended at least a day ago.

How to fire someone who has not passed the probationary period

Double-check the presence of a probation clause in the employment agreement. It is possible to dismiss someone who has not passed the probationary period due to a negative work result only if he was given a test (Part 2 of Article 70 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). If the probation clause is not noted in the contract, then the worker is hired without one.
Find out whether the assigned work was clearly reflected in the contract and job description. According to Part 3 of Art. 68 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, it is necessary to familiarize the employee with personal job responsibilities against signature before signing the employment agreement. And it is advisable that he receive his copy. This must be confirmed by a signature on the employer’s copy.
Check for the presence of a condition about a probationary period in the order for hiring a new recruit. He must be familiarized with it under his own signature.
Check whether this employee belongs to a group of people to whom, according to the law, a probationary period cannot be assigned. According to parts 4 and 5 of Art. 70 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the trial period cannot exceed three months. And it cannot be assigned:

persons who have signed an employment contract for a period of up to two months;
persons who arrived for work following a competitive selection carried out in accordance with the procedure established by law;
persons who graduated from an educational institution no more than one year ago and were employed for the first time according to their specialty;
persons who came to a position by transfer from another employer, and this issue has been agreed upon between the companies;
pregnant women under age and women with children under 1.5 years of age;
persons under 18 years of age;
to other persons in the options provided for by laws and collective agreement.

How to quit during a probationary period

The procedure for dismissal during the probationary period.

Dismissal under IP is organized according to clause 3 of Art. 77 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, taking into account Art. 80, which regulates in more detail the termination of a contract at the request of an employee. In general, the sequence is:

The employee writes a statement in 2 copies addressed to the manager of the organization about his resignation at his own request. It must be presented to the manager at least 3 days before leaving. Both copies are subject to registration in the office;
The manager signs the application and issues a dismissal order, which must contain a link to the application, and notes its registration number. The contents of the order are brought to the attention of the person resigning, which he confirms with a signature;
An entry about dismissal is made in the work book, indicating Art. 77 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. The record also includes the order number;
A copy of the order is transferred to the accounting department to process the settlement with the former employee;
Payment is made in full on the employee’s final day of work;
Then the person leaving must return the work book;
At the request of the person leaving the organization, he is given reference documents: a certificate of average salary, insurance premiums, etc.

If the notice period has not expired, you may change your mind about quitting by withdrawing your application. His position will be retained unless another employee has already been invited in writing.

Understand what result you need to show

When starting work, you must understand what results are expected of you during the probationary period. To do this, many companies draw up a work plan and set KPIs. During the probationary period, the support specialist must show the required results in terms of speed and quality of work. In recruitment, the plan may be the number of closed vacancies, in the sales department - closed transactions.

If your manager doesn't do this, it makes sense to bring the issue up for discussion to understand what to focus on over the next three months. Seek help if, after communicating with your immediate supervisor, there is still a misunderstanding. Your persistence in this matter will definitely not play a negative role.

End of probationary period

The probationary period does not always end on the day specified in the employment contract. The fact is that the probationary period does not include those days when the employee was absent from the workplace. If an employee is undergoing a probationary period, for example, from the tenth of January to the tenth of February, but from the fifteenth of January to the twentieth was at home due to illness, his probationary period is extended until the fifteenth of February - exactly the number of days that the employee was absent. An appropriate order must be issued to extend the probationary period due to the employee’s absence from the workplace.

In other cases, the probationary period ends in two ways.

1. If the employee fails the test, he is dismissed for failure to complete the probationary period. In this case, it is not necessary to wait until the end of the probationary period indicated in the documents - the employee can be dismissed on any day, having previously warned him about this.

2. When the employee successfully completes the probationary period, he continues to work at the enterprise as before. No special documents are required. Even if the employee did not cope with the probationary period, but after the end of the specified period continues to work - that is, the employer for some reason did not have time or even forgot to fire him - it is considered that the employee passed the test successfully.

Sick leave on probation

An employee on sick leave cannot be fired.

If the subject is on sick leave, this time period is not included in the IS. In case of illness, it is subject to extension for the duration of the sick leave.

When an intern receives a notification from the employer before going on sick leave about the intention to terminate the contract with him, his dismissal is postponed for the number of days during which the temporary disability occurs.

We invite you to read: When can you take leave under the Labor Code?

During a period of temporary incapacity for work, an employee who is on self-employment can also notify the employer 3 days in advance of the decision to resign. Here we must take into account that the agreement will be terminated even if the employee is still on sick leave.

Sick leave is paid in an amount depending on length of service.

Sickness benefits must be paid on a general basis.

The main argument in court is a properly executed notice

The employer issues a dismissal order.

The notice must be provided to the employee 3 days before his dismissal. He must have the opportunity to familiarize himself with its contents.

Step-by-step instructions and prerequisites that you need to pay attention to

In accordance with Part 1 of Art. 71 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, if before the end of the test period the employer concludes that the employee cannot cope with the duties assigned to him, he has the right to terminate the employment contract with the subordinate due to the unsatisfactory result of the test.

The maximum duration of the probationary period is 3 months, and for certain categories of employees (for the management of the enterprise) - 6 months.

How can you fire an employee who has not completed the probationary period?

Step-by-step instructions for dismissing an employee who, in the employer’s opinion, has not completed the probationary period:

Notifying the employee 3 days in advance of termination of the employment contract during the probationary period due to failure to complete the probationary period.
Preparation of documents necessary for dismissal (adopting an order, making an entry in the employment record, etc.) and, preferably, a written justification for the employee’s professional inadequacy.
Issuance of documents and final payment on the last working day.

In order for the dismissal of a person who failed to complete the probationary period to be legal, the management of the organization must fulfill the following conditions:

inclusion of a probation clause in the employment contract concluded with the employee;
establishing the fact that the employee does not properly cope with his job responsibilities due to a lack of skills, professionalism, qualifications, etc.;
documentary evidence of the insufficient qualifications of the dismissed employee;
provision of advance notice of dismissal to the employee if he has not passed the test, with justification for the decision;
preparation of all documents necessary for dismissal (drawing out an order to terminate the agreement, work book, pay slips, etc.);
familiarizing the employee with the order, handing over his work record book, work-related documents, payment of due amounts of money.

Important! Since Article 71 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation provides an employee with the right to appeal a decision on an unsatisfactory test result in court, upon dismissal, the employer must not only justify, but also document the fact of the employee’s insufficient professionalism and qualifications.

Advance notification to employee

An important step, failure to comply with which may become a reason for the reinstatement of a dismissed person in his position, is a warning about termination of the employment contract. Such a warning must be in writing and given to the employee 3 days before dismissal. The notice must indicate the reasons for termination of the employment contract.

The notice must be given to the employee against signature. In case of refusal to receive a document, it is necessary to read the text of the notification in the presence of at least two witnesses and draw up a corresponding act.

After 3 days from the date of delivery of the warning to the employee, the employer issues an order indicating the reasons and grounds for termination of the employment relationship.

For example, if an employee is dismissed as having failed the test, then the entry will be: “The employment contract was terminated due to unsatisfactory test results, part 1 of Article 71 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.” Based on the order, a corresponding entry about the dismissal is made in the employee’s work book.

The employee must also be familiarized with the order to terminate the employment contract in person against signature.

At what point can an employment contract be terminated?

Article 71 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation allows you to easily terminate an employment contract with an employee if he has not completed the probationary period, at any time before its end. It must be remembered that the employee must be notified 3 days before dismissal. If the probationary period has ended and the decision to dismiss has not been made, then the test is considered successfully completed.

It is quite difficult to draw a conclusion about the professional competence of a new employee a few days after starting work. An exception will be cases of a shortened probationary period, for example, when concluding an employment contract lasting less than two months.

When making a decision, you should proceed from the probationary period specified in the employment contract.

Reasons for failure to complete the probationary period

It should be noted that during the probationary period, the employer can observe not only the employee’s professional skills, but also how he fits into the team, how much he likes corporate ethics and how willing he is to comply with it, and so on.

Among the main reasons why employees do not cope with the probationary period are:

incompetence of the employee - since everyone strives to look as good as possible at an interview and on a resume, employees often attribute to themselves qualities that they do not possess and skills that they do not possess. The probationary period provides an opportunity to test in practice all the qualities of the employee;
non-compliance with labor discipline - this includes lateness, violation of deadlines, non-compliance with the quality of work, and so on;
inability to fit into a team - even the most qualified specialist may not suit the company if he cannot interact with colleagues.

The reasons for dismissal can even be bad habits, for example, smoking in the workplace, if this is strictly prohibited by the rules of the enterprise.