Anniversary & Introductory period

StephanieHR

I was speaking with another person in the HR field recently, and we were discussing anniversary time and when certain things such as 401(k) enrollment and vacation time would kick in.

The only way that I have ever done things is by marking a one year anniversary by the person's start date as a regular full-time employee.

However, she told me that all of the information that she keeps coming up with leads her to believe that an introductory period, in this case say 90 days, would not count towards that first year. So, in other words, the employee would get through the 90-day probation period, then you would count one year from the 91st day to determine when 401(k) eligibility, vacation time, etc. would be earned.

Which is correct??

System

I've never heard of anyone excluding the introductory period from the first year as qualifying for enrollment, but maybe her company does it that way. IMHO, I believe anniversary date is just that; one year from date of hire. You could contact your benefits administrator or the company that administers your 401(k).

Don D

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 03-11-05 AT 07:03AM (CST)[/font][br][br]I've never heard of tracking it the way your 'friend' does. And I cannot imagine a reason for doing it that way. Makes absolutely no sense to me.

She mentions 'the information she keeps coming up with'. I would be interested to know what she's talking about.

Whatever

Our policies re: benefits start the count from the date of hire. I don't recall ever seeing a plan that's starts the countdown from when the probationary period is over.

pork1

I agree with the others. Probation or introductory or orientation or training and development period is something I believe we "Personnel Guros" brought into the system of the "world of work" for companies. The hire date is the beginning of personnel actions for any purpose on which I have ever hung a Shingle. The hire date trumps all other dates for the extablishment of "fact" for calculating one's compensation. Regardless of some companies' practices and success with those practices,i.e. assuming a date following the designated probationary period. I certainly do not believe you will have any other poster that will support this concept and it will be interesting reading when it does pop up.

PORK

StephanieHR

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I just had never heard of such a thing, but after speaking to her, I started to wonder if maybe there was something I was not aware of and had been doing wrong.

It was always my understanding that a person was an employee of a company from their start date on, no matter if there's a probationary period or not. They're working for the company during that time, receiving their wages, etc., why shouldn't that be considered employment time.

I should have inquired further as to what references she was using for this information....I am curious.

Enjoy the weekend everybody!