[p_l]

Honestly, european common approach of "trial period" is better for this.

Details vary, but for example in Poland you can (simplified case):

1. Hire for fixed-length term of a year 2. First 3 months of that are "trial period" - you have minimal paperwork for firing during that time, effectively no chance of lawsuit (if someone brings a lawsuit that gets far enough for any paperwork to reach you, you have much worse things to take care of internally) 3. After the fixed-length period, if you're happy with the employee and want him to continue you switch to "permanent" contract. If not, the term lapses and that's it.

[ido]

The problem (I’m not in Poland but I’m in Berlin, which also has strict rules about firing long term employees) is that senior talent has a lot of choice of where to go to so why should they bother with a place that would only give them a 1-year contract at first?

[p_l]

If you go with permament contract from the start, the corporate still gets 3 months of trial period where they can just fire you at will.