Which correct procidures do companies Follow for Performance appraisals when their HR

[macxsanity]

I have a friend who is distrought ,he was hired last year in spetember by a company as a network admin , no performance apparisals were done on him by the company till this year in Feb , at the performance appraisal , he tells me that a number of issues were raised that he needed to "improve" on within a given time frame of 8 weeks , at the end of those 8 weeks he was promised another apraisal ,now my friend just found out that at the end of those 8 weeks his employers have higherd a "labour consultent" and have given The labour consultent reports of this friend's poor and continous bad performance .... the poor dude is crying and saying that he might get fired from his position ,should the labour consultent recommend so , i told him i do not have much experiance in thse issues when he cam to me for advice , are there any "HR" experts that can give him pointers as to what the worst out come he can expect from this whole scenario , the only point i made him aware off was that maybe it was a bit unfare for the company to give him one appraisal before bringing in the "Hr" consultent .....

[bubbatentoe]

It all depends on his employment contract.
What does it say?
Was he employed on a "probation period" of X weeks before being considered a "permanent" employee?
5 months is a long time without a performance appraisal.
The company should have spoken up sooner if they were unhappy.

Does an employment contract even exist? If not, get advise from a labor lawyer.

The "labor consultant" issues only becomes important if your friend was in-fact employed by the consultant and NOT by the company.
If that's the case then your friend is actually working for, and being paid by the labor consultant.
He just happens to be based at the company as a contractor.
Have him check his payslip, who's name is on there, the company or the consultant's firm?

but, BEWARE, going to see a lawyer (and being vocal about it with HR) is a double-edged sword.
Once you go to a lawyer (and tell your employer about it) the employer ALWAYS sees you as an "enemy" and they'll find a reason to get rid of you.
Companies like "dealing" with employees, never with lawyers.

best of luck to your mate.
:-)

[xrapidx]

Is he actually useless at his job? If not then they can't fault him, can they?

[syntax]

Is he actually useless at his job? If not then they can't fault him, can they?

exactly what I was going to say.
8 weeks is a little short to try fix things (depending on what they are), but it does sound like he sucks at his job

[ponder]

Performance appraisals should be done on a regular basis, if there are issues the employee should be notified about them and corrective measures taken. You don't leave things for a year and then all of a sudden raise the issues and fire a person.

[macxsanity]

Is he actually useless at his job? If not then they can't fault him, can they?

If he sucked so much at his job why did they keep quite the whole year and only voice it now he even says that after the "probation" period the group IT manager of that particular compny came and did an official hand over of The IT tasks at the mentioned company and nothing was said .....i think they are being unfair on him ....

[Lounger]

I think it depends on what support they are giving him during those 8 weeks. Is he getting training or supervision. If not, then I suspect it's just an excuse.

[MightyQuin]

If he sucked so much at his job why did they keep quite the whole year and only voice it now he even says that after the "probation" period the group IT manager of that particular compny came and did an official hand over of The IT tasks at the mentioned company and nothing was said .....i think they are being unfair on him ....

The group IT manager then screwed up. The probation period should have extended PAST the official handover. Obviously your buddy lost the plot whne his hand wasn't being held anymore. We employ IT techies on a 1 yr contract. It takes way longer than standard probation to see if they can do the job and actually be productive and make a contribution worthy of their starting salary.

[Lounger]

The group IT manager then screwed up. The probation period should have extended PAST the official handover. Obviously your buddy lost the plot whne his hand wasn't being held anymore. We employ IT techies on a 1 yr contract. It takes way longer than standard probation to see if they can do the job and actually be productive and make a contribution worthy of their starting salary.

The probation period is open to abuse. Some companies were employing people on low salaries during their probation and then just replacing them every so often in order to save money.

[xrapidx]

Are you sure the company isn't in financial trouble - and trying to avoid retrenchment costs?

Other than that I can't see why they'd suddenly go through so much effort to get rid of someone.

[MightyQuin]

The probation period is open to abuse. Some companies were employing people on low salaries during their probation and then just replacing them every so often in order to save money.

The flip side of that coin: people that work for you and screw up regularly, but hide behind the labour law that makes it nigh on impossible to fire some one for incompetence. One year fixed term contract...take it or leave it.

[xrapidx]

Why doesn't he start looking for another job? Would you really want to work for a company that doesn't want you?

[MightyQuin]

Are you sure the company isn't in financial trouble - and trying to avoid retrenchment costs?

Other than that I can't see why they'd suddenly go through so much effort to get rid of someone.

Maybe, just maybe, this guy is really *** and can't do his job?? Why is the company the bad guy here?

[macxsanity]

He says when he started there had not been any IT department, to start off with all he had was aspread sheet whit all the network info , ip addresses, passwords of servers and telehpone numbers of suppliers , this was last year in September when the group IT manager who is based at thier Head office came in in late november to do The officical hand over He was given The thumps up ....i mean really if this gys is *** why would he have survived this long unsupervised let alone he could have crashed servers and disrupted network services , he also states that even now the group IT manager is on his side it is his imidiate suppeirors here in Johanessburg that is the MD and financial manager that are saying he is under performing and have tacken the case with the "labour consultent"

[xrapidx]

If he's spelling is anything like yours, its no wonder he's in a world of ****.