The probation period is not a one-sided test for new employees

Many companies invest a great deal of time and resources in attracting people. Job adverts are sharpened, interviews prepared in a structured way, career pages reworked and employer promises carefully worded. After the recruitment process and the signing of the contract, however, the attention unfortunately drops off sharply all too often.

What makes that dangerous? In this phase new employees are checking whether the picture they were given actually matches reality: are my tasks what I expected? Are responsibilities clear to me? Does collaboration work the way it was described? And is the culture that was advertised actually lived day to day?

The Softgarden study “Erfolgreiches Onboarding 2026” shows how relevant these questions are: one in six people surveyed has already resigned during the probation period. Of those who took that step, 67.8 per cent name a discrepancy between the expectations set during the application process and the actual work situation as the reason.

In this issue we want to make sense of these various causes, starting from the first contact between employer and applicant.

Five reasons why employees resign during the probation period

1. The role was sold differently from how it actually is

The true picture emerges quickly in everyday work. For example, the role is considerably more operational or more narrowly framed, contains less project responsibility, or in some cases is even an entirely newly defined role that was not recognisable as such during the application process, or was “sold” differently.

Not every deviation is a problem. No interview can fully capture every task and every situation that will come later.

It becomes critical, though, when the overall picture conveyed does not match reality closely enough. Someone who expects a strategic role and then mainly takes on administrative tasks experiences not only a professional mismatch but a sense of disappointment, even of having been misled. The impression arises that the application process created expectations the company cannot meet. The 67.8 per cent in the Softgarden study who resign because of the discrepancy between expectation and reality confirm this.

2. After the contract is signed, onboarding starts too late

There are often several weeks or months between the signing of the contract and the first day at work. Even so, communication in many companies stops for the time being with the offer.

For new employees this creates the impression that the company’s interest waned with the signature. Questions about the first day, the team or the role remain open. At the same time an important phase is given away, in which orientation and a first sense of attachment could be built.

In practice it also turns out that onboarding often not only starts too late but is prepared and carried out with too little structure. While a gap in communication opens up between signing and the first day, what is missing after the first week is a clear induction framework. Many companies assume at this stage that new employees “will find their way”.

Losing contact after the contract is signed risks first doubts arising before the working relationship has even started. Failing to structure the induction properly confirms those doubts in the very first days.

3. Onboarding is more than a laptop, access rights and a first tour

In many companies onboarding is still understood in strongly operational terms: provide equipment, set up access, organise a few introductory meetings and perhaps a company presentation on day one.

That establishes the technical ability to work, but no integration has yet been achieved.

In the first weeks, what new employees expect above all is orientation: how are decisions taken? Who are my points of contact? Who supports me during the induction? Which expectations and rules really apply day to day?

Effective onboarding therefore connects three levels:

• Professional induction: clear tasks, priorities and learning objectives
• Social integration: connection to the team, informal structures, an understanding of the culture
• Leadership and orientation: regular feedback, clear expectations, active support

Onboarding is not an administrative starting point but a decisive factor in whether a signed contract becomes a working relationship that succeeds over the long term.

4. New employees receive too little leadership and feedback

In the first weeks in particular this point is often greatly underestimated. Because it is precisely in this period that new employees want a manager who is present and who actively encourages regular exchange.

We still hear far too often that managers assume new employees will come to them if they have questions. At the same time many new employees hesitate to raise uncertainties and disappointments early on, or to ask questions freely. They want to appear competent and not to be seen in the first few days as critical or out of their depth.

So problems stay invisible on both sides.

Anyone who only learns in the probation review that expectations were not met had hardly any realistic opportunity to adjust their own behaviour in time. Conversely, managers only learn when the resignation arrives that the new employee has had doubts for weeks.

The Softgarden study confirms how much this matters: 58.3 per cent of respondents who resigned during the probation period name a lack of support from their manager.

5. The culture as it is lived contradicts the employer promise

During recruitment there is talk of personal responsibility, openness, collaboration and short decision-making paths. Day to day, new employees then often experience a different reality: control, information held back, drawn-out coordination, even a subdued atmosphere.

Corporate culture does not show itself on the career page but in daily interaction, in the way decisions are taken and conflicts are handled. Where that reality differs markedly from the picture conveyed, disappointment follows.

Incidentally: AI can widen this discrepancy further. It can word the employer promise in the job advert more convincingly, more professionally and more “polished”. What it cannot do is make sure that this promise is actually lived inside the company.

Early turnover is not an exception

Alongside our posts over the past weeks, we also asked our LinkedIn network how many employees resign during the probation period at their companies.

The poll is not representative, but it shows two relevant points: around one in six participants reports an early turnover rate of more than ten per cent.

At the same time, some companies do not measure this figure at all. As a result, not only recruitment and induction costs but often structural causes as well go unrecognised. Anyone who only looks at overall turnover may be missing clusters in particular roles, teams, locations or under individual managers.

Conclusion: the probation period tests both sides

The probation period is not a one-sided test for new employees – the company is being tested too: on its leadership, on how clear the role is, and on whether the employer promise matches reality.

Responsibility therefore does not end with the signing of the contract. Recruiting has to convey a realistic picture, HR has to shape the transition from recruiting into onboarding, and managers have to give orientation and feedback early.

Companies should also evaluate early turnover systematically:

• How many employees resign during the probation period?
• In which areas do resignations cluster?
• Which reasons and patterns repeat themselves?

Anyone who treats every resignation as an isolated case frequently overlooks structural causes. Early turnover can only be reduced for good if companies critically examine the whole path from recruiting through onboarding to leadership in the first months.

A look ahead to the next insight

In the next issue we turn to the myth of the “strategic” HR business partner: what actually is the famous HRBP, and why does the role fall short of its strategic aspiration in many companies? Is an HR business partner a sparring partner, an escalation point, an operational problem solver – or all of these at once? And how strategic does HR actually need to be?

We look forward to going into these and other questions with you in person or through our digital channels.