Make probation & notice period policies optional when adding employees [for US customers]

Overview

Many US organisations do not follow Probation and/or Notice period policies. Until now, Keka required HR admins to assign these policies while adding employees, which forced US customers to create and use dummy policies (for example, 1-day probation/notice period). This led to a poor admin experience and confusion for employees.

With this release, Keka allows US customers to skip assigning Probation and Notice period policies while adding employees.

What’s new

Add employee wizard (USA work country)

When adding an employee using the Add employee wizard, if Work country = USA, the following fields in step 2 become optional:

• Probation policy
• Notice period

In both dropdowns, Keka now shows new options:

• --- No probation policy ---
• --- No notice period policy ---

If an admin selects these options, it is treated the same as not selecting any policy.

Duration sub-text 
Under each dropdown, Keka shows a Duration sub-text:

• If no policy is selected (or the “No policy” option is selected), Duration shows 0 days.

Default selection stays the same 
Keka will still pre-fill these dropdowns based on existing logic (for example, auto-assigner or default policies). This release only adds the ability to choose no policy.

Preboarding

The same changes apply when adding an employee from Preboarding.

Imports

Import employee job details (US version)

In the US version of Import employee job details, the following fields are now optional:

• Probation policy
• Probation end date
• In probation
• Notice period

The import dropdowns will also include:

• --- No probation policy ---
• --- No notice period policy ---

Validation for probation fields 
If any one of these probation-related fields is provided:

• Probation policy
• Probation end date
• In probation

…then the other two must also be provided. If not, show this error:

“If one of the fields among 'Probation policy', 'Probation end date' & 'In probation' is added, it is required to add other two fields as well”.

Note: 

• For US: If Probation policy and Notice period are left blank, they are treated as not set for the employee.
• For India & other countries: If they are left blank, default policies are mapped to the employee.

Keka will ensure this behavior is consistent across UI and import flows.

Employee profile behavior

Employee profile → Job

If an employee is added without these policies:

• In probation? shows -Not set-
• Notice Period shows -Not set-

Updating from “not set” to a policy

If an admin edits these fields:

• Keka opens the respective update side-pop-up
• The current value is shown as not set
• Once a Probation policy is added:
  • Probation start date = Joining date
  • Probation end date is calculated based on the selected policy
  • In probation is set to Yes/No based on whether the end date is in the future/past
• The employee will appear in the relevant policy pages.

Updating policies back to “not set” (US employees)

Admins can also remove these policies for US employees from the employee profile.

Probation policy removal rules

• Allowed only if probation evaluation is not started.
• When removed, Keka updates probation fields as:
  • Probation policy: Not set
  • Probation status: No
  • Probation start & end dates: NA
• If probation evaluation is already started, removal is not allowed.

Past probation evaluations  
If the employee has past probation evaluations and the probation policy is set to null:

• Past evaluations remain stored, but they will be hidden from the UI (the employee will not appear in Completed probation). 
   
  “If employee has probation evaluation(s) from the past and no policy is assigned, those records will be hidden from the system. They will be visible again (from "Probation" pages) if the employee is mapped to a probation policy.”

This same hiding behaviour applies even when updating to “not set” via imports.

Joining date change

If Probation is not set, probation fields should remain Not set / NA, and Keka should not provide the edit option from that context.

My profile

My profile behaves the same as the employee profile for display, but is view-only for employees. The policies, statuses, and dates should reflect Not set / NA as applicable.

Placeholders (Document templates & event triggers)

If probation/notice period policies are not set, placeholders should resolve as:

• Original probation period: 0 days
• Current probation period: 0 days
• Probation end date: NA
• Notice period (policy): NA
• Notice period duration: 0 days

Reports

• If policies are not configured, show blank for those fields in reports.
• Once configured, the policies should reflect correctly.

Auto-assigner behavior

• If Probation policy is not selected, Keka treats the employee as not in probation for auto-assignment rules.
• In the Add employee wizard, notice period assignment should respond to probation selection/unselection, consistent with existing auto-assigner logic.

Employee resignation impact (no Notice period assigned)

If an employee is not tagged to any Notice period policy, Keka updates the resignation experience:

Resignation form (employee)

• Last day preference copy changes to: Preference on last working day
• This becomes a required field
• Remove Yes/No options
• Show a date picker (only current and future dates allowed)
• Update call-out copy to: 
  “Decision on last working day is subject to mutual agreement with the employer”.
• Remove the note: “Note that the LWD according to company's policy is so & so”.

Wherever Keka shows last working day as per notice period policy, if no notice period policy is assigned:

• Show resignation date as the LWD (or next day based on exit settings)
• Add info text: “No notice period policy assigned to this employee” (where applicable)
• Honor exit settings (same day vs next day start)

This applies across Initiate exit, End contract & initiate exit, and relevant areas in Org → Exits, Inbox → Exit approval, and Employee profile exit pages.

What changes immediately after release?

• This change primarily affects new employees added through Add employee and Preboarding, and the US version of imports.
• Existing employees remain unchanged unless an admin updates their Probation policy or Notice period from the employee profile.