The 60-day review is where you decide if you're keeping someone or not. It's the forgotten middle child of the onboarding timeline, but it's actually your most important decision point.
Why 60 Days Is Critical
At 30 days, you're still giving grace for the learning curve. At 90 days, you're either celebrating a successful hire or executing a termination you should have done earlier.
Sixty days is different. The honeymoon is over. Your employee knows how things work. They've met everyone. They've worked weekends, dealt with difficult customers, and closed the store without supervision. You have real performance data now. According to research by Gallup, 23% of new hires quit within the first six months due to poor onboarding experiences.
If they're not working out, you still have time to find a replacement before the 90-day mark. If you wait until day 88 to admit failure, you're back to square one with recruiting and you've wasted three months of payroll.
What's Different at 60 Days
The novelty has worn off
Week one, everyone's on their best behavior. By week eight, you see who they really are. The employee who was eager and punctual for the first month but has now called out three weekends in a row? That's the real person.
Patterns are clear
One mistake is an accident. The same mistake six times is a pattern. At 60 days, you have enough data to know if problems are flukes or fundamental.
The investment deepens
Every day you keep a mediocre employee, you're choosing them over the better candidate you could be hiring instead. At 60 days, it's time to make the hard call.
What to Evaluate at 60 Days
Performance Consistency
Can they maintain quality when you're not watching? Your cook who makes perfect dishes when you're in the kitchen but burns things when you step away isn't a competent cook.
Look at:
- Speed without sacrificing quality
- Consistency across shifts
- Ability to handle rush periods
- Work quality when supervision is minimal
Problem-Solving Ability
At 30 days, you expect them to follow instructions. At 60 days, they should handle common problems independently.
Your retail associate should know what to do when the register freezes. Your server should handle a customer complaint without immediately fetching a manager. Your warehouse worker should adjust when a shipment arrives in the wrong order.
If they still need hand-holding for routine issues, they're not progressing.
Initiative and Ownership
Do they see something that needs doing and do it? Or do they stand around waiting to be told?
The employee who restocks low inventory without being asked is a keeper. The one who walks past an obvious spill seven times is not.
Impact on the Team
How do veteran employees feel about this person? If your best employees don't want to work shifts with the new hire, that's data. Your A-players won't tolerate dead weight.
Watch for:
- Do people volunteer to train them or avoid it?
- Do coworkers cover for their mistakes or complain to you?
- Has anyone asked why you're keeping them?
Reliability Pattern
Look at the full attendance record:
- Total absences and tardiness
- Pattern of callouts (always Fridays? Always after payday?)
- Advance notice vs. day-of emergencies
- Quality of excuses
One legitimate emergency is fine. Four "emergencies" in 60 days means they're unreliable. You won’t need to consider FMLA regulations at this point, as the employee hasn’t been with you more than 12 months.
How to Conduct a 60-Day Review
Prepare with data
Don't rely on memory or feelings. Pull:
- Attendance records
- Customer complaints or compliments
- Sales or productivity numbers if applicable
- Notes from the 30-day review
Compare to 30-day expectations
At the 30-day review, you set specific goals. Did they meet them? If you said "reduce order errors" and they're still making the same mistakes, that's a clear failure to improve.
Be direct about trajectory
This is the time for brutal honesty. If they're not on track to pass the 90-day mark, tell them now:
"Based on your performance, you're not on track to continue here past 90 days. Here's specifically what needs to change in the next 30 days."
Don't sugarcoat. Don't hint. Say it plainly.
Make the next 30 days measurable
Set concrete, observable goals:
- "Zero attendance issues for the next 30 days"
- "Complete opening procedures without checklist or supervision"
- "Upsell desserts to at least 30% of tables"
- "Reduce order errors from 12% to under 5%"
Vague goals like "improve your attitude" can't be measured. Specific targets can.
Ask the hard question
"Do you want this job?"
Some employees are checked out but haven't quit. Or, they thought the job would look different, and now their expectations aren’t being met. Give them the opportunity to discuss and, if necessary, leave gracefully rather than being terminated at 90 days.
Common 60-Day Scenarios
Scenario 1: Solid performer who needs fine-tuning
They're good but not great. Minor issues need addressing.
Response: Provide specific coaching on the weak areas. Set clear goals. Schedule a brief check-in at day 75 to assess progress.
Scenario 2: Inconsistent performer
Great some days, terrible others. You're not sure which person you hired.
Response: Dig into the pattern. Is it personal issues? Specific shifts or tasks? Conflicting training from different managers? Identify the root cause and address it directly.
Scenario 3: Nice person, bad fit for the job
Everyone likes them, but they can't do the job.
Response: Liking someone doesn't pay your bills. If they can't perform core functions after 60 days of training, they won't magically improve by day 90. Start looking for a replacement. Of course, if there is another role they might be interested in, this is a great time to begin that conversation.
A restaurant has roles with different pace of work and responsibilities. Someone hired as a server might be better suited at the host station or in front of the line firing order tickets. Don’t automatically toss a good person who needs a different pace for their role.
Scenario 4: Skilled but toxic
They do the work but create drama, disrespect coworkers, or undermine management.
Response: Toxic employees poison your team. Your good employees will quit because of them. Terminate before 90 days.
Scenario 5: Exceeding expectations
They're crushing it. Best hire in years.
Response: Tell them. Give them more responsibility. Consider a small raise or bonus at 90 days; don’t wait to recognize excellence. You don't want to risk losing them if they aren’t being challenged and rewarded appropriately.
The Uncomfortable Truth About 60-Day Reviews
Most managers know by day 60 if someone isn't working out. But they avoid making the decision for several bad reasons:
"We're too short-staffed to fire anyone"
You're short-staffed because you're keeping bad employees instead of hiring good ones. A mediocre employee is worse than being short one person because they create problems while taking up a slot.
"They might improve"
After 60 days of feedback and training, they are who they are. Stop hoping for a miracle.
"I don't want to be the bad guy"
You're the manager. Making hard calls is the job. Your good employees are watching to see if you tolerate mediocrity.
"What if I'm wrong?"
Look at your data. If the numbers and observations support termination, trust them. Your gut feeling that you should give them another chance is usually wrong.
When to Terminate Before 90 Days
Don't wait for the 90-day mark if you see these issues at 60 days. This onboarding phase exists for both parties to assess fit. Most states follow at-will employment principles, giving you flexibility to terminate when needed:
- No improvement despite clear feedback at 30 days
- Multiple policy violations
- Theft, harassment, or violence
- Chronic attendance issues (more than 3-4 absences or tardies)
- Fundamental inability to perform core job functions
- Creating team conflict or drama
- Actively seeking other employment
Keeping them another 30 days won't fix these problems. It just delays the inevitable while paying them and risking customer issues.
Questions to Ask at 60 Days
Performance assessment:
- "Where do you feel strongest in your role?"
- "What's still challenging?"
- "How would you rate your own performance so far?"
That last question is revealing. If they think they're doing great when you know they're struggling, that's a massive gap in self-awareness.
Goal review:
- "Let's look at the goals we set at 30 days. How did you do?"
- "What got in the way of meeting these goals?"
- "What do you need from me to hit these targets?"
Future focus:
- "What do you want to accomplish in the next 30 days?"
- "Do you still see this job as a long-term fit?"
- "Is there anything about this job that's different from what you expected?"
What Success Looks Like at 60 Days
A good employee at 60 days:
- Performs all core job functions independently
- Maintains consistent quality across different shifts and conditions
- Rarely needs manager intervention for routine issues
- Has reliable attendance
- Trains newer employees on basic tasks
- Receives positive feedback from customers or team members
- Shows initiative in their work area
- Follows all policies consistently
If you see this, they'll almost certainly succeed long-term. Tell them they're on the right track.
Making the Call
At the end of your 60-day review, you should land in one of three places:
1. Green light to 90 days: They're meeting or exceeding expectations. Focus the next 30 days on advanced training and integration into the team.
2. Final warning: They're underperforming but the issues are fixable. Set crystal-clear expectations and schedule check-ins at day 75 and 90. Document everything.
3. Termination: They're not working out and won't improve. Start the separation process and begin recruiting their replacement.
The worst decision is indecision. Hoping it will work out while taking no action guarantees you'll have the same conversation at 90 days, except now you've wasted another month.
The Bottom Line
The 60-day review is your last good opportunity to salvage a struggling new hire or cut your losses before the 90-day cliff. It requires honesty, clear communication, and the courage to make difficult decisions.
Don't waste it by being vague or overly optimistic. Your good employees, your customers, and your business deserve better than settling for mediocrity because you didn't want to have a hard conversation.
