The price of a bad recruit has far reaching consequences for any business – from the cost of recruitment and training to the disruption and impact on staff morale. In larger companies, bad hires can have a significant financial impact and in smaller companies, it can go as far as to threaten the stability of the business if you lose valuable clients.
A bad recruit often occurs when there is pressure to fill a position quickly and therefore corners are cut during the recruitment process. While there is always a risk when hiring a new employee, by following recruitment and selection processes you can help to reduce this risk by verifying the information that candidates provide before hiring rather than finding out about issues afterwards.
Before recruiting your next employee, it is recommended that all businesses and companies, regardless of their size, consider the impact of the following areas:
Decline in Productivity
If a job applicant’s qualifications and work experience on their resume is inaccurate and not a true reflection who the person really is, they may not be able to perform the role that you are hiring them for. This could have a negative impact on productivity, impacting other employees as they may need to work harder to cover the short fall and damaging the team spirit. Bad recruits can drive your valued employees to look for other employment opportunities, often right into the hands of your competition, taking their skills, knowledge and expertise that you have helped develop. They can also drop the standards for the rest of the team’s performance.
Cultural Fit
Having an employee in the team who does not embrace the business principles and culture can lead to cracks in the team. If an employee is not compatible and doesn’t fit the team’s values, this can impact the whole work environment. As well as ensuring that the new hires have the right experience and qualifications to meet the requirements of the role, assessing how they will fit in with your company culture and your team should be at the top of the list when hiring.
Harm Reputation
A bad recruit, especially those who are client-facing in the position, can damage client relationships if customers are not provided with exceptional service. Relationships are not easy to salvage once confidence has been damaged. Businesses must ensure that employees representing their interests can enhance or maintain its reputation and profitability and not damage it.
There is also confidence in management and your business’s leadership that need to be considered. When a business employs and then subsequently keeps a bad employee, colleagues can question the management’s ability to make intelligent decisions. This can result in a lack of trust between management and other employees in a business.
Financial Impact
Let’s not forget the financial impact to a business. A large number of business’s do not consider what a bad recruitment mistake can cost in their business, when in reality, a bad recruit can cost a business three times their annual salary, due to the money wasted on training, lost productivity and increased staff turnover.
With the cost of recruitment and training new employees continuing to increase, to avoid wasting time, money, and resources, it is advisable that you do your due diligence and properly screen new employees before employing them.
By: Darren Simpson – May 2019
