90 days is enough

Stuff reports:

Business New Zealand’s push for an extension to the 90-day hiring trial lacks support from either National or Labour.

Business NZ chief executive Phil O’Reilly said he had spoken to both parties about extending the trial period from 90 days to six months or a year, which is in line with many other OECD countries (see graphic). But he said neither party had shown an appetite for introducing such a move prior to the election, if at all, and it would be something the business lobby group would raise again post-election, along with other issues outlined in its policy manifesto released last week.

I don’t see a need to extend it. I think a crap employee is fairly easy to detect in the first 90 days. You can’t always work out if they are incompetent just on the basis of an interview or CV, but a few weeks into an actual job normally exposes if they are not up to it. Trial periods are a balance between an employee needing job security and an employer needing to see if someone is actually up to the job. I think 90 days is a right balance.