The Hidden Costs of a Bad Hire
That sinking feeling when you realize your new hire may be falling far below your expectations is disappointing to say the least. While the new resource seemed so competent and charismatic initially, now you’re getting sub-par performance reports and the impression that they’re just not quite fitting in and maybe rubbing some of your other employees the wrong way. And who wants to admit that the resources and hours devoted to hiring and training this employee may have gone to waste?
From evaluating resumes to interviewing then onboarding, and training, making a new hire is a time-consuming process that often diverts people from their everyday tasks. Additionally, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, the average cost for a bad hire can equal 30 percent of that individual’s annual earnings. That’s a significant amount of time, lost productivity, and ultimately money.
Unfortunately, wasted time and money are just the most evident costs of a bad hire. The true costs of bad hiring go deeper. Below are a few more reasons to focus on hiring right the first time, something a Seattle-area staffing company like Team Red Dog can also help with.
The True Cost
A bad hire won’t just cost you money; it can have a much more severe impact on your organization:
Productivity
Expect to see a dip in productivity when you make a bad hiring decision, and not just from the new employee. Statistics show that a low-producing employee can drive down the productivity of the entire team.
Retention
Good staff morale can erode quickly with a bad hiring decision, ultimately hurting retention. A toxic attitude or poor work performance that requires other employees to pick up the slack, leads to less satisfaction at work and other, better-performing employees leaving the organization.
Performance
Along the same lines as productivity, a bad hire’s performance often suffers, which can diminish team performance. Team dynamics go a long way in improving performance across the board; if one team member is suffering, so will the rest of the team.
Culture
Culture is increasingly important as job-seekers look to find the right fit for their skill set while placing much higher importance on culture, social dynamics, and the general energy they associate with the company environment. A bad hire can damage an organization’s culture by creating negative morale and employee resentment, leading to retention complications.
Like many things, hiring has its fair share of risk; hiring managers and staffing professionals mitigate this risk with intensive prospect research, rigorous interview processes, and proper vetting.
If your internal recruiting resources could use a helping hand, Team Red Dog is here with just the right amount of assistance. Our elite professional staffing services in Redmond, Washington has a proven track record of excellence in finding the right staffing solutions for the region’s most esteemed companies. We put in the time, energy, and resources into hiring the right person, the first time, so you don’t have to.