This article will walk you through managing a live Evaluate Cycle for Probationary Reviews. To learn more about setting-up Probation Evaluate Cycles, click here. 



Overview

 

Once you have set your Probations cycle live, OpenBlend will automatically assign users as necessary to the cycle, so you will not need to worry about this. 


You will be able to identify your Probation cycles as you will see a " Probation Cycle " pill next to the Cycle name, within your Admin view of Evaluate Cycles. 


You are only able to have one Probation cycle live at any one time, but you are able to close out a cycle for any more new starters, allowing those currently in the cycle to complete their probation, and create a new cycle at any time. 


To manage your probations cycle, simply click on the three dots next to the cycle and select "Cycle Settings" from the menu.


Due Dates & End Dates

Based on the number of days, weeks or months that you have set in your Evaluate cycle, the Due Dates and End Dates are calculated as follows:

  • Review Start Date: 
    User Start Date + Probation Length - Evaluation Length
    eg. Start Date: 01/10/2022 + Probation Length: 3 months - Evaluation Length: 1 month 
    This would mean that the Start Date for the cycle would be 01/09/2022
     
  • Review Due Date:
    The Evaluate Due Date is set by default to a week before the end of the user's Probation. 
    User Start Date + Probation Length - 1 Week
    eg. Start Date: 01/10/2022 + Probation Length: 3 months - 1 Week
    This would mean that the Due Date for the cycle would be 25/09/2022
     
  • Review End Date: 
    User Start Date + Probation Length 
    eg. Start Date: 01/10/2022 + Probation Length: 3 months 
    This would mean that the End Date for the cycle would be 01/10/2022 

 

 

Progress Statuses

 

There are a slightly different set of progress statuses with Probation cycles. Next to each status, you will see a "View" link, you can click on this to look at the employees within each status. 


Each of the statuses are described below for you:


Manager Evaluation Statuses 

  • Pre-Probation Review
    This is where you will see a list of managers who have an employee who has started with your organisation, but has not yet entered the review period for their Evaluate Cycle. 
     
  • Not Started
    Meaning a review has been set live for a Manager, but they have not started their Evaluation on the employee who has now entered the Probation Review period. 
     
  • Submitted*
    *Please note, this status only applies to Managers if HR Approval is enabled on the cycle. Submissions will sit in this status until you approve the submission. Learn more about Approval here.
     
  • Ready to Discuss
    Once the Manager has submitted their review, the Evaluation will go into Ready to Discuss status. This status is only available on the Manager Evaluation Status, as the Manager has to submit their review to be able to enter this stage. 
      
  • Completed
    Once a manager enters this stage, this means that the full process is completed and manager has discussed the review with the Employee. 


Employee Evaluation Statuses (If applicable)

  • Pre-Probation Review
    This is where you will see a list of employees who have started with your organisation, but have not yet entered the review period for their Evaluate Cycle. 
     
  • Not Started
    Meaning a review has been set live for the employee, but they have not started their Self-Evaluation.
     
  • Submitted
    The employee has submitted their Self-Evaluation and the manager can now see and review this, providing the "Employee Self Evaluation is hidden from managers until Discussion Session" cycle setting is disabled. 
     
  • Completed
    Once an employee enters this stage, this means that the full process is completed and their manager has discussed the review with them. 

 

 

Reporting

  

Alongside being able to view the employees in each status, you can also view and export a full report containing the manager review status, and employee review status (if applicable) as well as the Probation End Date and the Job Function and Office Location. 


To access this report, simply click on the " Review / Export " button on the top left hand side of the Summary Page in your cycle. 


You can export the report using the three dots on the top right hand side of the pop-up. You are then able to export this into Excel, if you wish to.



Evaluate Notifications

Notifications

Users will receive reminder notifications for the following, via email and Teams or Slack (if enabled):

  • When a cycle starts
    • Employees (if self-evaluation is enabled) and managers included in a cycle will get a notification via email and Teams or Slack if enabled, to alert them of the new cycle.
        
    • New managers added after a cycle has started will receive those notifications as soon as their addition to the cycle is saved.
      • The employees of new managers added after the cycle starts will be marked as not applicable initially, but will receive a self-evaluation invitation after they are marked as applicable.
          
  • When a cycle 'Due Date' is 1 week away
    • Reminders are sent to managers who have not yet submitted all their manager evaluations.
        
    • Reminders are also sent to any users have not yet submitted all their self-evaluation, if it is applicable.
        
  • When a cycle 'Due Date' or 'End Date' is today
    • Reminders are sent to managers who have not yet submitted all their manager evaluations.
        
    • Reminders are also sent to any users have not yet submitted all their self-evaluation, if it is applicable.

 

 

Closing a Cycle

 

Once you are ready to close out a Probation Evaluate Cycle, simply go to the Summary tab of your cycle by clicking on the three dots next to the cycle and select "Cycle Settings" from the menu.

 

Then click on the " Close to new starters " button on the bottom right hand side of the page. 

 

Unlike with our standard Evaluate cycles, if a manager and employee are still to complete their review at the time the cycle is closed out, it will stay active for the manager and they can still submit the review.

 

 

Interested in using OpenBlend for your Probationary Reviews? Please contact your Customer Success Manager to discuss your processes and the functionality OpenBlend offers in more detail.