Nationwide tells 13,000 staff to 'work anywhere'

Re:Nationwide tells 13,000 staff to 'work anywhere' by dx034 on Thursday March 25, 2021 @05:37AM (#26578085)

The standard probation period is six months in the UK. I haven't encountered two years yet, is that even legal? And it's called probation period for a reason, it's a time for both sides to figure out if the arrangement works out and be able to quit with no or little notice otherwise. After that, 3 months notice periods are completely normal so it's good to not get locked into that from day one.

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Re:Nationwide tells 13,000 staff to 'work anywhere' by carmen_sandiego on Thursday March 25, 2021 @05:40AM (#26578097)

I'm not talking about contractual probation periods. There's a universal two year threshold after which you get extra protections, and before which you can be fired for any reason that's not specifically discriminatory on race, gender, etc + some other very narrow cases. Pretty similar to what 'at will' means in the US. We just have a short statutory notice period.

https://www.stephens-scown.co.uk/employment/employment-right...

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Re:Nationwide tells 13,000 staff to 'work anywhere' by dx034 on Thursday March 25, 2021 @07:26AM (#26578886)

From the link you posted:

> Even though an employee has fewer employment rights in the first two years of their employment, an employer would be foolish to assume they have carte blanche to dismiss at will.

So while it's true that there's less protection for workers, there is no at will employment in the UK. Probation period probably comes closest to it but is much shorter.

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Re:Nationwide tells 13,000 staff to 'work anywhere' by carmen_sandiego on Thursday March 25, 2021 @07:59AM (#26579124)

What are you talking about? The US doesn't give carte blanche either. Discrimination law exists. Other labor laws exist. Exactly as this article refers to as being 'not carte blanche' in the UK.

'At will' in the US and the 2 year qualifying period in the UK are practically identical, apart from that the UK has a 2-week statutory notice period. The protections that remain in both the US and UK are almost entirely about protected classes. Even the classes themselves are virtually the same.

"Have they been there less than 2 years?" is the first thing legal will ask you when you want to sack someone in the UK. It's a wholly different status to being protected after the period.

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Re:Nationwide tells 13,000 staff to 'work anywhere' by stuaxo on Friday March 26, 2021 @01:28AM (#26589008)

Although now we have "Inside IR35 Contractors" - which is in effect a zero rights employee. I wonder how long until that is the standard.

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