How it works
- Each profile shows the current status, such as Probation, Confirmed or On notice, above a read-only lifecycle history.
- Confirming probation moves the person to Confirmed; recording that probation did not succeed moves them to Terminated or Resigned.
- Recording a resignation moves active or confirmed staff to On notice, and someone still on probation straight to Resigned.
- Each move is checked against the allowed paths first, and a move the rules do not allow is refused with a plain message.
- The status history lists every change with the old status, the new status, the date and the reason.
- The employment timeline and salary revisions sit alongside, with change types, effective dates and the percent change for each revision.
What you can set
- Thirteen statuses: Draft, Probation, Active, Confirmed, On notice, Suspended, Resigned, Terminated, Retired, Absconded, Inactive, Offboarded, Archived.
- Allowed moves are fixed; for example Probation can go only to Confirmed, Resigned, Terminated, Absconded or Archived.
- Draft can go only to Probation, Active or Archived, so a draft record cannot jump to an exit status.
- Employment change types: Hire, Transfer, Promotion, Reassignment, Status change, Correction and Assignment.
- Salary revision types: Increment, Promotion, Correction and Revision, with old and new amounts.
- Percent change on each revision worked out from the old and new salary.
- Lifecycle history is read-only on the profile.
Why the status trail matters
Questions about an employee's past come up at awkward times: a background verification call, a gratuity claim, a labour inspection or a dispute about whether someone was ever confirmed. Gratuity, for example, depends on continuous service, which is counted from the dates on the record. A status that anyone can overwrite in a text box cannot answer these questions. A fixed set of statuses, allowed moves between them and a dated history of each change give HR a record it can stand behind. See the gratuity rules for how service is counted.
Worked example: Arjun's first year
Arjun Nair joins a Bengaluru software firm on 1 June 2026 as a Sales Executive, with the company default of six months' probation for permanent staff. His status is Probation. In the last week of November his manager rates his probation review 4 out of 5, and on 1 December HR confirms him from the probation queue. The status history now shows Probation to Confirmed, reason Probation confirmed, dated 1 December 2026. In September 2027 Arjun resigns. HR records it on his work terms, and the history adds Confirmed to On notice with the resignation date. When he leaves and is offboarded, his record moves to Previous with the full trail intact.
Reading the history correctly
The status history records moves made through probation decisions and resignations, each with a reason. The employment timeline shows the change type and effective dates for each assignment on record, and salary revisions show the before and after amounts with the percent change. Because the history is read-only on the profile, nobody can quietly change a past entry from the screen, which keeps the trail reliable when an auditor, a lawyer or a future employer asks what happened and when.
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Book a free demoSee pricingFrequently asked questions
What are the employee statuses in ZeniaHR?
There are 13: Draft, Probation, Active, Confirmed, On notice, Suspended, Resigned, Terminated, Retired, Absconded, Inactive, Offboarded and Archived. Each status has a fixed list of statuses it can move to, so a person cannot jump from Draft straight to Retired, and moves made through probation and resignation are checked before they are saved.
Why can't an employee on probation be put on notice?
Because the allowed moves from Probation do not include On notice. When a person on probation resigns, ZeniaHR moves them straight to Resigned and still works out the last working day from the notice period that applies during probation, which is 15 days by default.
Can HR edit the lifecycle history of an employee?
No. The status history, employment timeline and salary revisions are read-only on the profile. Status changes are added by the actions that cause them, such as confirming probation or recording a resignation, each with its date and reason. This keeps the trail reliable for audits and disputes.
Does ZeniaHR record the date an employee was confirmed?
Yes. Confirming someone from the probation queue records the move from Probation to Confirmed with the confirmation date and the reason, and the work terms panel shows when and by whom they were confirmed. A confirmation letter is saved to the employee's documents at the same time by default.