In this article, we're going to look at probation: how long it is for, what we do and how we're going to evaluate you during this time - what happens if you do well, not so well and what we do if we think you're not quite cutting it...
Probationary Policy
Hatching Dragons takes the assessment of staff performance very seriously. All staff are given a 6 month probationary period as standard for the business unit management to evaluate the performance of new starters to the fullest extent before a decision is made to make a staffer permanent. Areas for evaluation include:
- Attitude & Team coherence
- Attendance
- Knowledge of and adherence to Hatching Dragons Policies
- Quality of Childcare practice
- Commitment to CPD with progress on training from Educare, Citation and other training providers
The following periods apply
1st Month: Room leaders within the room in which the new staffer is working will provide on-going feedback to the business unit management regarding the new starter. New starters will meet with the business unit manager at the end of the month to discuss feedback in a formal probationary review meeting
Month 2-6: New starters will receive formal probationary meetings at the end of each month to review progress along the probationary assessments from the previous session, along with peer observations from the new starters team and reviews of the new starters' attendance and attitude. The business unit manager can and should interrogate the new starters knowledge of policies with periodic spot checks and tests
At the end of probationary period, the business unit manager will formally notify the central management team with his / her summary findings of the new starters performance over the 6 months with a recommendation to:
- Terminate - should the new starter be found to be failing in all areas, the contract will be terminated on notice
- Extending Probation: Should the business unit manager feel that probation requires extension for the new starter to have time to work on specific aspects raised during probationary hearings
The business unit manager will ensure that central management are forwarded all probationary reviews for the new starters dossier and the Central team will issue the new starter their probationary assessment letter no less than two weeks prior to the completion of their probation.
Periods of notice to terminate are as defined in the contract