You have offered a position to a redeployee, what is the trial period?
A statutory trial period of four weeks must be provided to an employee who is under notice of redundancy and has been offered another post within the organisation.
The purpose of this time is for you to monitor their progress in the new role, identify and arrange any training required and ensure that any concerns from you or the employee are identified and addressed. This enables you to assess whether the role is suitable for the employee.
If at any time either you or the employee is concerned, you must contact your HR Relationship team and discuss it with them.
Is there a form to record the employee's progress during the trial period?
Yes, the important thing is that you have the conversation and note down any concerns discussed with the employee. This will be important if you decide not to make the position permanent following the end of the trial period. This form can be found at the bottom of this page.
What should you do during week one of the trial period?
On the first day discuss with your new team member the responsibilities of the role and any training arrangements that have been agreed.
The member of staff should be treated as if they are new and receive the normal induction into the workplace.
The member of staff should be allocated an experienced colleague who they can 'work shadow' in order that they can understand what is involved in the post.
At the end of the first week, talk to your new team member again to check how the week went and to see if the training needs have changed or if any problems have been experienced.
If the member of staff expresses any concerns regarding the new post, you should discuss this with them and talk to your HR Relationship team.
What should you do during week two of the trial period?
The manager or designated colleague member of staff should check out how the new member of staff is getting along.
If possible, pre-identified training should be arranged in this week.
At the end of the week the manager or designated colleague should talk to the person again to check how the week went.
It is very important, if the member of staff expresses any concerns regarding the new post that this information is passed to your HR relationship team. If necessary a meeting should be arranged for the parties concerned to discuss this further.
What should you do during week three of the trial period?
If it has/or will not be possible for identified training to be carried out during this week it is important that your HR Relationship team are aware, so that a mutually agreed extension of the trial period can be arranged.
You should contact your HR relationship team who will provide you with a template letter you must give to the employee to confirm the agreed extension to the trial period.
What should you do during week four of the trial period?
The manager or designated colleague should again check out how the person is getting along.
The manager or designated colleague should reassess if there are any further training needs which have not yet been addressed and if necessary the trial period will need to be extended.
If the trial period is to be extended, continuous monitoring must be undertaken. Frequency of meetings will depend upon the length of the extension but should be at least every four weeks.
What happens at the end of the trial period?
If it has been successful, at the end of the trial period, you must confirm to the recruitment team that the employee has successfully completed the trial period and you should send the completed trial period monitoring form to Employee services to be filed on the employee's personnel file.
Can the trial period be extended?
This trial period can only be extended for retraining purposes and when this happens a written agreement must be provided giving the specific date on which the trial period will end and setting out the employee's terms and conditions after this date.
The trial period has shown that the role is not suitable for the employee, what happens now?
Having discussed this with your HR Relationship team, they will assist you with writing a letter to the employee confirming that the trial period has shown that the role is not suitable. This should not be a surprise to the employee, as you will have been having weekly discussions where you raise these concerns.
In these circumstances, if the employee has any remaining time in the notice period, they will continue to seek redeployment. If the original notice period has expired, their employment will end immediately with their redundancy entitlement in tact. In this situation, you must complete a leavers form for them, stating the reason for leaving as redundancy.
