A probation period is a contractual period of time at the start of an employment contract between a new employee and an organisation. During the probationary period the employee can be exempt from some contractual rights, e.g., employee benefits. (Source of information from cloverhr.co.uk)

These are important in the workplace to find out if the new employee is right for the role, if they fit within the team and if they fit within the organisation however the lack of support for anyone on a probation period is the biggest problem and here is my story.

After being out of work for a number of months, I was happy to have found a new job local to me which was one that I had lots of experience in. The interview could not have gone better and I was hired quickly, I started quickly, basically jumping right in. I got on well with all the staff, I knew how the job worked and within three weeks, I was promoted and my new role started two months after joining the team. This was going great, or so I thought.

The probation period was six months with this company which was fine of course, although longer than what I had previously experienced in other jobs. I was on month four and getting on very well, or yes… so I thought. My probation was restarted when my new role began which I was not informed about until after I was unfairly dismissed.

Why was I unfairly dismissed? I was accused of stealing £100, having “bad habits” and extending the life of food. None of which I had done and no proof was shown to me. Just a manager reading out some words on a piece of paper with another manager sat in the room with us. I was alone and had to deal with it alone.

It wasn't until after being sacked I found out that my bad habits were using what we called a “handover” book correctly and I was also informed that other colleagues would often complain to the manager about me saying I was “on at them” all the time. None of this was brought to my attention and nobody came to me to talk to me about it. I was under the impression that I had great shifts with my new colleagues and we worked really well together. Oh, how wrong I was.

I have worked with food for almost a decade and the first rule is to abide by the guidelines and check the dates of the food, removing any food that is out of date. A rule I have known for over ten years is not a rule I ever intend to break so being accused of “relabeling” food was also news to me.

Then we move on to the theft. There was no theft. Money did go missing but here is the truth. When the till prompts a staff member to do something called a “Cash Drop” we take some money out of the till, count how much is there and we place it in a secure drop box which is near the till. Of course, this is what I did. I counted £100 in twenty-pound notes in front of another staff member and place it in what I believed to be a secure drop box.

A few hours later when going to close, I notice that the drop box was not secure at all. It was open and the back of it was behind a box on the floor and the money was missing. I spent over 30 minutes looking high and low for the money but could not find it. I asked for help and was even bag searched. Nothing was found on me. I even opened up my purse and honest said “I have £50 in tens and here it is. The cash drop was in twenties.” I even watched the camera myself and there is nothing to show me stealing any money.

Now let’s talk about the meeting I had. It was meant to be half an hour but it lasted five minutes. Like I said before I was alone with two managers and one of them was reading out words from a piece of paper.

I instantly burst into tears and felt my heart break. I knew I would never steal or do anything bad and there was nothing I could do to protect myself and I knew they would not have listened to me. They had made their decision and I had to respect that. I asked to leave immediately and I left as fast as I could.

Before I was hired, in my interview I made them aware of my mental health conditions. I suffer with Bipolar, Anxiety, Depression, OCD and there is a possibility of borderline personality disorder. I was struggling with it all and after this meeting, I felt like the worst person in the world and my mental health is still suffering and has gotten worse. I am too scared to apply for jobs because I know I’m going to have to tell the employer why I was let go and I fear I will never get another job due to this.

I won’t go into much detail about my mental health as I’d like to keep it private. I just want to get support for what I went through and I’ve had none whatsoever. The best thing to come from this petition would be for the government to create something like a “Probation Period Union” maybe or just something to give new employees a bit of support.

Thank you for reading and I hope you sign.