When you start, you’ll be considered to be in your probationary period for 3 months. A “probationary period” is a standard legal term required by labour law, but it’s really a time for us to ensure both you and the organisation are a good fit for each other. Benefits and full permanent status takes effect once we have decided you’ve successfully completed your probation period.

Ending month 1:

We do a more formal check-in every month for the first three months of your fellowship. At the end of the first month, the formal conversation with People Ops intends to check on:

• your well-being
• if the work, work practices, people and culture are what you envisaged when choosing to work with us
• your feedback on how we can help with work and getting to know your team
• feedback from those working with you for advice and help the team work better together.

If it makes sense for your situation, we’ll help to set some goals that both you and us as a team can work on for the next two months (for example: maybe you want more direction from our project manager, or we’ll ask if you could communicate more with your team on Slack).

The rest of the fellowship:

During the fellowship, you will have differing levels of structured onboarding of technical/ non-technical work practices depending on your starting point, team, progress, etc.

• Month two: You will have a formal discussion with your manager on your next steps and goals for the next few months. In case there are lags in areas of performance, those will be shared too.
• Month three: We’ll get together with you for your second check-in with People Ops + your manager, to give you a sense of progress in the organisation. We will also bring the fellowship to a close or, if need be, extend the fellowship period.

Neither the goals we set nor the check-ins are designed as stressful challenges to prove your worth or skills. We won’t grade you during check-in and you won’t be blindsided by a surprise evaluation. Like you, we want you to succeed and to become a full member of the team. The check-ins are a chance for us to work together to help you integrate with the team and to thrive and be happy in your new job.

Even if you’re struggling with a goal we set after three months, we may extend your probation period while we help find a way to overcome the difficulties you are encountering. This may include changes to your work, or Thrive changing to accommodate your personal way of doing things.