Assistant probation plan: 30, 60 and 90 days a template a Dubai employer can copy

Before day one: what to prepare

A probation plan starts before the person arrives. Half of the failures in month one are caused by things the employer did not prepare.

• Access: email, calendar, shared drive, the password manager with the accounts the role needs, a company phone or number. Grant access to the person; do not let them create accounts in their own name
• A one-page brief: the scope, the working hours and the urgent window, the three things that matter most to you, your preferences (how you travel, how you like meetings, what you never agree to)
• Introductions: your team lead, accountant, PRO, household staff, two or three key external contacts, with a line on what each one is for
• The written goals for 30, 60 and 90 days from the sections below, sent as an email on day one so both sides can look back at the same text
• A fixed slot for the weekly check-in: fifteen minutes, same day each week, in the calendar already
• The contract itself: probation period and notice written down. The brief on the role should not say one thing while the contract says another

Days 1 to 30: learn the system, no double bookings

The first month is about learning your world and not breaking anything. Judge reliability and attitude, not speed.

• Goals: knows the calendar rules, your key contacts and your communication preferences; manages the calendar with no double bookings; handles routine bookings and reminders without prompting
• What to measure: calendar conflicts (target: none after week two), response time on your messages during working hours, errors in names, dates and amounts
• What to watch: does the person ask questions early or guess; do they write things down; do they come back to you with a finished item or with a problem
• Template, goals email: In the first 30 days you will take over the calendar and routine bookings, learn my key contacts and preferences, and we will meet every Monday for 15 minutes. By day 30 I expect no calendar conflicts and that all routine reminders come from you
• Give the first real task with a deadline in week two: a trip with a document renewal date, a supplier payment to chase, a family appointment to arrange. Watch the process, not only the result

Days 31 to 60: own the inbox and the follow-ups

The second month is about ownership. The assistant should now run parts of the role without being asked, and you should be noticing less admin on your own desk.

• Goals: owns email triage with a daily summary of what needs you; runs travel planning end to end; keeps a follow-up list and closes items on time; for a hybrid role, coordinates household staff and vendors
• What to measure: priority emails answered or escalated within the agreed time, follow-ups closed on time, travel arranged without errors, one weekly summary sent without a reminder
• What to watch: judgement under pressure, the tone of messages written on your behalf, discretion with information, how the person handles a mistake
• Template, goals email: By day 60 you will run the inbox and travel on your own, send me a daily short summary and a Friday list of open items, and I will see fewer than three admin tasks a week that reach me by mistake
• Mid-probation conversation at day 45: a longer talk of 30 minutes. If there are serious doubts here, say so clearly and write down what must change by day 60

Days 61 to 90: anticipate, then decide

The third month shows whether the person is an assistant or a task-taker. Then you decide, on the date you set, not later.

• Goals: prepares meeting packs and follow-up lists before being asked; proposes improvements to one process; handles a week of your absence with the agreed decision rights; for a hybrid role, runs the household calendar without your involvement
• What to measure: items you no longer touch at all, your own hours spent on admin compared with month one, feedback from the two or three people who work with the assistant most
• Decision: confirm, extend with specific goals, or part. Write it down and tell the person on the agreed date; silence is read as a no
• Probation facts, cautious: under current UAE labour rules the maximum probation period is six months; an employer who ends the contract during probation must give written notice of at least 14 days; after probation the notice period is set in the contract, usually between 30 and 90 days. Check the contract and the current law for your case; this is not legal advice. Our guide to probation and notice in the UAE has the details
• If you confirm: say what the next six months look like, including the next review and the pay step if the scope grows; our guide on why assistants leave explains why this matters
• Template, goals email: By day 90 you will prepare my week before I ask, run one process you improved, and we will meet on [date] to confirm the role

Weekly check-ins and how to give feedback

Feedback is the part most employers skip, and the part assistants value most. Fifteen minutes a week saves a difficult conversation at day 90.

• Format: the same three questions each week. What went well, what went wrong and why, what do you need from me
• Specific, not general: not you need to be more organised, but the Thursday supplier meeting was not in the calendar; let us agree how new meetings get in
• Timely and private: the same day or the next, one to one. Praise can be public; corrections are never public
• Both directions: ask what you do that slows the assistant down. Late answers, reversed decisions and unclear priorities are usually at the top of that list
• Write the notes in one shared document; at day 90 you will have twelve short entries instead of a feeling
• Pay attention to patterns, not single events: one missed detail in month one is normal; the same type of error in weeks three, six and nine is a decision

How we help

TLNT is a hiring consultancy. We help you write the 30-60-90 goals from your real scope before the search starts, so candidates are assessed against the same tasks they will be judged on during probation: email triage, calendar conflicts, follow-ups and, for a hybrid role, household coordination, on a model of your real work. You interview, make the hiring decision, agree the terms and run the probation; the person is employed directly by your company, the employer sponsors the visa and we give you a step-by-step checklist, including this plan.

Our fee is fixed for each role and agreed before the search starts. A 10% prepayment of the fee starts the search, the rest is due once the person has started work. If it does not work out, we find a replacement free of charge; the period is set in the contract. Consulting and CRM projects are priced after a free review.