Milestone-Based Probation Evaluation

Overview

Organizations often need visibility into employee performance throughout the probation period, not just at the end.

Milestone-based probation evaluation allows administrators to set multiple evaluation checkpoints so managers can provide structured feedback at different stages before the final probation decision.

This helps organizations:

• Monitor employee progress
• Identify issues early
• Provide timely guidance
• Maintain consistent evaluation practices

Instead of using spreadsheets or external tools, the entire process can be managed within Keka.

Who Can Configure

Users with permission to:

• Manage Probation Policies

Impacted personas:

• HR (with required permissions) 
• Evaluators (Managers and other reviewers) 
• Employees

Pre-requisites

Before configuring milestone-based probation evaluation, ensure the following:

• A probation policy has been created
• Employees have been assigned to the policy 
  

Why Use Milestone-Based Probation Evaluation

Milestone-based evaluations help organizations move beyond a single end-of-probation review and create a more structured, transparent, and timely evaluation process.

Case study: Improving probation decisions with milestone-based evaluations

Scenario: 
A growing organization with 300+ employees relies on a single end-of-probation review to decide confirmations. Managers have limited visibility into employee progress during the probation period.

Challenges:

• No structured feedback until the final review
• Last-minute surprises in performance or cultural fit
• Inconsistent and sometimes biased confirmation decisions

Solution: 
The HR team enables milestone-based probation evaluation and configures monthly checkpoints within the probation policy. At each milestone (30, 60, 90 days), managers submit structured feedback using predefined forms, while reminders ensure timely completion. All evaluations are tracked in a single view with clear milestone status and feedback progress.

Outcome:

• Managers identify performance gaps early and provide timely guidance
• Employees receive continuous feedback and clarity on expectations
• HR gains visibility into evaluation progress across all employees
• Final confirmation decisions are more consistent and backed by structured feedback instead of last-minute inputs

Additional benefit: 
All feedback and evaluation data is centrally tracked, making it easier to review employee progress and improve hiring or onboarding decisions over time.

Configuration Steps

Step 1: Navigate to Probation Policies

Select an existing policy or create a new one.

Step 2: Enable Probation Evaluation

Choose whether evaluation is required:

• Yes, evaluation required
• No, evaluation not required

If evaluation is disabled, the system skips evaluation during probation.

Step 3: Choose Evaluation Type

You can configure one of the following evaluation types:

Single Milestone

• Only one evaluation is conducted
• Triggered near the end of probation
• Used for the final probation decision

Multiple Milestones

• Evaluations are scheduled at different stages, such as Month 1, Month 2, and Final
• Helps track employee progress continuously throughout the probation period

Step 4: Configure Evaluation Milestones

When Multiple Milestones is selected, the system creates checkpoints based on the configured duration.

Each milestone can include:

• Evaluators
• Multiple levels
• Reminder notifications
• Optional feedback forms

How it works (case study example): 
In a 300+ employee organization that wanted more visibility during probation (instead of only a final review), HR configured milestones at 30, 60, and 90 days. At each checkpoint, the reporting manager submitted structured feedback using predefined forms, with reminders ensuring timely completion. This helped HR track progress milestone-by-milestone and enabled early guidance instead of last-minute surprises.

Note:

• Interim milestones are used for feedback
• The final milestone is used for the probation decision

Step 5: Configure Evaluators

Define the evaluation levels, such as:

• Reporting manager
• Skip-level manager
• HR

You can also define the feedback requirement as:

• All reviewers
• Any reviewer

Step 6: Configure Feedback Forms

Attach structured forms to capture evaluation feedback.

Forms can be assigned to:

• Evaluators
• Employees, if required

You can also control form visibility by choosing whether to:

• Share with employee
• Share with next reviewer

Step 7: Configure Reminder Notifications

Set reminder notifications for pending feedback to help ensure evaluations are completed on time.

Tracking and Evaluation

Track Employees in Probation

Employees are categorized based on their probation and evaluation status:

• In Probation – No milestone has been triggered yet
• Evaluation in Progress – Feedback is pending
• Completed Actions – Final outcome has been recorded

Final outcomes may include:

• Confirmation
• Extension
• Termination

View Evaluation Timeline

You can track the employee’s full probation journey, including:

• Probation start date
• Configured milestones
• Status of each evaluation
• Final decision

Submit Feedback

Evaluators receive notifications when feedback is due.

They can access evaluation tasks through their Inbox and submit feedback using the assigned forms.

View Feedback

Feedback can be viewed by different users based on role and sharing settings:

• Managers → From team member records
• HR → From the employee profile
• Employees → Based on configured visibility settings

Download Evaluation Reports

You can export probation evaluation data, including:

• Employee details
• Policy information
• Milestone evaluations
• Reviewer feedback
• Final outcome

With milestone-based probation evaluation, organizations can create a more structured, transparent, and proactive probation process that supports better feedback, better decisions, and better employee outcomes.