Probationary Period Guidelines - Information For Deans & Directors

For all new regular (type-1) staff members, the probationary period is the first 90 calendar days of their initial employment.  This period may be extended with your prior approval of the Assistant Director of Compensation and Staffing.  The probationary period is used to determine if your employee’s performance meets your expectations of the position and if continued employment is warranted.

New staff members must be informed of the existence and length of the probationary period at the time of the offer of employment.  University Human Resources extends employment offers for bargaining unit (COLT and 888) positions and will explain the probationary period.

Upon hire and/or within the first week of employment, you  should do the following:

• Provide the employee with a copy of his/her position description and establish performance expectations that the staff member will be evaluated on;
• Meet with the employee to discuss the job responsibilities, practices, performance expectations, policies and procedures;
• Ensure that the employee receives the appropriate orientation to the University, school/center/institute and department.

Throughout the probationary period review process, you  should:

• Meet with the employee regularly to discuss performance and provide constructive feedback as to whether s/he is meeting your  expectations for the position, determine if employee needs additional training and, if necessary, provide employee with a plan for improvement;
• Determine whether the employee meets the required performance expectations for continued employment.

If performance expectations have not been met and progress has not been made within a reasonable period of time, the employee should be terminated before attaining the 90th day of employment.

To submit a comment or to report any problems with this site, please email us. For questions about University Human Resources programs and services, please email our Operations Team.

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Last Updated: 03/14/2007