Termination of probationer

Hi,

I am new to hr matters. I have an employee who is under probation for 2 months now. Our probation period is 6 months. We are not satisfied with his performance as he has been simply perform the tasks assigned to him without really giving it a thought. I need to get another colleague of his to check his work. This hasn't been very productive to us. Time has been spent doing the work and now time spend to redo the work again plus time spent by another person to check his work. We have reduce his workload to concentrate on certain area and some simple stuff first so that he can cope but even simple stuff he just simply do it without checking the accuracy. There are colleague there for him to ask and apparently his colleagues told me that even after telling him the way to do certain things, he will ask again the next time. To be short, he does not remember what has been taught. In that 2 months also, he has been taking 1 day unpaid leave, 1 day compasionate leave (I'm still waiting for the death ceritficate from him), 2 days annual leave, 2 days MC.

We are not terminating his service as yet but would like to know the right procedure to go about this, e.g. warning letters,etc. We never documented anything, i.e. discussion about his problem to cope with the project, focus him on simple stuff,etc. You mentioned that we need to provide a training plan for the new employeee..does it mean that employers are required to send their employees for training.

Please help as I do not want to end up being charge for wrongful dismissal.

It is good that you have realised in his 2 month that he is not performing satisfactorily. The book "Discipline At Work" authored by R. Ganapathy clearly states that for a probationer to be terminated on poor performance, the employer needs to ensure the probationer was

i.   warned of his performance
ii.  provided sufficient time to improve
iii. notwithstanding the above failed to improve his performance

You should document his poor performance by providing him with tasks that have clear goals and definitions. Appraise him for the tasks that he has done and point out his shortcomings. For example, if you feel he is forgetful and not accurate, draw up tasks that may highlight these weaknesses. This will enable you to gauge his performance and also justify a cautionary leter for poor performance. You can provide him with a period in which he can improve his performance (make sure it is not too short a period). At the end of the given period, you can perform your appraisal again and if he fails, you would have just cause to terminate or extend his probationary period.

Employers are not required to send their probationers for training but it would be more fruitful for employers if probationers are provided with induction programs that enables them to adjust into their new work environment and responsiblity.