While that is true, the flip side is that it enables a lazy employer to hold on to incompetent personnel for a year. Worse yet, your employer could hire a long string of workers over several years, firing each just before they finish their probationary period, thus saving money on salaries and benefits. On the other hand, a year is a real long time to fake it for a potential employee who intends to be lazy and shiftless once the probationary period elapses. ^_^