Mine is six months, and that doesn’t officially start until I finish training in January. I also have to pay union dues before probation is up, even though I don’t get represented by them until the 6-month point (which gave me a :dubious: during orientation). Its still worth it, however.
But the six month thing is a killer. I feel like I won’t really be confident I have this job until next summer. Is this a realistic span of time?
I’ve had jobs where the probation’s been either three or six months – but more the former than the latter. Bummer about the lack of union representation yet still paying the dues, though. That can’t be fair.
At all the places that I’ve worked (including my current employer) the probation period has been six months.
Incubus, the company I work for is the same. 6 months probation, start paying dues after 3 months. The training was only 3 weeks long though.
Six months. I first worked here as a sub for about six months. When I was just about to get the six month evaluation (and raise) I got a part time professional job here. About six months later I got my real job here. So for me, a year and a half. Your mileage may vary. 
Ninety days.
One full year when first hired ( and I knew someone who was terminated on the last day of said year ), six months thereafter at every promotion.
Mostly I have been in jobs with no probation. Sometimes it has been 90 days.
At my job, it was three months. However, when I started, you had to be a temp for a year before they hired you on permanently. Therefore, I was on probation, then I was not on probation but still just a temp, then they hired me permanently so I was on probation again!
Guess they want me to stick around–they had ample chance to get rid of me!
Two years. Within that time frame the district can fire you without stated cause. After that, tenure makes things a wee bit more difficult.
Probation? Jeez, infinite. Who’d want to work with folks who didn’t have to do a good job every day, forever?
Six months. And tomorrow will be exactly one month until my probation is up and I can finally gets benefits and of those great extras that I don’t get while on probation.
I don’t understand the concept of probation? What changes when probation is over? Can you not be fired during probation? Can you not be fired after probation ends? Here in New Jersey, and I believe in other states as well, an employer can fire anyone at any time for any (or no) reason. What type of protection does probation give the employee, or the employer for that matter? Other than holding back some benefits for a finite period commencing with the first day of employment and calling it probation I don’t see the purpose. It seems like such an arbitrary and false situation that actually does nothing except potentially create more paperwork for HR.
Here in Ontario, while you are on probation you can be terminated without two weeks notice. At my job, the company won’t match my pension contributions, and I’m not covered for dental or optical. I don’t get paid vacation days and other benefits that I don’t even know that I’m missing.
Seems kind of silly to me, too. All I know is that at my company, if you transfer to a different job, you go back on probation for another three months. It doesn’t mean that you get no benefits. However, it does mean that you will get a review after those three months when you would normally get one every year.
We had a lady who transfered to my department who was having a little trouble catching on to the job and didn’t really get along with my boss (that’s no surprise–I don’t know anyone who gets along with my boss). After her probation review, she was moved to a different department–“to help out for a while since they are so busy”. Well, we all know she’s not coming back, and she seems a lot happier there. So, I guess that not passing probation doesn’t automatically mean you are canned. I don’t know if she is back on probation again–I’m not going to ask, either.
If my husband (who works at the same company I do) gets his promotion, maybe we’ll get more info–since, guess what? He’ll be back on probation.
Nobody is fired with notice at my company–nobody. They laid a few people off as part of “restructuring” a few weeks ago and didn’t make any announcements until those people were out the door!
I’ve had a number of jobs in Silicon Valley over the last 30 years. In every single one of them the way it works was the same: you get hired with full benefits and if they want you gone you’re gone, if they don’t you aren’t.
I can’t imagine it any other way. Are there surplus HR people/union stewards around or something? God save us.
In the case of my job, Union representation officially ‘starts’ after probation is up. Its also a way to see if someone is a good fit for the position. The company I’m working for has lots of different job classifications. Each time you switch, you are put on another six month probation. In that case, its to determine whether you are doing okay in the new position, or maybe the managers think you’re better off staying where you were.
We get full benefits almost immediately, so the main importance is the presence of the union to help fight for my job if anything comes up. I think to fire someone that’s already made probation is a much more involved process. That, and many (though not all) employees in this particular field are more likely to do something really idiotic during that probation period.
Probation is generally a legally meaningless concept in the US, unless it is in the context of a union or other contract, like in the OP’s case. Outside of that context, it really isn’t good practice for an employer to refer to probation, since it implies some additional security after the probation is completed. On the other hand, it isn’t a good idea for the employee to put too much stock in it, either. Unless there is a contract, your employment situation is what it is, and vague non-contractual probationary periods don’t mean much.