I am an experienced consultant and recently I have received an offer from a big4 for a senior management / assistant director role.The terms do not have any probation period however the company sick pay scheme only goes in effect after 1 year from joining.As this position has extensive travel I am surprised of such harsh arrangements especially as with many trips per year you are considered high risk from an income protection point of view. I would have expected in the case of an experience hired those terms to kick in day one or at the end of a probation period between 3-6 months. On the other hand the company is pretty happy for you to contribute to pension and flexible benefits day one so seems when it comes to you putting in your money they are happy for that to happenI am a bit surprised and would like to know what other companies offer and if this is standard. It is my first time joining a big4 after long time and previously I have had sick pay from day in all my permanent contracts