You'd end up seeing a lot of 5 month and 29 day employment terms for people. It'd be no effective difference than 'contract and perhaps hire later', except so many people are averse to 'contract' work for reasons (sometimes valid ones) that have little to do with the work and more to do with the culture of 'benefits'.

I don't quite know how we as a culture do it, but we need to wean ourselves off of 'employer-provided benefits'. Getting back to a more consumer-driven market vs large employer group-driven market will make our job/work situations easier for generations to come.